You deliver it yourself. You still pay the commission.
In Crieff, Auchterarder, Blairgowrie and towns like them, the delivery platforms have no drivers. They have never put a courier on the road here and they are not going to.
So the takeaway delivers every order itself — its own driver, its own car, its own fuel and insurance — and hands over a percentage of every sale for a listing and a checkout. Not because it chose the cheaper tier. Because there is no other tier here.
What the platforms charge
Commission is tiered by who delivers. Running your own drivers puts you on the lower rate — and in a town this size, that is the only rate on the table, because the higher one buys a courier network that does not operate here.
| Platform | You deliver | They deliver |
|---|---|---|
| Just Eat | ~14% + VAT | ~25–30% + VATnot available here |
| Deliveroo | ~14% + VAT | ~25–35% + VATnot available here |
| Uber Eats | ~13% + VAT | ~30% + VATnot available here |
| ServeLogic | £99 a month | 0%whatever you sell |
Approximate rates as published by each platform, last checked September 2026. Actual terms are negotiated and vary by contract. VAT is charged on top of the commission.
The questions owners actually ask
Do I pay commission on an order I deliver myself?
Yes. Commission is charged on the order, not on the delivery. Your driver, your car, your fuel, your insurance — and a percentage of the sale still comes off the bill.
Isn’t the self-delivery rate cheaper than the full one?
It is, roughly half. You are on the lower tier precisely because you are doing the delivery yourself. The question worth asking is what the lower tier buys: a listing, a checkout, and the customer’s details held on their side rather than yours.
Could I not just use their drivers instead?
Not in Crieff, Auchterarder or Blairgowrie. The platforms run no couriers in towns this size and are not going to. The higher tier is not an option you are declining — it is not on offer at any price. You are in the self-delivery tier permanently.
So what is the actual problem?
That you pay a percentage of your revenue, indefinitely, for software. It rises every time you have a good month. What it buys you does not change. In a city the higher rate is at least a trade — you are buying a courier network. Here there is nothing on the other side of it but a web page.
Does the customer pay more as well?
Usually. Service and delivery fees are added at checkout on top of the menu price, on an order your own driver is taking out, and many takeaways also raise their platform menu prices to absorb the commission. The order costs the customer more than ordering direct would.
What does it cost a takeaway over a year?
At 120 orders a week and a £30 average order, commission at 16.8% including VAT is about £31,000 a year — for the listing and the checkout. ServeLogic is £99 a month, £1,188 a year, with no commission on any order.
A percentage of everything, for a web page
Every commissioned order sends a share of a local sale out of the town it was cooked in, to a company that has never opened anything here and never will. ServeLogic is the same ordering — the takeaway's own site, its own phone line, its own customer list — for a flat £99 a month that does not rise when you have a good week.