The Delivery Order Reality Check

Start with one order, not the whole business.

This check helps you explain one order’s net sales and the specific costs you have listed. It does not calculate the restaurant’s net profit. Choose one order and one channel. Keep the currency and date beside the numbers.

1. Put each number in the right place.

• Sales: use the amount earned from the items, excluding sales tax and tips. Record whether any merchant-funded discount is already included.
• Ingredients: use a current, consistently defined portion cost for every included item.
• Packaging: include the bags, containers or other packaging attributable to the order.
• Channel fees: check the actual agreement and statement. A percentage, flat fee or promotion can change the calculation.

A payout is not the same starting point as sales. If a fee is already deducted in your starting number, subtracting it again counts it twice. If a cost is unknown, mark it unknown; do not silently enter zero.

2. Follow the workings.

Original illustrative CAD example — not live AI analysis

Net order sales, excluding tax; no discount assumed

30.00

Ingredients

− 9.00

Packaging

− 1.00

Assumed channel fee (not a benchmark)

− 7.50

Amount after listed costs

12.50

30.00 − 9.00 − 1.00 − 7.50 = CAD 12.50. Labour, overhead, waste not already included and other unlisted costs are outside this result. CAD 12.50 is not net profit and does not prove that taking more orders is the right decision.

3. Keep the missing information visible.

Check whether refunds, discounts, payment charges and waste belong in this order review. Do not add them twice if already included elsewhere. For a wider decision, ask which costs change with the order and which need a period-level review. Use actual records and appropriate professional advice for accounting treatment.

4. Your order-check worksheet

Copy these prompts or download the printable guide. Fill them in privately; this page does not collect your figures.

• Business date, currency and delivery channel: __________
• Starting amount and its definition (sales or payout): __________
• Tax, tips and discounts already included/excluded: __________
• Ingredients and cost date: __________
• Packaging: __________
• Fees not already deducted: __________
• Amount after listed costs: __________
• Unknown or excluded costs: __________
• The next record or question to check: __________

Sources and limits

Original IBA wording, worksheet and fictional calculation. Background reference: The BC Cook Articulation Committee (2015), Controlling Food Costs, in Basic Kitchen and Food Service Management, published through BCcampus; CC BY 4.0, except where otherwise noted. General portion-cost principles inform this guide; no source tables, recipes or examples are reproduced. The delivery scenario and amounts are original IBA illustrations. No endorsement is implied.

Source and arithmetic check: 3 November 2026. No merchant agreement or actual business records were reviewed. Corrections: itsybitsyagency@gmail.com.