Grubhub payout statements are more complex than those from DoorDash or Uber Eats because Grubhub separates its fees into distinct components: marketplace commission, delivery fee, marketing premium, and Grubhub+ adjustments. Each appears as its own line item on the statement, which provides more transparency — but also means there are more items to verify per order.
This guide walks through every section of a Grubhub payout statement, explaining what each charge means, how it is calculated, and where errors most commonly occur. Understanding these line items is the foundation for verifying that your Grubhub revenue is being calculated correctly.
What Makes Grubhub Statements Different
The defining feature of Grubhub’s payout structure is the explicit split between marketplace commission and delivery fee. Where DoorDash bundles these charges into a single commission percentage and Uber Eats labels them as a unified service fee, Grubhub shows them as two separate line items on every delivery order.
This matters for statement reading because:
- Each line item has its own rate that must be verified independently
- Delivery fee charges should only appear on orders where Grubhub dispatched a driver — not on pickup orders
- A third line item — marketing premium — appears for restaurants enrolled in Grubhub’s paid promotion programs
- Grubhub+ subscriber adjustments add a fourth potential deduction layer
For a full breakdown of how these fee structures affect your overall cost, see our guide on Grubhub fees for restaurants.
Where to Find Your Grubhub Statement
Grubhub provides payout data through the Grubhub for Restaurants portal. Under the Financials section, you can view individual payout summaries or download CSV exports covering custom date ranges.
- Summary view — Shows aggregated totals per payout cycle: gross sales, total marketplace commission, total delivery fees, total marketing charges, total adjustments, and net payout. Useful for trend monitoring but insufficient for order-level verification.
- Transaction-level CSV — Contains per-order data: order ID, subtotal, marketplace commission, delivery fee, marketing premium, Grubhub+ adjustment, refund charges, and net payout per order. This is the format required for reconciliation.
Anatomy of a Grubhub Statement
1. Order Identification
| Column | What It Contains | What to Watch For |
|---|---|---|
| Order ID | Unique numeric identifier | Cross-reference with POS order records |
| Order Date / Time | When the customer placed the order | Timezone alignment with your POS records |
| Order Type | Delivery or pickup | Pickup orders should have no delivery fee |
| Store / Location | Your location identifier | Multi-location operators: verify correct store attribution |
The Order Type column is particularly important on Grubhub because it determines whether a delivery fee should appear. Any pickup order with a delivery fee charge is an error. For a broader look at how to match orders across data sources, see our guide on auditing delivery platform fees.
2. Gross Order Revenue
| Column | What It Contains | What to Watch For |
|---|---|---|
| Order Subtotal | Menu item prices as ordered | Should match your Grubhub menu pricing |
| Tax | Sales tax collected (handling varies by market) | Verify tax treatment matches your market agreement |
| Tips | Customer tip amount | Confirm tips appear in full in net payout |
The order subtotal is the base for all percentage-based fee calculations: marketplace commission, delivery fee, and marketing premium are all calculated as percentages of this number. If Grubhub records a different subtotal than your POS for the same order, every downstream calculation will be off.
Check Your Numbers
Before diving into the details, estimate how much revenue might be at risk in your Grubhub account.
Try the Free Calculator →3. Marketplace Commission
The marketplace commission is Grubhub’s base platform fee. It covers the cost of listing your restaurant on the Grubhub app, processing customer orders and payments, and providing customer support infrastructure. Unlike the delivery fee, this charge applies to all order types — delivery, pickup, and dine-in where available.
| Plan Level | Typical Marketplace Commission | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | ~15% | Standard listing, limited visibility features |
| Plus | ~20% | Enhanced listing, more placement options |
| Premium | ~25% | Maximum visibility, priority placement |
On your statement, the marketplace commission appears as a dollar amount. To verify it, divide the commission amount by the order subtotal and compare the result to your contracted rate. For a detailed breakdown of how Grubhub commission structures vary and what each tier includes, see our guide on Grubhub commission rates.
4. Delivery Fee
The delivery fee is a separate charge that applies only when Grubhub dispatches a driver. This is Grubhub’s most distinctive structural feature — on other platforms this cost is bundled into the commission, but Grubhub shows it explicitly. The rate typically ranges from 5% to 15% of the order subtotal depending on your agreement.
Critical verification point: The delivery fee should appear only on orders where the Order Type column shows “Delivery” with Grubhub fulfillment. Pickup orders and self-delivery orders should have no delivery fee charge. This is one of the most common Grubhub statement errors: delivery fees applied to pickup orders or orders fulfilled by the restaurant’s own drivers.
On a $40 pickup order charged an 8% delivery fee in error, that is $3.20 in overcharge per order. Restaurants processing 50 pickup orders per week at this error rate lose $160 per week — over $8,000 annually.
5. Marketing Premium
For restaurants enrolled in Grubhub’s marketing premium program, an additional percentage charge appears on orders attributed to promoted placement. This is the most complex charge on a Grubhub statement and the one most likely to contain errors:
- Premium rate — Typically 5% to 17.5% depending on your enrollment tier
- Applied to — Orders Grubhub attributes to promoted placement, not all orders
- Verification challenge — Grubhub’s attribution of which orders are “promoted” vs. organic is not always transparent
The key questions when reviewing marketing premium charges:
- Is the premium rate consistent with your enrolled campaign tier?
- Are charges only appearing within your active campaign date range?
- Is the number of premium-charged orders reasonable given your campaign type?
- Are any charges appearing on orders that clearly originated through organic search rather than promoted placement?
Marketing premium charges without a corresponding active enrollment are directly disputable. Our article on hidden delivery fees most restaurants miss covers these charges in depth.
6. Grubhub+ Adjustments
Grubhub+ is Grubhub’s customer loyalty program. When Grubhub+ subscribers order from your restaurant, the delivery fee is waived for the customer. Grubhub may pass a portion of that subsidy cost to the restaurant as a payout adjustment.
Grubhub+ adjustments are a relatively small charge per order, but they can add up across a high volume of subscriber orders. Verify that:
- Adjustments appear only on orders from confirmed Grubhub+ subscribers
- The per-order adjustment amount is consistent with your program agreement
- Adjustments are not appearing on non-subscriber orders
7. Payment Processing Fee
Separate from the marketplace commission, Grubhub charges a payment processing fee on each order covering the cost of credit and debit card processing. This is typically 2.5% to 3.0% of the order subtotal. On a $30 order, this adds approximately $0.75 to $0.90.
Verify that the processing fee is calculated on the order subtotal (food items only), not on the total including tax and tip. Ambiguity in statement formatting can occasionally obscure the calculation base.
8. Refund Adjustments
When a customer receives a refund, Grubhub may charge back part or all of the cost to the restaurant:
| Adjustment Type | What Happens | Key Verification |
|---|---|---|
| Full order chargeback | Entire order amount reversed | Was the order fulfilled correctly per POS? |
| Partial item chargeback | Specific item price deducted | Does the amount match the refunded item price? |
| Delivery error chargeback | Cost of delivery failure passed to restaurant | Was this a driver error? Should be Grubhub’s cost. |
| Commission reversal on refund | Marketplace commission on refunded order credited | Verify this appears — missing reversals are common. |
Not all refund chargebacks are the restaurant’s responsibility. Delivery failures, driver errors, and platform issues should be absorbed by Grubhub. Review each chargeback against your POS fulfillment records to identify disputable deductions.
9. Net Payout Calculation
The bottom line of your Grubhub statement is the net payout:
Net Payout = Order Subtotals + Tax Pass-through + Tips
− Marketplace Commission
− Delivery Fee (delivery orders only)
− Marketing Premium (enrolled orders only)
− Grubhub+ Adjustments
− Payment Processing Fee
− Refund Adjustments
For a restaurant generating $30,000 in monthly Grubhub gross sales at a 35% blended deduction rate (commission + delivery + premium), the expected monthly deposit is approximately $19,500. A 3% discrepancy rate represents $900 per month in potential unrecovered revenue.
Where Errors Concentrate on Grubhub Statements
| Statement Section | Error Frequency | Typical Impact per Occurrence | Detection Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery fee on pickup orders | Medium | $2 – $8 per order | Requires checking Order Type per row |
| Marketing premium outside enrollment | Medium | $5 – $20 per incident | Requires campaign enrollment cross-check |
| Refund chargebacks on fulfilled orders | High | $8 – $50 per incident | Requires POS fulfillment cross-reference |
| Unreversed commissions on refunds | High | $2 – $10 per refund | Easy to miss without specific check |
| Marketplace commission rate error | Low-Medium | $1 – $10 per order | Requires per-order rate calculation |
| Missing orders (no payout) | Low | Full order value ($15 – $70) | Requires POS order count comparison |
A Practical Verification Workflow
Step 1: Export and organize
Download the Grubhub transaction-level CSV from the Financials section in Grubhub for Restaurants. Export your POS Grubhub order report for the same period. Pull bank deposit records showing Grubhub deposits.
Step 2: Separate delivery and pickup orders
Sort the statement by Order Type. Immediately flag any pickup order that has a delivery fee charge — these are errors. Count delivery and pickup orders separately to compare against your POS records.
Step 3: Verify marketplace commission rates
For each order, calculate the effective marketplace commission: commission amount divided by order subtotal. Compare to your contracted rate. Flag orders exceeding your rate by more than 0.5 percentage points.
Step 4: Verify delivery fee rates (delivery orders only)
For delivery orders, calculate the effective delivery fee rate: fee amount divided by order subtotal. Compare to your contracted delivery fee percentage. Confirm no delivery fees appear on pickup orders.
Step 5: Audit marketing premium charges
If enrolled in marketing premium, identify every premium charge and cross-reference against your active campaign records. Check that the rate matches your enrollment tier and that charges only appear during active campaign periods.
Step 6: Review Grubhub+ adjustments
Verify Grubhub+ adjustments appear only on subscriber orders and that per-order amounts align with your program terms.
Step 7: Check refund chargebacks
For each chargeback, verify the order was not fulfilled correctly per your POS. Confirm that the marketplace commission on refunded orders was reversed. Document any disputable chargebacks with POS evidence.
Step 8: Match net payout to bank deposit
Compare the statement net payout to the corresponding bank deposit. Account for the typical 2–3 business day delay. For a full reconciliation methodology covering all Grubhub fee layers, see our guide on how to reconcile Grubhub statements.
Automate This Process
Manually checking four fee layers per order across hundreds of weekly orders is not sustainable. DeliverGuard automates the entire verification workflow.
Join the Waitlist →Common Grubhub Statement Misunderstandings
“The marketplace commission is my total platform cost”
The marketplace commission is the starting point, not the total. Add the delivery fee (8–15%), marketing premium if enrolled (5–17.5%), Grubhub+ adjustments, and payment processing (2.5–3%), and the effective rate on a delivered, promoted order can reach 40% to 55% of the order subtotal — well above the headline commission.
“Marketing premium only applies to orders I generated through ads”
Grubhub’s attribution of which orders count as “promoted” is determined by the platform. Some restaurants discover premium charges on orders that appear to have originated through organic search. If your premium charges significantly exceed what your campaign enrollment terms imply, investigate the attribution methodology.
“The delivery fee is the same percentage on all orders”
The delivery fee rate may vary based on distance, time of day, or specific order circumstances. Some agreements also include a minimum delivery fee per order. Verify the delivery fee percentage on each order rather than assuming a flat rate.
“Grubhub absorbs all customer refund costs”
Grubhub passes a significant portion of customer refund costs to restaurants. The split depends on the reason for the refund — restaurant errors generally result in the restaurant absorbing the cost, while delivery errors or platform failures should be absorbed by Grubhub. Verifying the reason behind each chargeback is essential for identifying disputable deductions.
Building a Recurring Review Process
Weekly (15 minutes)
- Compare net payout to bank deposit — flag mismatches
- Check for delivery fees on pickup orders — these are immediately disputable
- Review marketing premium charge volume against expected campaign activity
Monthly (60 minutes)
- Calculate effective rates for all three fee components (marketplace commission, delivery fee, marketing premium) separately
- Compare to previous month and contracted rates — flag changes exceeding 0.5 percentage points per component
- Review all refund chargebacks against POS fulfillment records
- Verify Grubhub+ adjustments against program terms
- Cross-reference POS order count against Grubhub statement count
Quarterly (2 hours)
- Full order-level reconciliation across all fee layers
- Calculate year-to-date effective rate per fee component
- Review marketing premium program ROI — compare incremental orders to premium cost
- File disputes for all confirmed discrepancies with documented evidence