Restaurant delivery is a large, operationally complex channel. In New York City, delivery apps processed millions of weekly trips while charging merchants and consumers separate fees. At the global platform level, DoorDash, Uber, Deliveroo, and Just Eat Takeaway.com reported substantial 2024 order volumes, gross transaction values, revenues, and profitability measures. The figures below distinguish local operating data from company-wide results and identify the relevant quarter or full-year period.
Contents
- New York City delivery activity
- Worker pay and labor capacity
- Merchant, consumer, and order costs
- DoorDash and Uber scale
- Deliveroo operations and economics
- Just Eat Takeaway.com in North America
New York City delivery activity
The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (NYC DCWP Q4 2024 report) provides a detailed view of app-based restaurant delivery in New York City during the fourth quarter of 2024. Delivery workers made an average of 2.72 million deliveries per week. The report also records 2.58 million total trips per week, with 2.53 deliveries per hour. Weekly deliveries were 2% higher than in Q4 2023.
The workforce averaged 70,000 total workers, including 60,000 workers performing trips. Across the workforce, total hours averaged 1.074 million per week. Those hours included 186,000 on-call hours and 888,000 trip hours. Average hours per worker were 15.2 during the quarter, indicating that the reported workforce included many workers with limited weekly hours rather than only full-time delivery workers.
The same NYC DCWP report puts total weekly worker earnings at $23.9 million in Q4 2024, up 5% year over year. Weekly pay averaged $21.2 million, up 52% year over year, while weekly tips averaged $2.7 million, down 70% year over year. These figures describe different components of worker compensation, so they should not be treated as interchangeable totals.
Worker pay and labor capacity
New York City’s minimum pay schedule for app-based restaurant delivery workers changed materially across the measured period. The minimum pay rate was $17.96 per hour on December 4, 2023. It increased to $19.56 per hour on April 1, 2024, and was scheduled to reach $21.44 per hour on or after April 1, 2025. These dates and rates come from the NYC DCWP Q4 2024 report; the scheduled figure is presented as a scheduled rate rather than as a measured Q4 2024 outcome.
Measured Q4 2024 earnings were $22.28 per hour on average, an 84% increase from Q4 2023. Average pay per hour was $19.78, up 166% year over year, while tips averaged $2.50 per hour, down 47% year over year. The distinction matters for restaurant operators: total hourly earnings and pay excluding tips show different parts of the labor-cost picture.
| NYC delivery measure | Q4 2024 figure | Year-over-year change where reported |
|---|---|---|
| Average hourly earnings | $22.28 | +84% |
| Average pay per hour | $19.78 | +166% |
| Average tips per hour | $2.50 | -47% |
| Weekly worker earnings | $23.9 million | +5% |
| Weekly pay | $21.2 million | +52% |
| Weekly tips | $2.7 million | -70% |
The labor data also shows why delivery capacity should be considered alongside order growth. Weekly deliveries rose 2%, while average hourly pay and reported weekly pay rose much faster. At the same time, the citywide workforce, hours, trips, and deliveries represent separate measurements: workers are people, hours measure labor availability, trips measure delivery activity, and deliveries measure completed orders.
Merchant, consumer, and order costs
Restaurant delivery creates costs on both sides of the marketplace. In Q4 2024, delivery apps charged merchants an average of $5.70 in fees per delivery, according to the NYC DCWP Q4 2024 report. Merchant fees per delivery were 11% higher year over year. Merchant fees represented 19.6% of the average order subtotal, compared with 18.5% in Q4 2023.
Across the city, total merchant fees averaged $15.4 million per week, up 13% year over year. Consumer fees averaged $7.55 per delivery, and consumer fee spending averaged $20.5 million per week, up 39% year over year. These are separate charges: the merchant fee is associated with the restaurant side, while the consumer fee is charged to the customer.
Total consumer spending on restaurant delivery apps averaged $109.1 million per week in Q4 2024, up 5% year over year. Within that amount, order subtotals averaged $78.9 million per week, up 7%, and total merchant fees averaged $15.4 million per week. The reported average total order cost was $40.15, consisting of an average subtotal of $29.04, average consumer fees of $7.55, an average tip of $0.99, and average taxes of $2.58.
The NYC DCWP report’s per-delivery figures provide a compact view of the customer checkout experience:
- Average total order cost: $40.15.
- Average subtotal: $29.04.
- Average consumer fees: $7.55 per delivery.
- Average tip: $0.99 per delivery.
- Average taxes: $2.58 per delivery.
For restaurant operations, the fee share is especially relevant. A 19.6% merchant-fee share of the average order subtotal in Q4 2024 means that menu pricing, promotions, order mix, and platform fees all affect the amount retained from an app-generated order. The data supports monitoring fees per delivery and fee share separately because a dollar fee and a percentage of subtotal answer different questions.
DoorDash and Uber scale
DoorDash reported 2.6 billion total orders in 2024, a 20% year-over-year increase, in its DoorDash FY2024 annual report. DoorDash marketplace gross order value (GOV) reached $80.2 billion, also up 20% year over year. The company reported $10.722 billion in revenue, a 13.4% net revenue margin, $3.5 billion in contribution profit, $1.9 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $1.8 billion in free cash flow for the year.
Uber reported delivery-specific and company-wide measures in its Uber Q4 2024 results and Uber FY2024 results. In Q4 2024, Uber Delivery Gross Bookings reached $20.1 billion, Delivery Revenue reached $3.8 billion, and Delivery Adjusted EBITDA reached $727 million. Delivery Revenue Margin was 18.7% of Gross Bookings.
Uber’s broader Q4 2024 platform figures included 3.068 billion trips and 171 million monthly active platform consumers. For full-year 2024, Uber reported 11.273 billion trips, $162.773 billion in gross bookings, $43.978 billion in revenue, $6.484 billion in adjusted EBITDA, $2.799 billion in income from operations, and $9.856 billion in net income attributable to Uber.
DoorDash and Uber report different metrics and scopes, so their figures should not be read as a like-for-like ranking of restaurant delivery alone. DoorDash’s cited orders and marketplace GOV are full-year company metrics, while Uber’s $20.1 billion and $3.8 billion figures are Q4 delivery measures. Uber’s trips and financial totals also cover its broader platform where stated.
Deliveroo operations and economics
Deliveroo operated in 10 markets worldwide in 2024 and reported about 135,000 riders at the end of the year, according to the Deliveroo 2024 annual report. It had about 163,000 restaurant partner sites and about 23,000 grocery and retail sites. Deliveroo added about 2,000 retail partner sites during 2024 and delivered 296 million orders.
Deliveroo’s gross transaction value (GTV) reached £7.4 billion in 2024, with revenue of £2.1 billion and gross profit of £767 million. Adjusted EBITDA reached £130 million, free cash flow reached £86 million, and net cash reached £0.7 billion. The company also announced £150 million of structurally surplus capital returns in 2024.
Customer and partner mix were also quantified. Forty-four percent of Deliveroo orders came from Plus subscribers in Q4 2024. Grocery accounted for 16% of Group GTV in the second half of 2024. Deliveroo reported 82% global rider satisfaction in Q4 2024. Its sales-weighted average mark-up on platform in the UK was reduced by 20%.
These measurements span different periods: the order, GTV, revenue, and financial figures are for 2024; rider satisfaction and Plus order share are Q4 2024 measures; grocery share is for H2 2024; and the UK mark-up change is reported as a reduction rather than a new absolute rate. Keeping those periods separate is important when assessing partner economics or customer mix.
Just Eat Takeaway.com in North America
North America represented 33% of Just Eat Takeaway.com’s total orders and 36% of total GTV in 2024, according to the Just Eat Takeaway FY2024 results. The segment generated 292 million orders and €9.3 billion in GTV. North America revenue was €1.970 billion, while adjusted EBITDA was €170 million.
The segment’s adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 1.8% in 2024 from 1.2% in 2023. North America adjusted EBITDA was €126 million in 2023, while North America revenue was €2.141 billion in 2023. The comparison shows a higher reported adjusted EBITDA and margin in 2024 alongside lower reported revenue than in 2023; no additional cause is specified by the supplied figures.
For restaurant operators, the main operational lesson across these statistics is that delivery performance has several dimensions: completed orders, trip and labor capacity, worker compensation, merchant fees, consumer fees, order subtotals, and platform-level financial results. The NYC DCWP data measures a city market in Q4 2024, while the company reports cover different geographies, currencies, scopes, and periods. Comparing them requires retaining those definitions rather than combining the figures into a single market total.