commission-maths

---
name: commission-maths
description: Turns your platform payment statements, your own signed merchant agreement, your supplier invoices and your till data into the real money an app order leaves behind: a per dish contribution after commission, VAT, packaging, refunds and the labour that only exists because of delivery, a per order contribution by platform, a list of dishes that lose money on the app and make money in the room, and a dated decision sheet. Use when you are on Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat and you genuinely do not know whether the orders are paying you.
---

# The real money left in your hand after an app order, dish by dish, from your own statements

You give this your platform payment statements, the fee schedule in your own signed merchant agreement, your supplier invoices, your packaging invoices and the rota for a delivery shift. You get back the contribution left on each dish and each order after commission, VAT, packaging, refunds and the delivery labour, the list of dishes that are profitable in the dining room and loss making on the app, and a dated sheet recording the decision that follows. It will not tell you what a typical basket or a typical commission rate is. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue, your rate is in your own contract, and a borrowed number is how an owner concludes that a loss making channel is fine.

## What it does

1. **Start from the payment statement, never from the order screen.** The tablet shows the order value. The payment statement shows what actually landed in the bank, which is the only number that matters. Deliveroo's published partner terms describe the cycle plainly: fees are "calculated weekly", "by reference to consecutive periods of approximately 7 days ending on the Sunday immediately prior to such Calculation Day", with payment transferred "within 2 Business Days". Pull at least four consecutive statements so that one bad week does not set the picture, and put the gross order value, every deduction line and the net transfer into one row per statement before you look at a single dish.

2. **Copy your fee structure out of your own agreement, then read the platform's published terms beside it.** Deliveroo's published partner terms state that the service fee is "calculated as a percentage of GMV (inclusive of VAT) per order, plus VAT at the prevailing rate", and they say the same for the Delivery, Marketplace+ and Pickup models, which are three different rates on one page. Note the words "inclusive of VAT": commission is charged on the VAT inclusive order value, so on a standard rated hot food order you are paying commission on money that was never yours. Uber Eats' UK merchant terms define a "Service Fee" as "a fee paid by Merchant to Uber UK for each specific Method, set forth in the Order Form", and separately define an "Activation Fee", which means there can be more than one charge and the rate lives in your Order Form rather than on the public page. Write your actual percentages down from your own paperwork and mark any rate you cannot find as unknown rather than guessing it.

3. **Settle the VAT line before you calculate anything, because it changes the denominator on half your menu.** VAT Notice 709/1 states that "Hot takeaway food and drink that meets certain tests set out below is standard-rated", and the tests are whether the food has "been heated for the purposes of enabling it to be consumed hot", has "been heated to order", has "been kept hot after being heated", is "provided to a customer in packaging that retains heat", or is "advertised or marketed in a way that indicates that it's supplied hot". Cold food is treated differently: "Cold takeaway food and drink is zero-rated, as long as it's not of a type that's always standard-rated". A cold sandwich and a hot panini built from the same ingredients therefore carry different VAT, and if you are VAT registered the hot one keeps a fifth less of its menu price. Mark every dish standard rated or zero rated before costing it, and record which test decided it.

4. **Cost the packaging per dish, not per month.** A delivery order carries a container, a lid, a bag, a sticker, a napkin set and often a sauce pot, and none of those exist for a table in the room. Read the unit price and the pack quantity off the most recent packaging invoice with its date, divide to a per unit pence figure, and attach the right set of items to each dish. Add the label used to carry the allergen answer at delivery. This is the line owners most often leave out entirely, and on a low value order it is frequently larger than the gross margin on the side dish that was added to reach the minimum spend.

5. **Cost the labour that would not exist without the delivery channel.** Count the minutes actually spent on delivery orders across one recorded shift: packing, checking, bagging, answering the tablet, handing over to the rider, and remaking. Multiply by the real hourly cost of the person doing it, which is the wage plus employer National Insurance and pension, not the wage alone. If your own drivers carry the food, their hours, vehicle costs and insurance belong here too, and the driver-and-rider skill settles who those people legally are before you cost them. Record the figure per shift and per order, and record which shift it was measured on, because a Friday and a Tuesday are not the same business.

6. **Subtract the refunds the platform has already taken, and find out which side of the line each one fell on.** Deliveroo's terms allocate refunds by cause: Deliveroo covers an order that "has been spilled or crushed" or was "not an appropriate temperature for consumption on delivery where the Delivery Services took more than 15 minutes (except where the Delivery Order wasn't packaged in accordance with these terms)", and otherwise refunds "for which you are responsible under our Complaints Matrix will be deducted from our payment to you". Uber UK's terms put the same mechanism in their own words: "Uber UK may deduct refunds (including the Substandard Item Delivery Fee) from the Item Revenue transmitted to Merchant". Count these as a cost of the channel, sort them by reason, and carry the reasons into the order-accuracy skill rather than treating them as noise.

7. **Read the price parity clause before you even consider putting your app prices up.** Deliveroo's partner terms state that for Delivery and Marketplace+ "prices for the menu items you provide for display on the Platform should be the same as the prices for menu items published in your dine-in or in-store menu", and for Pickup they go further: if a customer shows that "the price in-restaurant/store is lower than the price of the menu item on the Platform, we will refund the difference to the customer and deduct an amount equal to the refund from the payment we make to you". Whether your own contract says this is a question for your copy of it. Record what your agreement actually says, because the most obvious fix for a thin margin may be the one thing that agreement stops you doing.

8. **Add the charges that sit outside the platform entirely.** Packaging you supply is caught by Extended Producer Responsibility only where the business crosses both thresholds: an obligated producer "supplied or imported more than 25 tonnes of packaging in the UK in the previous year" and had "annual turnover worldwide was GBP 1 million or more". Most single site independents are under one or both and owe nothing, and the correct output is a recorded yes or no with the two figures it rests on, not an invented fee. Add card acquiring costs, any tablet or hardware rental, and any promoted placement or discount spend, because a discount you funded yourself is a cost of the order that it bought.

9. **Hand the assembled figures to Codex so that no number is typed twice.** Every judgement is already made by this point: the rates come from your contract, the VAT status from step 3, the packaging from your invoices. Run:

   ```
   codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
   ```

   Claude hands over the statements, the fee schedule, the dish list with its VAT status, the packaging unit costs, the labour minutes and the refund lines. Codex returns the per dish and per order contribution tables, the loss making dish list, the break even order count and a gaps file naming every figure it was not given. Codex estimates nothing: a missing packaging price comes back as a gap, never as a plausible number.

10. **Write the decision the file supports, and date every price in it.** One page: contribution per order on each platform, the dishes that lose money on the app, the ones that carry it, and the single change you are making as a result, which is far more often removing a dish from the app menu than leaving the platform. Put the date each price was read from an invoice in the footer. An undated contribution model gets reopened in six months against prices that have moved, and the dish you protected because it worked in March is the one quietly costing you by September.

## Then it checks

1. Every commission and fee percentage in the file is traced to a named clause in the owner's own agreement or to a published platform term with its URL, and no percentage appears without a source.
2. Every dish on the delivery menu carries a VAT status of standard rated, zero rated or not registered, and where it is standard rated the test from VAT Notice 709/1 that decided it is named on the row.
3. Every packaging item costed carries a supplier, an invoice date and a unit price, and no packaging cost is expressed only as a monthly total.
4. The delivery labour figure names the shift it was measured on, the number of minutes counted, and whether employer National Insurance and pension were included.
5. Every refund deducted during the statement period appears in the file with its reason and the party the contract allocates it to.
6. The file contains no basket size, uplift percentage, commission benchmark or conversion rate that is not read from the owner's own statements.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state a typical commission rate, a typical basket size, a delivery uplift percentage or an app conversion rate. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue, the numbers in circulation are published by companies selling ordering software, and an owner who measures a real loss against a borrowed average will decide the loss is normal and keep funding it.
- Never quote a fee percentage from a news article, a blog or another operator's account. The only source for your rate is your own signed agreement, and rates differ between merchants on the same street.
- Never net VAT off a figure without first stating whether the business is VAT registered. An unregistered business keeps the whole menu price, and a model that removes a fifth of it is wrong by a fifth in the owner's favour, which is the dangerous direction.
- Never treat a platform funded discount and an owner funded discount as the same line. One is marketing somebody else paid for and one is money out of your contribution, and the statement is the only place the difference is visible.
- Never conclude that a channel should be closed on one statement period. Four consecutive statements is the minimum, and a channel can be loss making per order while still covering fixed costs that would otherwise sit idle.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own statements and invoices, and for their accountant on VAT and margin and their solicitor on the contract terms. It applies published rules and the owner's own figures to a draft model. It is not accounting advice, it is not a VAT ruling and it is not an interpretation of your merchant agreement.

## Built from
- Deliveroo, "Deliveroo Partners Terms and Conditions", https://merchants.deliveroo.com/en-GB/legal/terms, page states last updated 14 January 2021 with later dated sections, read 23 September 2026: the GMV inclusive of VAT fee basis in step 2, the weekly calculation and two business day payment in step 1, the refund allocation and Complaints Matrix in step 6, and the price parity wording in step 7.
- Uber, "Uber Eats Merchant Terms and Conditions" (Great Britain), https://www.uber.com/gb/en/legal/uber-eats-merchant-terms-and-conditions/, page states last modified 16 June 2025, read 23 September 2026: the Service Fee and Activation Fee definitions in step 2 and the Substandard Item Delivery Fee deduction in step 6.
- HM Revenue and Customs, "Catering, takeaway food (VAT Notice 709/1)", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/catering-takeaway-food-and-vat-notice-7091, updated 8 June 2026, read 23 September 2026: the five hot food tests and the zero rating of cold takeaway food in step 3.
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, "Extended producer responsibility for packaging: who is affected and what to do", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extended-producer-responsibility-for-packaging-who-is-affected-and-what-to-do, updated 19 August 2026, read 23 September 2026: the 25 tonne and GBP 1 million thresholds in step 8.
- Competition and Markets Authority, "Providing clear and accurate information about prices: summary" (CMA209), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/price-transparency-cma209/providing-clear-and-accurate-information-about-prices-summary, updated 7 January 2026, read 23 September 2026: the definition of a mandatory charge, used in step 8 to separate a charge the customer must pay from a cost you absorb.
- Committee of Advertising Practice, CAP Code (Edition 12), Section 3 "Misleading advertising", https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/03.html, no publication date shown on the page, read 23 September 2026: rule 3.18 on non-optional charges, applied in step 8 to any delivery or service charge the venue advertises itself.

# commission-maths

## You are given
The platform payment statements for one UK hospitality business covering at least four consecutive payment periods, each with the gross order value, every deduction line and the net amount transferred. The fee schedule copied from the owner's own signed merchant agreement for each platform, stating the commission percentage, whether it is charged on a VAT inclusive or a VAT exclusive order value, and any activation, hardware, promoted placement or transaction fee. The dish list for each platform menu, with the menu price shown to the customer and the owner's VAT status for each dish marked as standard rated or zero rated. The owner's statement of whether the business is VAT registered. The packaging item list with a supplier, an invoice date, a pack price and a pack quantity for each item, and a mapping of which packaging items attach to which dish. The measured delivery labour minutes for one named shift, the hourly cost used, and whether that hourly cost includes employer National Insurance and pension. The refund and adjustment lines from the statements with the reason recorded against each. The owner's recorded answer on the two Extended Producer Responsibility thresholds, being packaging tonnage supplied in the previous year and worldwide annual turnover. All judgement calls, including the VAT status of every dish, the commission rate, which costs count as delivery only, and whether a discount was platform funded or owner funded, have already been made by the owner and are supplied to you.

## Produce
Write into a `./commission-maths-output/` folder:

1. `statements.csv` with these columns in this order: `statement_ref`, `platform`, `period_start`, `period_end`, `gross_order_value_gbp`, `orders_count`, `commission_deducted_gbp`, `other_fees_deducted_gbp`, `refunds_deducted_gbp`, `promotions_funded_by_owner_gbp`, `net_transfer_gbp`, `source_document`. `platform` is exactly one of `deliveroo`, `uber_eats`, `just_eat`, `own_website`, `phone`, `other`. One row per statement per platform. A `TOTAL` row carries the sum of every money column.
2. `fee-schedule.csv` with columns: `platform`, `model`, `fee_name`, `fee_basis`, `fee_value`, `charged_on_vat_inclusive_value`, `source_clause`, `source_document`. `model` is exactly one of `delivery`, `marketplace`, `pickup`, `own_channel`, `not stated`. `fee_basis` is exactly one of `percentage of order value`, `flat per order`, `flat per period`, `one off`, `not stated`. `charged_on_vat_inclusive_value` is `yes`, `no` or `not stated`. Any row whose `fee_value` is not read from a supplied document has that cell left empty and a line in `gaps.md`.
3. `dish-contribution.csv` with columns: `dish_ref`, `platform`, `dish_name_verbatim`, `menu_price_gbp`, `vat_status`, `vat_test_named`, `vat_amount_gbp`, `net_of_vat_gbp`, `food_cost_gbp`, `packaging_cost_gbp`, `commission_gbp`, `other_fee_gbp`, `contribution_gbp`, `contribution_percent`, `costing_source`. `dish_ref` is D001 upward. `vat_status` is exactly one of `standard rated`, `zero rated`, `not registered`, `not stated`. `costing_source` is exactly one of `invoice supplied`, `statement supplied`, `no document supplied`. Every row with `no document supplied` has empty money cells and a line in `gaps.md`.
4. `packaging-unit-costs.csv` with columns: `packaging_ref`, `item_name_verbatim`, `supplier`, `invoice_date`, `pack_price_gbp`, `pack_quantity`, `unit_cost_gbp`, `dishes_attached_to`. `unit_cost_gbp` is `pack_price_gbp` divided by `pack_quantity` and is left empty where either input is missing.
5. `order-contribution.csv` with columns: `platform`, `orders_count`, `gross_order_value_gbp`, `vat_gbp`, `food_cost_gbp`, `packaging_cost_gbp`, `commission_and_fees_gbp`, `refunds_gbp`, `owner_funded_promotions_gbp`, `delivery_labour_gbp`, `contribution_gbp`, `contribution_per_order_gbp`, `contribution_percent`, `shift_labour_measured_on`.
6. `loss-making-dishes.csv` with columns: `dish_ref`, `dish_name_verbatim`, `platform`, `contribution_gbp`, `contribution_percent`, `dine_in_price_gbp`, `dine_in_contribution_gbp`, `loses_money_on_app`. `loses_money_on_app` is `yes` or `no`. Rows are sorted with the most negative contribution first.
7. `epr-threshold-test.md` recording, on separate lines and nothing else: the packaging tonnage supplied in the previous year as the owner stated it; whether that is more than 25 tonnes; the worldwide annual turnover as the owner stated it; whether that is GBP 1 million or more; and the resulting conclusion stated as `obligated producer`, `not obligated on tonnage`, `not obligated on turnover` or `not stated`. Every line names where the figure came from.
8. `breakeven.csv` with columns: `platform`, `fixed_cost_attributed_gbp`, `contribution_per_order_gbp`, `breakeven_orders_per_week`, `actual_orders_per_week`, `surplus_or_shortfall_orders`. Cells are left empty and recorded in `gaps.md` where the owner supplied no attributed fixed cost.
9. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every fee with no source clause; every dish with no VAT status; every dish with no food cost document; every packaging item with no invoice date or pack quantity; every refund line with no reason recorded; every statement period missing from the four period minimum; the delivery labour figure where no shift was named; and any figure the owner supplied without a date.

## Rules
- Codex calculates, sorts, counts and records. It never decides a VAT status, never sets or infers a commission rate, never decides whether a cost belongs to delivery, and never decides whether a promotion was platform funded. Those were supplied.
- Never estimate a missing number. A dish with no supplied food cost has empty money cells and a line in `gaps.md`. A part costed platform reports its contribution as incomplete rather than as a figure.
- Never write a typical commission rate, an average basket size, a delivery uplift, an industry contribution percentage or any benchmark into any file. No such figure exists for a single independent UK venue and none is to be recorded.
- Never carry a fee rate, a packaging price or a food cost forward from an earlier period into a later one. Each period uses the documents supplied for that period. An older figure may be recorded in a separate column for comparison and never used in a calculation.
- Never net VAT from a dish where `vat_status` is `not registered` or `not stated`. Leave `vat_amount_gbp` empty and record the dish in `gaps.md`.
- Never reconcile a statement by adjusting a figure so that it balances. Where the deduction lines do not sum to the difference between gross value and net transfer, record the residual as a numbered item in `gaps.md` and leave both supplied figures untouched.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every dish name, platform name, fee name and clause reference is copied exactly as supplied, including its punctuation and capitalisation.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own statements and invoices, and for their accountant on VAT and margin and their solicitor on the merchant agreement. It applies supplied figures to a draft model and is not accounting advice, a VAT ruling or an interpretation of any contract.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the number of statement periods processed per platform, the contribution per order for each platform or the word incomplete where an input is missing, the count of dishes with a negative contribution and their names, the total commission and fees deducted across the period, the total refunds deducted and the number of refund lines with no reason recorded, the conclusion recorded in `epr-threshold-test.md` stated in full with the two figures it rests on, the break even order count per platform or the word incomplete, and the `gaps.md` item count.