Australia’s new minimum standards for app-based delivery workers are now in effect. The question for restaurants is what happens next?
Since 17 August 2026, covered employee-like workers delivering food, drinks and groceries through digital platforms have been protected by a legally enforceable minimum earnings floor.
The applicable rate depends on the worker’s vehicle:
- $31.30 an hour for workers using no vehicle, a bicycle, e-bike or electric scooter
- $31.50 an hour for workers using a motorcycle or combustion scooter
- $32 an hour for workers using a car or van with a carrying capacity of up to one tonne
The floor applies to recorded engaged time rather than every hour a worker is logged into an app. The Fair Work Ombudsman describes engaged time as the period spent completing an accepted job, excluding certain periods defined by the order.
Platforms must make a top-up payment when a worker’s earnings over an earnings period of up to 21 days fall below the applicable floor.
The restaurant cost is not yet clear
The standards establish what covered workers must earn. They do not prescribe how platforms must fund the additional cost.
Platforms could respond through merchant commissions, service charges, customer delivery fees, delivery zones, batching or operational changes. They may also absorb some costs internally.
There is not yet enough market-wide evidence to say which response will dominate or whether restaurants will experience a consistent increase in platform costs.
For operators, that makes dated transaction data more useful than predictions.
Merchant invoices, platform statements and customer order screenshots can show whether fees have changed since the standards began. Comparisons should use the same venue, menu items, delivery distance and approximate ordering time wherever possible.
Calculate the full marketplace margin
A platform order should be assessed using the amount the venue retains, not simply the menu price.
Start with the customer’s food subtotal, then record:
- Merchant commission
- Promotional contribution
- Advertising charges
- Payment or processing fees
- Refunds and adjustments
- Packaging costs
- Incremental kitchen labour
- The final amount received by the venue
Operators can then compare that contribution with an equivalent order placed through the venue’s own system and an in-store pickup.
Direct ordering may produce a stronger contribution, but the comparison should account for the technology, payment processing, marketing and delivery costs the venue would otherwise carry itself.
The right question is not whether marketplace delivery is expensive. It is whether each channel produces enough incremental revenue and contribution margin to justify its costs.
Watch the operational signals
The reform could also affect service in ways that do not appear as a new fee.
Restaurants should monitor:
- Average courier arrival time
- Time couriers spend waiting at pickup
- Order batching
- Delivery cancellations
- Changes to the available delivery radius
- Customer complaints about delivery time
- The proportion of orders requiring refunds or remakes
Wait time deserves particular attention. If completed orders regularly sit on the pass or couriers are repeatedly held at the venue, both food quality and delivery efficiency suffer.
Accurate ready-time settings, a clearly marked collection point and fast handover procedures can reduce delays without pushing kitchen teams to prepare food too early.
Build evidence before changing prices
Restaurants may feel pressure to lift delivery-menu prices or reduce their marketplace range. Before doing so, they should separate documented cost changes from assumptions about what platforms may do.
Review invoices from before and after 17 August, capture customer-facing fees and calculate contribution by channel. If a platform introduces a new or higher charge, record the date and the orders affected.
Australia’s courier floor is real and enforceable. Its final impact on restaurant margins will depend on how individual platforms respond and how effectively operators manage the economics of each ordering channel.
