RUBIROSA RISTORANTE (Nolita, 235 Mulberry St, Manhattan) — Italian / Pizza. Case study #24. Prices compared between Rubirosa’s own first-party ordering menu and the same 235 Mulberry St kitchen’s DoorDash storefront, both captured the same day.
Order the Tie Dye — Rubirosa’s famous vodka-and-pesto thin crust, one of the most photographed pizzas in New York — from the restaurant’s own website and a large is $41.00. Order the same pie, from the same Mulberry Street oven, on DoorDash and it is… $41.00. The Rubirosa Salad is $22.00 either way; the Chicken Parmigiano $36.00 either way; a can of Coca-Cola $5.00 either way. We priced 35 of Rubirosa’s items side by side — pizzas, salads, antipasti, soups, entrées and drinks — and on every single one the delivery-app price matched the counter price to the dollar. The markup was not small. It was zero. And, as the numbers below show, that means the restaurant — not the customer — is the one absorbing the platform’s cut.
The markup
Across the 35 matched items the delivery markup was a flat 0% — mean, median and range all sitting on the counter price. A basket of all 35 items costs $852.00 on Rubirosa’s own menu and the identical $852.00 on DoorDash. There is no gentle treatment for the cheap items and no steeper one for the marquee pies: the $5 Coke, the $15 garlic knots and the $41 Tie Dye are all listed at exactly the same price on the app as at the register. This is the rarest pattern in the series — rarer even than a small markup. Most restaurants we have audited lift their delivery menus to recover the commission a platform charges. Rubirosa, a sit-down Nolita institution with a two-hour wait for a table, simply does not.
What the restaurant nets
Here is why a 0% markup is not a happy ending for the restaurant. When a customer orders delivery, DoorDash keeps a commission on the sale. To come out level with a walk-in, a restaurant would need to mark the delivery menu up by about +42.9% at a 30% commission — or about +17.6% even at New York’s capped 15%. Rubirosa marks up nothing. So the math runs entirely against the kitchen: apply a 30% commission to the $852.00 delivery basket and Rubirosa keeps about $596.40 — roughly $256 less than the $852.00 the same food brings in at the counter. Even at New York’s capped 15% rate it nets about $724.20, still about $128 less than a walk-in. On all 35 of the 35 items — every one — the restaurant nets less selling through the app than selling the same dish across its own counter. This is the pattern this series calls absorbing (Type B): the delivery customer pays the restaurant’s ordinary price, and the restaurant quietly eats the platform’s commission out of its own margin.
Why it still lands on the platform
Rubirosa sets its own menu prices; DoorDash does not. But DoorDash sets the commission, and a restaurant that chooses not to pass it on is choosing to absorb it. Most restaurants in this series have raised their delivery menus to recover the cut, in whole or in part; Rubirosa has declined to, holding its app prices at the counter price line for line. That is a decision that protects the delivery customer and squeezes the kitchen. It does not make the fees disappear. On top of these menu prices, DoorDash still charges the customer a delivery fee, a service fee and — in New York — a consumer “NYC Regulatory Response Fee,” a surcharge the platform added after the city capped what it can charge restaurants, which shifts part of that cost onto the person ordering. Those checkout fees are not in the menu prices above, because a logged-in order is required to see them. The food is the same price; the trip is not free.
The New York context
New York City caps the core commission a delivery app can charge a restaurant at 15% for delivery, plus 5% for other listing and marketing services and 3% for card processing — limits the City Council first made permanent in 2021. A 2025 amendment, signed into law after the platforms sued and settled, now lets restaurants opt to pay an additional up to 20% for “enhanced services” such as wider delivery zones and top-of-search placement, which can push the total a restaurant chooses to pay toward roughly 43%. None of those caps require a restaurant to raise its menu prices — and Rubirosa has not. Whatever commission tier applies to this store, the restaurant is recovering none of it from the delivery customer through the food price. Where New York’s cap does reach the customer is through DoorDash’s “NYC Regulatory Response Fee,” the consumer charge the platform layers on at checkout to offset the commission cap. The Mayor’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection continues to review delivery-app fees.
| Item | Counter / first-party | DoorDash | Markup | Shop nets @30% (vs counter) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Pizza | ||||
| SM The TIE DYE Pizza | $33.00 | $33.00 | +0% | $23.10 (-9.90) |
| SM Rubirosa Supreme Pizza | $33.00 | $33.00 | +0% | $23.10 (-9.90) |
| SM Honey Pizza | $32.00 | $32.00 | +0% | $22.40 (-9.60) |
| SM Vodka Pizza | $31.00 | $31.00 | +0% | $21.70 (-9.30) |
| SM Classic Pizza | $29.00 | $29.00 | +0% | $20.30 (-8.70) |
| SM Bianca Pizza | $29.00 | $29.00 | +0% | $20.30 (-8.70) |
| Large Pizza | ||||
| LG The TIE DYE Pizza | $41.00 | $41.00 | +0% | $28.70 (-12.30) |
| LG Rubirosa Supreme Pizza | $41.00 | $41.00 | +0% | $28.70 (-12.30) |
| LG Honey Pizza | $40.00 | $40.00 | +0% | $28.00 (-12.00) |
| LG Vodka Pizza | $39.00 | $39.00 | +0% | $27.30 (-11.70) |
| LG Classic Pizza | $38.00 | $38.00 | +0% | $26.60 (-11.40) |
| Gluten Free Pizza | ||||
| GF The Tie Dye Pizza – Round | $37.00 | $37.00 | +0% | $25.90 (-11.10) |
| Zuppa | ||||
| Pasta e Fagioli | $16.00 | $16.00 | +0% | $11.20 (-4.80) |
| Italian Wedding Soup | $16.00 | $16.00 | +0% | $11.20 (-4.80) |
| Antipasti | ||||
| Meatballs | $23.00 | $23.00 | +0% | $16.10 (-6.90) |
| Eggplant Parmigiano Appetizer | $21.00 | $21.00 | +0% | $14.70 (-6.30) |
| Nonna’s Braciole | $21.00 | $21.00 | +0% | $14.70 (-6.30) |
| Mozzarella Sticks | $19.00 | $19.00 | +0% | $13.30 (-5.70) |
| Mini Rice Balls | $19.00 | $19.00 | +0% | $13.30 (-5.70) |
| Garlic Knots | $15.00 | $15.00 | +0% | $10.50 (-4.50) |
| Broccoli Rabe | $14.00 | $14.00 | +0% | $9.80 (-4.20) |
| Seasonal Vegetable (Cauliflower) | $14.00 | $14.00 | +0% | $9.80 (-4.20) |
| Insalata | ||||
| Chopped Antipasto Salad | $24.00 | $24.00 | +0% | $16.80 (-7.20) |
| Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad | $22.00 | $22.00 | +0% | $15.40 (-6.60) |
| Rubirosa Salad | $22.00 | $22.00 | +0% | $15.40 (-6.60) |
| Caesar Salad | $21.00 | $21.00 | +0% | $14.70 (-6.30) |
| Arugula Salad | $20.00 | $20.00 | +0% | $14.00 (-6.00) |
| Secondi | ||||
| Chicken Al Limone | $41.00 | $41.00 | +0% | $28.70 (-12.30) |
| Chicken Parmigiano | $36.00 | $36.00 | +0% | $25.20 (-10.80) |
| Eggplant Parmigiano Entree | $34.00 | $34.00 | +0% | $23.80 (-10.20) |
| Beverages | ||||
| Root Beer | $7.00 | $7.00 | +0% | $4.90 (-2.10) |
| Martinellis Apple Juice | $7.00 | $7.00 | +0% | $4.90 (-2.10) |
| A’ Siciliana Blood Orange | $6.00 | $6.00 | +0% | $4.20 (-1.80) |
| A’ Siciliana Lemon | $6.00 | $6.00 | +0% | $4.20 (-1.80) |
| Coca-Cola | $5.00 | $5.00 | +0% | $3.50 (-1.50) |
| All 35 matched items (basket) | $852.00 | $852.00 | +0% | $596.40 (-255.60) |
By the numbers
- Items matched: 35 (same description and portion, same 235 Mulberry St store; regular handmade pastas we could not price-match line for line on both menus, alcohol, catering trays, at-home retail and merchandise were excluded)
- Delivery markup: mean 0%, median 0%, range 0% to 0% — the DoorDash price equalled the counter price on every item
- Basket: $852.00 at the counter, an identical $852.00 on DoorDash (0% more)
- Break-even markup at a 30% commission: +42.9% — Rubirosa’s 0% is the whole distance below it
- What the restaurant nets: about $596.40 on the basket at a 30% commission (~$256 less than counter); about $724.20 even at New York’s capped 15% (~$128 less)
- Items on which the restaurant nets less than dine-in: 35 of 35 at a 30% commission; 35 of 35 at New York’s capped 15%
- Not captured here: DoorDash’s delivery fee, service fee, NYC Regulatory Response Fee, tax and tip, which a logged-in checkout adds on top of the menu prices above
- Story type: B (absorbing) — the customer pays the counter price for the food; the restaurant absorbs the platform’s commission
Method
On 15 July 2026, USA Times captured Rubirosa’s own prices from its first-party online-ordering menu (order.toasttab.com, the restaurant’s direct Toast storefront for the 235 Mulberry St location) — the price a pickup customer pays at that counter, taken live from the ordering page on the day of capture rather than from any undatable PDF. The same day, we captured DoorDash marketplace list prices for the same 235 Mulberry St store from the rendered storefront and matched them item by item against the first-party menu; every one of the 35 matched items carried the identical price. We matched only items with the same description and portion, used list prices rather than promotional prices, and excluded regular handmade pastas we could not confirm to the dollar on both menus, configurable and add-on options, alcohol (the app’s cocktails- and beer-to-go), catering trays that require advance notice, and Rubirosa’s at-home retail and merchandise. Because a logged-in checkout is required to see them, this automated audit did not capture the delivery fee, service fee, NYC Regulatory Response Fee, tax or tip a customer pays on top; the DoorDash figures reported are the storefront’s list prices for the food. The “shop nets” figures are an analytical estimate that applies a 30% (and, separately, New York’s capped 15%) commission to the DoorDash price; they are our interpretation of the economics, not figures disclosed by DoorDash, and the true commission tier for this store is a private contract term that is not public. Prices can change and can vary by address; figures reflect the moment of capture.
Right of reply
USA Times contacted Rubirosa and DoorDash for comment and will update this report with any response. Rubirosa was told plainly that it is not the target of this story — and was asked the one question that decides it: after DoorDash’s commission, does it net more, less or the same as a walk-in, and is holding its DoorDash prices at the counter price a deliberate choice. DoorDash was asked about its commission tiers in New York, whether it tracks the gap between a restaurant’s in-store and in-app menu prices, and how its consumer “NYC Regulatory Response Fee” is calculated.
Sources
- Rubirosa counter / first-party prices — Rubirosa (235 Mulberry St) online-ordering menu on Toast, captured 15 July 2026.
- Rubirosa DoorDash list prices — Rubirosa Pizza & Ristorante on DoorDash, captured 15 July 2026.
- NYC delivery fee caps and the 2025 amendment — NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, delivery fee caps, reviewed July 2026.
This report is part of a USA Times series auditing food-delivery pricing. Prices were collected by USA Times on the date noted, compared item by item against the restaurant’s own current menu, and reviewed by an editor before publication.
