The double charge, in one line. Uber’s commission (hidden in the food price) and its service fee both pay for the same thing — Uber being the middleman. One toll, billed twice. The delivery fee is separate: that one pays the courier. Why Uber Eats won’t put it in one number →
At a Mamoun’s Falafel on the Upper East Side, every one of 32 menu items costs exactly 21% more on Uber Eats than at the counter. Not roughly 21%. Exactly — the same multiplier on a $1.89 can of Coke and a $14.99 lamb plate. It is not pricing. It is a switch.
MAMOUN’S FALAFEL (Upper East Side) — Middle Eastern. Case study #3, and the first in New York, of a USA Times series auditing Uber Eats pricing. Prices compared between the restaurant’s own pickup-ordering menu and its Uber Eats storefront for the same address, 1105 Lexington Avenue, captured 14 July 2026.
The tell is the flatness
In our first two case studies, in Mexico City, the markup wandered. Cheap items were marked up more than expensive ones; two drinks were left untouched entirely. That looked like a series of human decisions, dish by dish.
New York looks nothing like that. Here is what Mamoun’s Falafel charges at its counter on Lexington Avenue, and what the same items cost on its Uber Eats page:
| Item | At the counter | On Uber Eats | Markup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Falafel Sandwich | $6.75 | $8.17 | +21% |
| Chicken Kebob Plate | $14.69 | $17.77 | +21% |
| Lamb Shawarma Plate | $14.99 | $18.14 | +21% |
| Hummus Bowl | $9.99 | $12.09 | +21% |
| Lentil Soup | $3.99 | $4.83 | +21% |
| Can of Coke | $1.89 | $2.29 | +21% |
Across all 32 items on the menu, the average markup is 21.0 percent. So is the median. So is the mode. The standard deviation — the amount the numbers vary from one another — is one-tenth of one percent. In plain terms: they do not vary. Every price is the counter price multiplied by 1.21.
A markup that identical is not a pricing strategy. It is a single setting. And Uber sells exactly that setting: its own merchant help pages describe a feature letting a restaurant “add a standard percentage markup… on your entire inventory.” Someone typed a number into that box, and the number was 21.
New York was supposed to have stopped this
Here is why New York is the place to notice.
In 2021, after the pandemic laid bare how much the delivery platforms were taking from restaurants, the New York City Council did something almost no other American city has done: it permanently capped the commission a delivery app can charge a restaurant at 15 percent of the order, plus 5 percent for other fees. The apps — Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub and others — sued the city, arguing the cap was unconstitutional. The case ground on for years and was settled in 2025, with the Council passing new rules that let platforms add optional charges on top.
Every word of that fight was about the commission — the slice Uber takes from the restaurant. Not one word was about the number the customer sees.
And that is the gap. New York capped Uber’s commission at 15 percent. The menu markup at this restaurant is 21 percent — larger than the entire capped commission, sitting in plain sight on the storefront, regulated by nothing. The city’s signature protection governs the wholesale price between Uber and the restaurant. The retail price you actually pay was never covered.
Who set the 21 percent, and does it help them
As in Mexico City, Uber does not set this price; the restaurant controls its own menu. And 21 percent is more than enough to cover a 15-percent commission — on a $8.17 sandwich, after New York’s capped 15 percent, Mamoun’s keeps about $6.94, a little above its $6.75 counter price. Under the base cap, the restaurant comes out slightly ahead, and the customer pays the difference.
But that is only true at the capped rate. The 2025 settlement lets platforms layer on an optional “enhanced services” fee that can push a restaurant’s total cost toward 40 percent of the order. A restaurant on that plan, marking up 21 percent, would again be losing money on every delivery — the same trap we documented in Mexico. Which tier this restaurant is on, we cannot see, and neither can you. That is the recurring hole in every one of these stories: the customer is asked to pay a markup whose purpose they cannot verify, set against a commission they are not allowed to know.
What is not on the screen
What the Uber Eats page shows the diner is a menu. What it does not show is that the menu has been multiplied by 1.21 from the prices the same kitchen charges a walk-in one block away. There is no note, no asterisk, no disclosure. Uber measures this gap precisely — it reports a metric called “Menu Markup” to the restaurant, and its own research says customers consider 12 percent the ceiling of what is reasonable. This is 21. The diner is told none of it, and then, at checkout, is charged a delivery fee and a service fee on top.
A question for City Hall
The 15% cap had one purpose: to protect New Yorkers — restaurants and, ultimately, the customers who would otherwise absorb the cost — from delivery platforms taking too big a cut. Here is the uncomfortable result. The cap held the commission to 15%. The price the customer actually pays was marked up 21%. The protection the city won covers the wholesale charge it can see, while the retail charge the consumer pays runs higher, disclosed to no one. A law written to save New Yorkers money now sits beside a markup that quietly takes more of it.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office in January 2026 having campaigned, above all, on the cost of living. This is a cost-of-living problem hiding in plain sight, and it is one the city already has the standing to address. Closing the gap would cost nothing and require no new tax: a delivery platform could simply be required to show, at the point of sale, when its listed price is higher than the restaurant’s own. It would let every New Yorker see what we had to reverse-engineer from two menus and a stopwatch.
So the question for City Hall is narrow and fair: if capping the commission at 15% was meant to protect consumers, what protects them from a 21% markup the cap never touched? We are putting this report in front of the Mayor’s office and the City Council, and we will report what they intend to do about it.
The full comparison: 32 items
Every item on the menu. Counter price from Mamoun’s own pickup-ordering system; Uber Eats price for the same Lexington Avenue location, captured 14 July 2026. Delivery and service fees are charged on top of every figure in the right-hand column.
| Item | Section | Counter | Uber Eats | Markup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coke | Drink | $1.89 | $2.29 | +21% |
| Diet Coke | Drink | $1.89 | $2.29 | +21% |
| Sprite | Drink | $1.89 | $2.29 | +21% |
| Ginger Ale | Drink | $1.89 | $2.29 | +21% |
| Seltzer | Drink | $1.89 | $2.29 | +21% |
| Feta Cheese | Side | $2.75 | $3.33 | +21% |
| Seasoned Fries | Side | $4.79 | $5.80 | +21% |
| Lentil Soup | Side | $3.99 | $4.83 | +21% |
| Manhattan | Signature sandwich | $10.79 | $13.06 | +21% |
| Falafel Sandwich | Sandwich | $6.75 | $8.17 | +21% |
| Shawarma Sandwich (lamb) | Sandwich | $9.89 | $11.97 | +21% |
| Combo Plate | Plate | $10.89 | $13.18 | +21% |
| Classic | Signature sandwich | $7.99 | $9.67 | +21% |
| West Village | Signature sandwich | $7.99 | $9.67 | +21% |
| Falafel Plate | Plate | $9.99 | $12.09 | +21% |
| Hummus Bowl | Plate | $9.99 | $12.09 | +21% |
| Sullivan | Signature sandwich | $11.99 | $14.51 | +21% |
| Shawarma Plate (lamb) | Plate | $14.99 | $18.14 | +21% |
| Mamoun’s Hot Sauce Bottle | Retail | $5.95 | $7.20 | +21% |
| Seasoned Rice | Side | $2.00 | $2.42 | +21% |
| East Village | Signature sandwich | $9.39 | $11.36 | +21% |
| Falafel Side | Side | $3.29 | $3.98 | +21% |
| Chicken Kebob Plate | Plate | $14.69 | $17.77 | +21% |
| Bleeker | Signature sandwich | $10.69 | $12.93 | +21% |
| Macdougal | Signature sandwich | $10.69 | $12.93 | +21% |
| West 4th | Signature sandwich | $10.69 | $12.93 | +21% |
| Chicken Kebob Sandwich | Sandwich | $9.69 | $11.72 | +21% |
| Pickled Veggies | Side | $3.49 | $4.22 | +21% |
| Grape Leaves (vegetarian) | Side | $3.49 | $4.22 | +21% |
| Baklava (walnuts) | Dessert | $3.49 | $4.22 | +21% |
| Pita Chips | Side | $1.39 | $1.68 | +21% |
| Bottled Water | Drink | $1.69 | $2.04 | +21% |
| All 32 items | $212.87 | $257.58 | +21% |
Method
Counter prices were taken from Mamoun’s Falafel’s own pickup-ordering menu for its Upper East Side location (1105 Lexington Avenue), served through Olo, the restaurant’s first-party ordering system — these are the prices a customer pays ordering directly for pickup. Uber Eats prices were taken from the storefront for the same address in delivery mode. Both were captured on 14 July 2026. Prices in U.S. dollars. Commission-cap details are drawn from the text of the 2021 New York City law and subsequent reporting on the 2025 settlement.
Mamoun’s Falafel and Uber have both been contacted for comment.
This is the first New York entry in a USA Times series auditing Uber Eats pricing. Do you run a restaurant on a delivery platform? Write to achir@usatimes.com.
This report has been shared with the office of Mayor Zohran Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) and members of the New York City Council for their attention.
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.
