Fractional CFO for food delivery companies
Food delivery is a three-sided P&L. Restaurant, consumer and courier economics all have to clear for an order to be contribution-positive, and the headline take rate rarely reflects per-order reality once driver pay, incentives, promotions and CAC are loaded. Driver classification - operator versus employee - drives a fundamentally different cost base and is the question regulators, investors and auditors keep returning to.
Per-order contribution margin, properly built, anchors everything else. Around it sit driver pay under the right classification, restaurant take-rate retention cohorts, promotional accounting and the working capital cycle between restaurant payout, processor settlement and courier payment. Cloud kitchen and grocery extensions need their own P&L slice; blending them misleads.
Flow provides fractional CFO, financial modelling and FP&A to food delivery companies across restaurant marketplaces, grocery and convenience delivery, cloud and ghost kitchens, restaurant-direct ordering platforms and delivery infrastructure and logistics. Startup CFO support for three-sided delivery economics.
KPIs to track for "food delivery" startups
We're very 'KPI-driven' fractional CFOs, and we make sure to monitor the right metrics for your startup.
Orders
GMV
Average basket size
Take rate
Restaurant retention
Delivery cost per order
Courier utilisation
Active couriers
Contribution margin / order
Order frequency
Financial modelling for "food delivery" startups
As fractional CFOs, we build KPI-driven financial models that are insightful and easy to maintain.
Financial modelling is both art and science - models must be robust, but also understandable, and useful for both internal planning and VC fundraising purposes. Hire a fractional CFO who knows how to handle both sides of the equation.
Per-order contribution margin
Order value walked down through restaurant take, courier pay, payments, promotions and CAC amortisation to a true contribution number. Replaces the headline take rate with the per-order economics the board actually needs.
Driver classification scenarios
Independent-contractor, hybrid and employee cost bases modelled side by side, with minimum-wage, holiday-pay and benefits loaded under each. Quantifies the reclassification risk in markets where regulators are actively pushing for employee status.
Restaurant retention cohorts
Restaurant cohorts tracked by activation date against monthly GMV, take rate and churn out of the platform. Shows how long it takes a restaurant to reach contribution-positive and where commission resistance breaks the cohort.
Courier supply and utilisation
Active couriers, hours logged and deliveries per active hour modelled against demand by zone and daypart, with idle pay loaded against utilisation. Sizes the supply incentive bill needed to keep service-level targets honest.
Three-sided promotional accounting
Consumer discounts, courier surge and restaurant marketing fees modelled as separate contra-revenue lines against the cohort each is acquiring. Stops blended promotional spend from hiding which side of the marketplace it is actually subsidising.
Cloud kitchen and grocery P&Ls
Dark-kitchen, grocery and quick-commerce verticals modelled on their own P&L slices with inventory, build-out and basket economics separated from the restaurant marketplace. Stops capital-intensive verticals from being valued on the wrong multiple.
Founders and investors we've worked with
We've supported winning builders across food delivery and beyond.
TBô
We acted as fractional CFO to TBô, a Zurich-based tech-enabled DTC male underwear brand, building a bottom-up financial / operating model with cohort-level KPIs and positioning the company for its next venture round.
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Onlogist
We acted as fractional CFO to Onlogist, a Hamburg-based online marketplace for last-mile vehicle transfer, providing confidential valuation guidance and operating model support.
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Marcura
We acted as fractional CFO to Dubai-based Marcura, owner of maritime payroll and B2B payments platform MarTrust, advising on the strategic e-Wallet vendor selection and supporting product/finance integration.
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Hector
We acted as fractional CFO to Hector Aurumi, a Dubai-based specialist software house with AI/ML, IoT and data science expertise, providing confidential valuation guidance to the management team.
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Bonart
We've worked as fractional CFO with Bonart, a Zurich-based independent Swiss strategic advisory and execution platform for PE and investor fundraising, providing long-term confidential valuation guidance.
See moreRecent fractional CFO track record
See our fractional CFO and financial modelling experience across food delivery and beyond.
Simple pricing
No hidden costs, no complicated long-term contracts. We understand how important flexibility is for food delivery startups.
Per month
- Accounting / FP&A tech stack implementation
- Monthly financial statements and reporting pack
- Quarterly board pack with detailed financial analysis (with variance analysis vs. budget, relevant KPI observations etc.)
- Investor-friendly output
Per month
- Everything in Core, plus
- Operating model (via an online platform like Runway or Excel-based)
- Ongoing model maintenance, refining projections, burn/runway management
- Customer cohorts modelling, churn and retention analysis
- LTV / CAC, unit economics analysis
- Cap table management
Per month
- Everything in Grow, plus
- M&A / fundraising support; review of business plan
- Pitch deck preparation
- Investor approach strategy / list building
- Due diligence support and deal negotiation
- Valuation as required and free access to Multiples Pro
Packages shown are illustrative, final pricing is tailored to client requirements.
Explore our fractional CFO offering for similar verticals
We're a specialized fractional CFO to e-commerce & marketplaces companies.
Our fractional CFO experience spans across all e-commerce & marketplaces verticals.
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We know tech inside & out.
We provide fractional CFO services to companies operating across the entire tech.
More services
We help you scale by providing fractional CFO advice, through fundraising and a successful M&A exit.
VC fundraising for food delivery companies
We help you prepare materials, reach out to investors in our extensive network, negotiate fair term sheets and structure the VC round.
Learn moreM&A for food delivery companies
We advise winning tech companies on M&A exits, and over the years successfully executed numerous transactions with both financial and strategic buyers.
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