Uber Eats and Mr D vs In-Store: What Fast Food Delivery Really Adds
Ordering fast food through Mr D or Uber Eats costs more than walking in, and most people know that. What’s less obvious is how much more, because the extra is built into the menu prices on the app, before you ever see a delivery fee. It’s the same story whether you compare Mr D or Uber Eats vs in-store prices.
We priced 25 KFC items on Mr D on 25 September 2026 and compared each one with KFC’s counter price. The same order cost 27.6% more on the app. Every single item was more expensive: the smallest gap was 23% and the biggest was 40%. Below are the full results, what other chains charged the last time they were measured, and what you can do about it.
KFC: counter vs Mr D, item by item
| Item | Counter | Mr D | Extra | Markup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crunch Burger | R29.90 | R41.90 | R12.00 | 40% |
| Dunked Crunch Burger | R34.90 | R47.90 | R13.00 | 37% |
| Streetwise Two with chips | R39.90 | R52.90 | R13.00 | 33% |
| Streetwise Bucket For 1 | R42.90 | R56.90 | R14.00 | 33% |
| Regular Chips | R24.90 | R32.90 | R8.00 | 32% |
| Streetwise Dunked Bucket For 1 | R47.90 | R62.90 | R15.00 | 31% |
| Streetwise 4 | R78.90 | R102.90 | R24.00 | 30% |
| 10 Zinger Wings | R79.90 | R103.90 | R24.00 | 30% |
| 10 Dunked Wings | R89.90 | R116.90 | R27.00 | 30% |
| 4 Zinger Wings | R44.90 | R57.90 | R13.00 | 29% |
| 4 Dunked Wings | R49.90 | R63.90 | R14.00 | 28% |
| Family Treat 10 piece | R269.90 | R344.90 | R75.00 | 28% |
| 15 Piece Bucket | R239.90 | R305.90 | R66.00 | 28% |
| Family Treat 8 piece | R239.90 | R305.90 | R66.00 | 28% |
| Snack Pack (burger or pops) | R29.90 | R37.90 | R8.00 | 27% |
| 9 Piece Bucket | R149.90 | R189.90 | R40.00 | 27% |
| All In One Feast | R169.90 | R214.90 | R45.00 | 26% |
| Wrapsta | R37.90 | R47.90 | R10.00 | 26% |
| 2 Can Dine Buddy | R144.90 | R182.90 | R38.00 | 26% |
| 21 Piece Bucket | R299.90 | R377.90 | R78.00 | 26% |
| Big 6 Deal | R139.90 | R175.90 | R36.00 | 26% |
| Streetwise Five | R99.90 | R124.90 | R25.00 | 25% |
| Double Stack Burger | R32.90 | R40.90 | R8.00 | 24% |
| Snack Burger | R24.90 | R30.90 | R6.00 | 24% |
| Streetwise Three | R60.90 | R74.90 | R14.00 | 23% |
Buying one of everything on that list would cost R2,504.50 at the counter and R3,196.50 on Mr D, a difference of R692.
Two patterns stand out. Cheap items tend to take the biggest percentage hit: an extra R12 on a R29.90 Crunch Burger is 40%, while an extra R78 on a R299.90 bucket is 26%. And the big buckets, where you’d hope the gap would shrink, still cost R40 to R78 more in rand.
One caveat on the Crunch Burger: when you add it to a meal on KFC’s website it comes up at R32.90, so its counter price may have risen since our last check. Even at R32.90, Mr D’s price is 27% higher.
Drinks and coffee too
The drinks follow the same pattern. On Mr D, a Verry Berry Krusher went from R39.90 to R49.90, a milkshake from R27.90 to R37.90 (a 36% jump), and a 1.5 litre Coke from R27.90 to R34.90. On Uber Eats, KFC’s coffees were R6 to R8 more than at the counter: a latte was R38.90 instead of R30.90. The full list is on our KFC drinks page.
Other chains, from the most recent checks
We couldn’t price other chains ourselves this time, because Mr D and Uber Eats only show their menus once you enter a delivery address. The most recent like-for-like comparisons we could find were done by MyBroadband in 2024 and 2025. They’re older than our KFC figures, but the gaps they found were similar in both years.
| Chain | Uber Eats markup | Mr D markup | When measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| KFC | 19% to 25% | 19% to 25% | June 2025 |
| Nando’s | about 25% | about 25% | June 2025 |
| McDonald’s | 14% to 26% | 30% to 39% | June 2025 |
| Roman’s Pizza | about 25% | about 25% | April 2024 |
| Mochachos | 14% to 17%, the lowest of the chains checked | August 2024 | |
McDonald’s is the odd one out. It’s the only big chain that has charged different prices on the two apps, with Mr D noticeably dearer. In June 2025 a Big Mac cost R51.90 in store, R64.70 on Uber Eats and R71.90 on Mr D. KFC, Nando’s and Roman’s have charged the same price on both apps. None of the national chains in any of these checks kept app prices equal to the counter.
KFC’s markup has also crept up. In June 2025 a Streetwise Two was R49.90 on both apps. On Mr D it’s now R52.90, while the counter price hasn’t moved from R39.90.
Then the fees
Everything above is before delivery. The last published figures we found, from 2024, had Mr D charging a flat R15 delivery fee and Uber Eats charging R3 to R15 depending on distance, plus a service fee that grows with the size of your order. Uber One, which cost R50 a month in 2024, cuts those fees for regular Uber Eats users.
Put the two together and small orders get hit hardest. A Streetwise Two is R39.90 at the counter. On Mr D it’s R52.90, and if delivery is still around R15 you’d pay about R67.90, which is 70% more. A 9 Piece Bucket goes from R149.90 to about R204.90, or 37% more. The bigger the order, the less the fixed fee matters.
Why the apps cost more
Restaurants pay the delivery apps a cut of every order. Uber Eats’ own merchant pricing page for South Africa lists a 30% commission on delivery orders, 33% on orders from Uber One members, and 14% on pickup orders. Mr D was reported to charge an average of about 22% in 2021.
A roughly 25% to 30% markup is what it takes for the restaurant to end up with close to its normal price after that commission. Both apps say restaurants set their own prices on the platform. After a Competition Commission inquiry in 2023, the apps also have to show a notice saying the restaurant pays a commission and that in-store prices may differ. So the markup is legal and disclosed. It’s just easy to miss.
How to pay less
- Collect it yourself if you can. On our KFC list that cuts about a fifth off the app price.
- If you need delivery, order more at once. The delivery fee is the same whether you order one Streetwise or a bucket.
- Compare the chain’s own app. In 2024 MyBroadband found Roman’s own app cheaper than Uber Eats for the same two pizzas, even after Roman’s delivery fee. KFC and McDonald’s also put their best deals in their own apps.
- Check for platform discounts before you order. On the day we checked, Mr D had R10 to R20 off some KFC boxes, which cancels out most of the markup on those items.
How we did this
We recorded the menu prices of two KFC stores on Mr D, Cape Town Station and Mmabatho, on 25 September 2026. The two stores are in different provinces and charged the same for every item we checked. We compared those prices with the KFC counter prices on our own KFC price list, which were last checked against menu boards on 5 September 2026. Where KFC’s own ordering site shows an add-on price for the same item, it matched our counter price for the wings, which gives us confidence in the comparison. The figures for other chains are from MyBroadband’s published comparisons, and we’ve given the date for each.
Uber Eats vs in-store prices: common questions
Is KFC more expensive on Mr D?
Yes. In our September 2026 check, KFC items were 23% to 40% more on Mr D than at the counter, and 27.6% more across all 25 items, before delivery fees.
Is Uber Eats or Mr D cheaper?
For most chains the menu prices have been the same on both, so the difference comes down to fees and any discounts running. McDonald’s has been the exception, with Mr D charging more than Uber Eats.
Why are prices on delivery apps higher than in store?
Restaurants pay the apps a commission on each order (30% on Uber Eats delivery orders, 33% for Uber One members), and most of them raise their app prices to cover it.
Do prices on Uber Eats include the delivery fee?
No. The delivery fee and any service fee are added at checkout, on top of the already higher menu prices.
