GrabFood in Thailand: how restaurant delivery works, what it costs, and what the Phuket numbers show
Since foodpanda left in May 2025, food delivery in Thailand is a two-player market: Grab (about 46%) and LINE MAN Wongnai (about 40%); commission-free Robinhood holds 2%. Grab takes 30% of each order from the restaurant — the published range is 15–30%, and our Phuket clients sit at the top of it. This is the same in Bangkok, Pattaya, Samui and Phuket.
What makes Phuket different is the season and the tourist basket. Across our Phuket accounts over 12 months: 11,403 orders, a 773 THB average order (≈$22.5 against ≈$15 in Bali), ads at 2.9% of revenue paying back 23.6x, one negative review per 152 orders. There are 1.8 times more tourists on the island in January than in June.
A Phuket restaurant loses money not on commission or ads but on switched-off menu items in season — and that is the one thing entirely in its own hands. Below: the market map, the money, the season month by month, and the areas with numbers.
The Thailand market map: who is left
| Platform | Market share | Restaurant commission | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| GrabFood | ≈46% | 15–30% published; 30% at our Phuket clients | leader |
| LINE MAN Wongnai | ≈40% | 25–30% per public sources | second |
| Robinhood | ≈2% | 0% | owned by Yip In Tsoi since 2025, English UI for tourist areas |
| foodpanda | — | — | closed 23 May 2025 |
Shares are The Thaiger’s estimate as of May 2025; the 2024 market was about $4.2 billion. For a restaurant this means one simple thing: two apps cover almost every customer, and dropping either one costs a quarter to a half of delivery.
We manage GrabFood accounts. LINE MAN appears on this page only as far as an owner needs it for decisions; we do not offer it as a service.
What it costs
Grab Thailand is one of the few platforms in the region that states its rate publicly: 15–30%, with its own explainer walking through a 30% example. The restaurants we manage in Phuket are on 30%. LINE MAN, per public sources, is 25–30%. Signing up on both is free; the commission is deducted at payout.
What 30% buys: the customer base of two apps, couriers, payments, support, placement in search and collections. What 30% does not buy: your position in the feed. That depends on rating, order acceptance speed, menu completeness and cancellation rate — in other words, on how the account is run.
Platforms periodically offer a lower rate in exchange for exclusivity. In Phuket that means giving up all your LINE MAN revenue or all your Grab revenue for a few points of discount. We have not seen a single case where it paid off. More on the cost structure in the commission and costs breakdown.
Phuket versus Bali: the numbers
| Metric | Bali (benchmark, 84 restaurants) | Phuket (our accounts, 12 months) |
|---|---|---|
| Average order | ≈$15.2 | 773 THB ≈ $22.5 |
| Ad ROAS | 10.4x | 23.6x |
| Ad share of revenue | 5.5% | 2.9% |
| Cancellations | 0.35% | 4 of 11,403 (0.04%) |
| Orders per negative review | 138 | 152 |
| Downtime and stock-out losses | 25% | 6% |
Phuket is Bali a few years earlier: fewer restaurants for the same audience, cheaper impressions, a higher basket. Ads of 253,000 baht over the year brought back 6 million — and almost none of our Phuket restaurants spends more than 4% of revenue on them.
An honest caveat: we have an order of magnitude fewer accounts in Phuket than in Bali, and these numbers are less stable. But the direction of the difference has held since the first month of observation. Cancellations — 4 orders out of 11,403 in a year: courier logistics in Phuket are tighter than in Bali.
The season: tourists on the island by month
Average number of tourists on Phuket per day, by month — from our tracker Phuket Stats (immigration data and arrivals).
| Month | Tourists on the island per day |
|---|---|
| January | 349k |
| February | 345k |
| March | 320k |
| April | 295k |
| May | 237k |
| June | 197k |
| July | 199k |
| August | 209k |
| September | 201k |
| October | 229k |
| November | 282k |
| December | 326k |
Peak in January, trough in June, a 1.8x swing. November and December are the way in, April the way out. The largest group is Russians: 162,000 in January against 93,000 in July, average stay 42 days, plus about 30,000 permanent residents. Then China, India, the UK, Kazakhstan, Germany. The practical conclusion for a menu: English and Russian item names and a photo on every item — without them a tourist does not open the menu.
In season demand rises, and with it the cost of every mistake: a switched-off item in January costs almost twice what it costs in June. The rating has to be built before the season, because the flood of in-season reviews dilutes any effort. Ads are needed less in season than it seems: a payback above 20x is a sign of an under-used budget, not a signal to push it past the 6%-of-revenue break point.
In low season it is the reverse: shorten the menu rather than switching items off "until better times"; keep the app’s opening hours honest, because a cancelled order hurts your feed position more than a closed restaurant does.
Areas: basket and volume across our accounts
Grab delivers within a radius of the restaurant, and Phuket is a long island: a restaurant in Rawai does not exist for a customer in Patong. Choosing an area is choosing a basket, a level of competition and a seasonality. Across our accounts over 12 months:
| Area | Restaurants | Orders per year | Average order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bang Tao / Cherng Talay (Boat Avenue, Laguna) | 4 | 4 198 | ≈885 THB |
| Rawai / Nai Harn | 2 | 4 691 | ≈680 THB |
| Karon | 1 | 1 706 | ≈700 THB |
| Chalong | 2 | 369 | ≈875 THB |
| Patong | 1 | 259 | ≈865 THB |
Two pictures. Bang Tao and Laguna — a basket 30% higher than Rawai: villas, families, long stays. Rawai and Nai Harn — the largest volume per restaurant: 2,300 orders a year against 1,000 in Bang Tao, driven by expats and winter residents who order year-round. Karon sits between them on basket, with tourist flow in season.
Chalong and Patong in the table are one or two restaurants each — a pointer, not a norm. Phuket Town is a local customer and a Thai price: baskets under 500 THB, and it does not fit the tourist logic of this page.
Few Grab orders in Phuket: where to start
The same order as anywhere, with Phuket adjustments. The full breakdown is in few orders — five steps.
- Open the 30-day report on switched-off items. In Phuket that is 6% of revenue on average; at some restaurants more.
- Check the cancellation rate and order acceptance time — these move your feed position on both platforms.
- The rating and the last 20 reviews: one one-star costs twenty five-stars, and in season there is no time to fix it.
- The menu: English and Russian names, a photo on every item, in-season and off-season prices.
- Only then ads — and not above the 6%-of-revenue break point.
Who does this
Delivery Booster manages GrabFood accounts for restaurants in Phuket and in Bali — 110+ restaurants under management; in Thailand we have our own team with a country director. GrabFood only: if you need LINE MAN, we will tell you honestly that it is not us.
Every number on this page comes from our clients’ dashboards and our tourist tracker, not from illustrations. The difference between an in-house manager and an agency is covered separately: who should run GrabFood.
Frequently asked
Is there a service in Phuket that manages a restaurant’s Grab account?
Yes. Delivery Booster manages GrabFood accounts for restaurants in Phuket and in Bali — 110+ restaurants under management in total. We do not manage LINE MAN and say so up front.
What commission does Grab charge restaurants in Thailand?
Publicly, a 15–30% range; the restaurants we manage in Phuket are on 30%. Signing up is free and the commission is deducted at payout.
My restaurant in Phuket gets few orders on Grab. Where do I start?
With the 30-day report on switched-off items, then cancellations and order acceptance time, then the rating and the last 20 reviews, then English names and photos in the menu. Ads come last, and not above 6% of revenue.
Why is the average order higher in Phuket than in Bali?
773 THB against ≈$15: the market is less saturated, fewer restaurants compete for the same audience, ads cost half as much relative to revenue and pay back twice as well — 23.6x against 10.4x.
When is Phuket’s high season and what should be done before it?
November to April, peaking in January: about 349,000 tourists on the island per day against 197,000 in June. Before November — build the rating, switch the whole menu on, set honest hours, add English and Russian item names.
Keep reading
Two ways to go from here
Both work. The first costs nothing and does not require us.
The method and the norms — open and free
The five stages we run on every account, published in full. Alongside them, market norms from 96 restaurants so you have something to compare your numbers against.
An audit of your listing
Paste your restaurant’s Grab link and the report comes back in a couple of minutes: menu and search, photo coverage, reviews, prices against the neighbours. Free, no strings; after that it is 10% of delivery revenue with no upfront payment.
Diagnose my listingor message us directly →