Someone needs to stand up for the local restaurants:
Public hearing set for third-party delivery bills
BY JASON COHEN
A package of legislation
that could drastically alter the
restaurant scene is set for a
public hearing this week.
On April 29, Councilman
Mark Gjonaj, chair of the
small business committee,
will present eight bills to the
council. Chief of Staff Reginald
Johnson explained that
four third-party companies,
Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub
and Postmates, control
the restaurant sector in NYC.
He noted that while they are
not profi table business models,
they do make a chunk of
change off the restaurants.
“We think that these bills
will go a long way to help level
the playing fi eld,” he said.
“The idea that four companies
have that much control begs
the larger issue that there
needs to be some type of oversight.”
The package includes proposals
to create oversight in
the packaging of food for deliveries,
the disclosure of fees
and commissions to consumers
that are imposed on participating
restaurants, licensing
on third party deliveries, the
prohibition of erroneous telephone
order fees, the display
of health inspection grades online,
capping fees charged by
third party delivery services,
prohibition of third-party delivery
services from limiting
the menu prices restaurants
may charge on food and beverage
orders and businesses
to disclose information about
how gratuities are provided to
their delivery workers in connection
with online orders of
goods.
These bills were introduced
in February and the
hope is that they are passed
by May or June, Johnson said.
He explained that not having
a cap on fees hurts businesses,
but especially now during the
COVID crisis.
“We’re not trying to hurt
their Uber Eats and Grubhub
business,” he said. “It is
our point of view that someone
needs to stand up for the
local restaurants.”
This bill would prohibit
third-party food delivery
services from charging restaurants
more than a 10 percent
BRONX TIMES R 8 EPORTER,MAY 1-7, 2020 BTR
fee per order for the use
of their service. During a declared
emergency, when a
state of emergency is in effect
in the city and restaurants are
prohibited from offering food
for consumption on-premises,
third-party food delivery
services would be limited to
charging restaurants delivery
fees only, up to a total of
10 percent per order. All other
types of fees, such as advertising
or processing fees, would
be prohibited.
According to Johnson,
there has been support among
council members to pass the
bills, but they also anticipate
opposition and testimony
from the third party delivery
companies.
He noted that big companies
like McDonalds and
Burger King can handle the
fees, but the small pizzerias
and delis can’t. Johnson told
the Bronx Times that he always
gets calls from business
owners complaining about
the fees, but during the epidemic
they have increased.
Johnson explained the
legislation has spread nationwide
since it was introduced
it. Cities like Chicago
are looking to cap fees at fi ve
percent and San Francisco ordered
a temporary cap during
the crisis.
“The people that need to
be protected here are the restaurant
owners,” Johnson
stressed.
Chair of the Small Business Committee for the City Council, Mark Gjonaj
is holding a public hearing Thursday where a package of legislation that
could drastically alter the restaurant scene will be discussed. File photo
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