If approved, the measure will only apply to restaurants within the city of Los Angeles.
Delivery workers.
Photo:
Mariela Lombard / The NY Newspaper
The Los Angeles City Council voted today to limit the fees charged by food delivery companies such as 15% of the total transaction. Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Postmates, to the restaurants that use them.
The motion approved unanimously, presented by the councilors Mitch O’Farrell, Curren Price, Jr. and Paul Krekorian, intends to make it "illegal for a third-party food delivery service to charge a restaurant … more than 15% of the purchase price of said online order, during the local public health emergency related to COVID-19 "According to the motion, It only applies to restaurants within the Los Angeles city limits.
The motion further requires that 100% of all tips given within the application, delivered to the driver who actually distributed the food, and that the companies that make these applications cannot keep them.
An urgency clause would enact the new limit immediately, and will require transparency in all application fees for the third-party food delivery service in the future.
The current motion would lapse 90 days after restaurant dining rooms can reopen.
The motion orders the city attorney's office to develop the language of the ordinance, which will then be resubmitted to the city council for final approval.
Other cities like San Francisco have previously established rate limits of restaurant delivery applications, as operators across the country continue to claim these companies for charging rates of more than 30% to restaurants during this unprecedented pandemic.
