In a move to help financially distressed San Diego restaurants, Mayor Todd Gloria plans to issue an executive order next week that would limit the high fees that business owners charge for third-party delivery companies such as DoorDash and Uber. Eats, his office announced late on Friday.
The decision comes in response to a request this week by three members of the City Council for Gloria to take emergency action to temporarily limit delivery fees imposed on restaurants to no more than 15 percent of the cost of an order. online. If Gloria took action next week, she would follow the example of other large cities, such as Los Angeles and New York, which have tried to control the delivery costs that restaurants face at a time when many of them are barely They manage to survive, since the spread of COVID-19 has forced to close the meals in person.
While many San Diego restaurants have temporarily closed their doors, others are trying to stay in business by continuing to offer takeout.
“Mayor Gloria intends to issue an executive order next week to put a quota cap on third-party delivery services to help provide relief to local restaurants,” Deputy Chief of Staff Nick Serrano said in a E-mailed statement “We will be happy to provide additional details when order is finalized.”
Councilman Stephen Whitburn, along with his colleagues Marni von Wilpert and Raúl Campillo, said they made the request to Gloria after speaking with a number of restaurateurs who were concerned about the added financial burden of high fees, which in many cases can be as high as 30 percent or more for an order.
“This does not affect the rates that delivery services charge the consumer,” explained Whitburn. “Those are rates that the consumer can see, but the ones that are charged to the restaurant are not seen by the public. And this executive order that we propose will expire when the emergency is over. So this is very much geared to the fact that with the on-site eating ban, restaurants are relying on takeout and delivery.
“We have heard from many restaurants that this takes a big bite out of their already low income. We tried to write the law in a way that would allow delivery services to provide their service, earn income and employ local drivers. Ultimately, this will put more income in the pockets of local restaurants trying to stay afloat. “
Efforts to reach out to various delivery services, including DoorDash, Uber Eats and Postmates, for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.
The mayor’s office move to tackle delivery fees comes as State Assemblywoman Lorena González, D-San Diego, goes ahead with a state-level bill of her own that calls for a permanent, state-level cap. on delivery rates. His legislation, AB 286, which he announced Thursday, would limit fees to a maximum of 15 percent of an online order, not including taxes, tips and any other costs charged to customers. The legislation would also require food delivery platforms to provide customers and restaurants with a detailed cost breakdown of each transaction.
González said he believes that it is important that this cap be maintained in the long term, regardless of whether there is a pandemic that restricts the operations of the restaurants.
“There is no reason to believe that these limits are not needed in the future,” said González, who hopes that a hearing on his bill could take place in late March or early April. “There is no self-management when there is a responsible change on the part of these application companies. We believe that these protections are necessary because the power dynamic is not going to change. The delivery is not free, and we give that false perception to customers that it can be done at no cost. Someone is bearing that cost and it shouldn’t just be small restaurants. “
Since Gloria has not yet provided details on what her executive order will say, it is unclear how long the rate cap will be in place or what the actual cap will be.
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