Walnut Creek To Consider 15% Cap On Food Delivery Fees During COVID-19 Pandemic

WALNUT CREEK (CBS SF) – The Walnut Creek City Council on Tuesday will consider a cap on fees local restaurants pay online ordering and delivery service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, some local restaurants and the business advocacy groups Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association came to the city requesting a temporary cap of 15 percent charged by third-party services including DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats. These delivery service companies, a city report says, have been charging between 10 and 30 percent per order when customers order food through the delivery service's app or restaurant website.

Whereas before the COVID-19 pandemic these fees didn't necessarily have a substantial impact on local restaurants, with indoor dining suspended since March, restaurants in Walnut Creek are now reliant on delivery/take-out orders for upwards of 70 percent of their business operations. The fees on these orders, the city report says, present a significant impact on restaurants' profitability.

Other Bay Area cities, including Berkeley, San Francisco, South San Francisco, San Leandro and Fremont, have taken similar actions, the city report says.

Last month, the Alameda County approved a 15 percent cap on food delivery fees in unincorporated areas.

If the council chooses to adopt a proposed urgency ordinance enacting a temporary cap on food delivery commissions and fees, it would require a four-fifths council vote.

Tuesday night's meeting begins at 6 p.m., and is a Zoom telemeeting.

Coronavirus