Commissioner Monestime seeks limits on third-party food delivery fees

MIAMI-DADE – The Miami-Dade County Commission on March 16 approved a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Jean Monestime urging the state to help the restaurant industry by limiting service fees charged to restaurants by third-party food delivery services during a declared state of emergency.

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants experienced a sharp decline in the number of dine-in customers, causing them to rely heavily on third-party food delivery services like Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates, and Doordash to reach their customers. But the high fees often charged by these services are hampering restaurants’ recovery efforts.

Commissioner Monestime’s resolution supports state legislation filed by Rep. Anna Eskamani that would prohibit third-party delivery services from charging a service fee higher than 20 percent of the cost of an individual order. In cases in which the order is delivered by an employee of the restaurant or an independent contractor with whom the restaurant has contracted directly, the fee would be capped at 10 percent of the order.

“Restaurant owners have suffered enough already from the COVID-19 pandemic without having to cope with these very high third-party food delivery fees as they struggle to recover,” Commissioner Monestime said.