Dutchess County Legislator Nick Page is considering trying to resurrect a proposal to cap the fees delivery services such as GrubHub and Door Dash charge restaurants.

The proposal, which would cap those fees at 10%, was dismissed from the legislature’s agenda last month over fear of litigation, Page said.

The cap would apply only during the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic, Page told the Hudson Valley Observer. It would not affect fees charged to consumers.

“Restaurants sign up willingly with these services because they feel like they can’t afford not to because of the marketing reach,” Page said. “People are using these platforms exclusively to look for delivery and takeout options.”

Kamel Jamal, owner of River Valley Restaurants, which includes Tito Santana Taqueria, Beacon Bread Company, Ziatun and Vegetalien, favors a cap.

He said the delivery services charge restaurants as much as 30% per order for delivery. 

Jamal acknowledged that the services help bring business to the restaurants by placing them on their platforms for customers to select. They also reduce a restaurant’s liability cost of having their delivery drivers.

Page said he proposed the legislation because the delivery services have been able to charge fees “that are very difficult for the restaurants to manage in good times and when people are almost exclusively using delivery, they become prohibitive.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants have lost most of their dine-in business and now operate almost exclusively through takeout and delivery.

“I may bring it back up in January,” Page said. “There may be a shift in Republican leadership that would change their point of view. I had positive conversations with one Republican on this piece of legislation. There’s a glimmer.”

With the arrival of winter and COVID-19’s second wave, more people will be using delivery services, he added.

Gregg Pulver, a Republican legislator and chair of the legislature, did not allow it onto the agenda because, he said, the county cannot legally enact it.

“But we will continue to assist businesses any way we can,” Pulver said in a statement. “Perhaps public perception of third-party ordering and delivery services needs to change and consumer habits need to shift in order to avoid private-entities who choose to engage in overly burdensome fee structures.”

Pulver based his decision on the legislative attorney’s finding that while there was “no clear answer,” the proposed cap “does not have the broad-based public benefit required to constitute a valid exercise” of power. The attorney did note that New York City and Westchester County have passed similar laws but decided that “[e]nacting the Proposed Local Law is not worth the potential risk of a lawsuit…”

Pulver said the top priority is that the state and federal governments need to pass financial and regulatory relief.

“While we still face a difficult winter, hope is within sight with successful vaccine announcements,” Pulver said. “Many businesses, especially restaurants, need help to carry them until the recovery begins.”

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