Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla today signed legislation into law adopting a cap on third-party food delivery fees, in an effort to support small businesses. The new regulations, approved by the City Council, place limits on the fees third party delivery services and websites can impose on restaurants during the current State of Emergency. Mayor Bhalla and the City Council adopted the new legislation due to the previous state-wide regulations on third-party food delivery fees having expired.
As of February 23, and throughout the duration of the current COVID-19 State of Emergency, any third-party food takeout and delivery service application or website will be prohibited from charging a fee to a restaurant for take-out or delivery service greater than:
“Our business owners should have the peace of mind that they won’t be stuck with exorbitant delivery fees at a time when they’re struggling to make ends meet,” said Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla. “This legislation will help our businesses keep as much revenue as possible to pay employees, pay rent, and more. My administration has been in touch with GrubHub which has pledged to comply with our ordinance, and I thank them for their cooperation. I am confident all third-party delivery services will do so as well.”
“I’m pleased that Mayor Bhalla and the City Council have successfully secured a reduction in third party delivery fees for the hospitality industry of Hoboken,” said Anthony Pino, owner of Bin 14 and Anthony David’s. “The savings businesses like mine could realize from this could be thousands of dollars over the course of the pandemic. These funds will assist restaurant owners keeping their staff employed, and the lights on. During these difficult times, we are thankful for the steadfast work the City of Hoboken has done to help keep small businesses, in business.”
“On behalf of the Hoboken Business Alliance, we are pleased to support the City’s efforts to keep money in the hands of small businesses,” said Gregory DellAquilla, President of the Hoboken Business Alliance. “This is the latest example of Hoboken’s government working with business owners to understand the difficulties that they are facing on a daily basis due to the pandemic. This is a welcome change for our City.”
The City is currently considering an amendment to the recently passed ordinance that will allow businesses to opt-in to additional marketing opportunities with third-party delivery services, if they so choose, without any rate increase.
