AKRON, Ohio — Akron City Council is considering legislation that would cap how much food delivery services can charge restaurants for delivering meals to customers.
Right now, the surcharges are 30% of the restaurant’s bill. City council is looking to mirror actions taken in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati by temporarily capping food delivery services at 15%.
The proposed ordinance would be lifted when the statewide pandemic emergency declaration is lifted and restaurants go back to 100% capacity.
In its proposed legislation, city council used an example of how much money the proposed ordinance would save a restaurant.
Showing a real order from a locally owned restaurant, the order total was $61, but the restaurant was required to pay out $18.30 to the third-party service, resulting in a payout of $42.70. In 2020, the same business did $103, 587 in sales. Their commission fees totaled $32,111.97. However, had the legislation been in place, the same restaurant would have been able to hold back on to $16,055.98 for reinvestment back into their business.
According to News 5 media partner Ohio.com, lawmakers are taking a week to review the legislation that would cap commission rate until 120 days after state health orders are lifted.
RELATED: Cleveland ordinance signed capping commission fees on food delivery services
