ELYRIA, Ohio — In a joint Community Development and Finance Committee meeting earlier this week,Elyria leadersdiscussed the idea of creating a restaurant assistance program meant to curb restaurant fees associated with third-party food delivery companies.
In some cases, those third-party delivery companies, such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, can charge businesses commission fees up to 30% of the overall sale, on top of delivery fees for the customer.
Last December, News 5highlighted the city of Beachwood, which enacted its own fee-free delivery service, initially hiring 6-8 drivers for $20/hour.
Because of its success, the program in Beachwood extended its drivers through the end of March.
Homa Moheimani with the Ohio Restaurant Association helped with Beachwood’s rollout, which she said saved $15,000 for restaurants through 300 deliveries in the first 15 days.
“You see a city like Beachwood and they were logistically able to figure it out,” she said. “As this pandemic continues to go on, unfortunately, folks are going to find creative ways to surround those businesses.”
Marwan Kash takes pride in his prices as the owner at Nick’s Restaurant in Elyria, which is why he continuously turns down calls from third party delivery services.
“They keep calling,” he said. “And I refuse. The minute you start paying this guy and that guy, our prices are going to skyrocket.”
However, Kash told News 5 he’s excited about the idea of a city-operated delivery service.
“Customers love our prices and we want to maintain it low to keep our seniors [happy],” he said.
It’s not clear when Elyria city leaders would vote on enacting a similar program.
