Today, Portland City Council unanimously approved a regulation of third-party food platforms introduced by Mayor Ted Wheeler to permanently limit the fees platforms may charge and the terms they may impose upon restaurants and food carts. This policy ensures that Portland restaurants and food carts may access delivery services at 15%, and takeout orders at 4% of an order’s purchase price, respectively. Portland restaurants and food carts increasingly relied on third-party food platforms (such as UberEats, Grubhub, and DoorDash) during the COVID-19 pandemic when dining-in was limited.
“This ordinance will protect restaurants and food carts in Portland from unreasonably high commissions charged by platforms for delivery and pickup orders,” said Mayor Wheeler. “This ordinance also creates several important safeguards to ensure restaurants and food carts may contract for these services in a voluntary, fair, and transparent manner.”
These permanent safeguards will take effect in March 2023, following the expiration of the existing temporary caps that were originally approved by City Council in July 2020 and subsequently extended in June 2022.
Several other leading U.S. cities, including Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; and New York City, New York have also adopted similar policies to regulate third-party food platforms.
To develop this ordinance, the Mayor’s office engaged with many Portland restaurants and food carts, local business associations and trade groups, food platforms, and other stakeholders over the last seven months to openly, transparently, and fairly address their needs in this policy.