Credit Isabella Gomez Sarmiento / NPR
Many area restaurants have relied on third party companies to provide food delivery services during the pandemic. But some restaurant owners, associations, and elected officials have accused these services like GrubHub and DoorDash of jacking up their rates, especially at times when establishments relied on take-out and delivery to be able to serve customers.
Erie County Legislature Minority Leader Joe Lorigo said something needs to be done to make sure restaurants stay afloat.
“Their costs are going up in unanticipated ways, because they re having to purchase more and more to go containers. So that s eating away at their profits,” Lorigo said. “Then as the third party delivery apps continue to raise their prices, that eats away even more. They re operating on razor thin margins as it is, and they continue to get hammered by additional costs. This is one way to cap that.”