City supports restaurants with two weeks of free delivery
With indoor dining banned and patio service dwindling as temperatures drop, Toronto is stepping up to help hundreds of restaurants bring in some extra money.
In May, the city announced the Open for Business program where businesses — not limited to food — could sign up for free to use Ritual’s mobile ordering tool for pickup, Ritual ONE. As an extension of the program, participating restaurants can now access delivery service through DoorDash Drive, where businesses are charged a flat rate rather than a percentage for each order.
As a special offer, starting Monday and running until Nov. 8, delivery will be free for the restaurants and customers.
The aim is to encourage customers to order directly from local businesses and for those businesses to increase their commission-free online sales.
A spokesperson for Ritual says both Ritual and DoorDash are covering the
fees that are being waived.
The partnership is welcome relief for the struggling foodservice industry, as third-party delivery apps charge hefty commission fees of up to 30 per cent per order. In response, some restaurant owners started their own delivery service as COVID-19 shutdowns took a swing at profits. In the U.S., cities such as New York, Denver, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Los Angeles have enforced a 10- to 15- per-cent cap on delivery fees from third-party apps such as Uber Eats during the pandemic.
In B.C., it has also become an election issue as both the NDP and Liberal parties promised a 15 per cent cap if elected.
Skip the Dishes announced earlier this month that it is offering a 25 per cent rebate on commissions for restaurants.
Later this week, Councillor Mike Ford (Etobicoke North) will be introducing a motion for the city to call on the province to implement a similar limit on commission fees. Toronto doesn’t have the authority to make these calls.
MPP Amanda Simard (Glengarry-Prescott-Russel) has also made similar demands for the province to cap fees at 15 per cent.
“Our restaurants need our support and they need it now,” Simard said at Queen’s Park last week.
The full list of participating restaurants is available through Ritual.co/order/toronto.