New law takes a big bite from my business

When New York City implemented its minimum pay rule for food delivery workers last year, it was celebrated by some as a milestone moment in the restaurant industry. But now that this policy is in action, concerns raised about how it could affect restaurants have proven to be well founded, making it clear that the city still needs to figure out how to balance its goals with the needs of the small businesses that make up the fabric of the city.

When I opened my restaurant in 2014, I was clear-eyed about the challenges that lay ahead in such a competitive industry. I loved welcoming customers into our restaurant and cherished the community we built as a well-known Italian food hotspot, but the reality of owning a restaurant also meant long hours and risk getting it off the ground. Now, the city’s new minimum pay requirement for delivery workers has introduced a host of new obstacles, and thrown my business, and countless others, into disarray.

What’s especially disappointing is that policymakers were well aware that this was what was likely to happen, but decided to push forward anyway.

Each delivery order is affirmation that we are doing something right. But since the city’s new rule went into effect, not only has my restaurant had to deal with confusion about what it means for our business, but customers are frustrated over higher fees while service challenges and compromised food quality have become recurring issues.

I have seen this change myself in shared photos and feedback from customers we’ve known for a long time — their orders, now more expensive, arrive cold or unrecognizable by the time it gets to them. There is simply no incentive for delivery workers to pick up larger orders anymore, so many now sit at our restaurant for long periods of time before they are picked up, diminishing the convenience and food quality that once earned us our customers’ trust.

The consequences stemming from this new rule have hurt not only my restaurant’s already small margins, but also limited the opportunities I can reliably offer to my staff. We’ve been able to use these platforms to help drive the bulk of our revenue, and our restaurant as we know it would not be as successful without offering these services alongside our in-person dining.

But the fallout from these changes has led to a significant drop in delivery orders, jeopardizing what amounts to 70% of our total sales, leaving me and my staff feeling uncertain about the future.

While the increased cost of delivery and decline in food quality might be contributing to customer frustration, the broader impact on the services that once propelled restaurants like mine to survive cannot be overlooked.

When the specifics of this rule were being debated, the city’s own study predicted that costs would increase to cover this change, essentially shrugging off any negative impact that would have on the restaurants that actually use these platforms. That’s exactly what happened, but it’s not clear why this had to be done in a way that would have such a big impact on restaurants and customers.

It’s clear this latest policy is haphazard, not fully considering the disruptive implications on restaurants and our ability to fulfill customers’ obvious demand for food delivery. Even worse, the city isn’t applying these rules fairly to businesses of all kinds.

Small restaurants like mine are much more vulnerable to these increased costs than billion-dollar grocery delivery services not covered by the rule and don’t have to navigate increased costs. The fact that food delivery from grocery stores was somehow not covered by this rule was also well known, but ignored just the same — an inconvenient hurdle to just pushing this change through.

Delivery workers have played a part in helping sustain our businesses and they should be meaningfully compensated for the service they provide. However, this new rule has proven to be flawed and disruptive for the entire restaurant industry, leading to higher costs and a decline in service quality.

I urge policymakers to make much needed improvements to this policy that has completely missed the mark and damaged the very industry it was meant to protect.

As I answer calls from concerned patrons, questions about the future of my restaurant and the well-being of our workers and customers loom large. New York City has a responsibility to work towards stabilizing our industry and addressing the unintended consequences of policies that impact restaurants and the livelihoods of hardworking New Yorkers.