ACTION ALERT: Demand City Council Extend the Delivery Fee Cap

On June 29th the emergency order that created a 10% Delivery Fee Cap in the City of Portland will expire.  We need your help to keep the cap in place.  

Recently, the City of Portland proposed a new ordinance with a fee cap of 15% and additional regulations for third party delivery apps.   The ordinance is intended to protect neighborhood restaurants, bars, food carts and delivery drivers but it missed the mark. 

With the incredible support of our friends at Business for a Better Portland, members of IRAO were able to meet with the Mayor’s staff to express their concerns and this coming Wednesday,  June 22 at 2pm Mayor Wheeler will be introducing an ordinance that will extend the 10% delivery fee cap for eight months.  

We need to send a loud and clear message to all of the members of the City Council that the cap must be extended for eight months to allow time for the Delivery Apps and our community to work together to create a new permanent ordinance that will not harm our neighborhood businesses. 

Here’s how you can help:

  • Sign up here to testify at City Hall or Online on June 22 at 2 pm in support of S570  You must register no later than June 22 at noon. Testimony is limited to three minutes.

  • If public speaking isn’t your thing, that time doesn’t work for you, or you have more than three minutes of information to share, take a moment right now to send your written testimony to cctestimony@portlandoregon.gov

  • Share this information with your friends, customers and colleagues. Download an IG post image here or a story image here

We are thrilled that the Mayor has proposed an extension of the emergency delivery fee cap.  This wouldn’t have been possible without  the support of our friends at Business for a Better Portland, and the many members of our independent restaurant community who generously shared their time to educate City Hall and the Delivery Apps on the needs of neighborhood restaurants.  Special thanks to: Daniel Gold, Han Ly Hwang, Katie Prevost, Nick Schuurman, Brandi Williams, Ben Dyer, Peter Platt and Bryan Steelman.

Now it’s up to each and every person reading this note to finish the job.  Make no mistake Third Party Delivery Apps are not keen on this extension and they will be testifying against the measure.  These companies have marketing budgets and lobbyists to help them sway the vote, but what they don’t have is your passion and courage. Please take action today.

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A note for the diners reading this post, here’s why this issue is so important. 

While we may look busy, your favorite restaurants, bars, and food carts are struggling. Two years of pandemic closures, supply chain issues and inflation have exhausted any savings we had and have taken a toll on our revenue and endangered our futures.  Finding employees is really tough and 72% of small restaurant owners report that they may have to close in the next few months. 

While some delivery companies charge you a fee for delivery, they always charge us hefty commissions, sometimes up to 30%.  They even charge us a fee when you place an order through their app and pick it up yourself. We operate on really thin margins and paying these high commissions just doesn’t work. If the emergency ordinance expires many restaurants will be forced to increase menu prices, or sacrifice delivery. In either case, their business will suffer while the delivery companies thrive.

We hope you’ll join us in advocating for an extension of the 10% delivery cap. And we also encourage you to order your meals directly from us.

Katy Connors