SACRAMENTO – Legislation by California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) that requires food delivery companies, like DoorDash, Grub Hub, Postmates and Uber Eats, to have an agreement with restaurants before delivering their food passed the Legislature today with bipartisan support.
“This bill levels the playing field for small businesses by empowering mom-and-pop restaurants to have a say in whether delivery app companies can deliver food to their customers,” Assemblywoman Gonzalez said. Her bill, Assembly Bill 2149 or the Fair Food Delivery Act, now goes to the governor for consideration.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, consumers began to rely more on the convenience of having food from their favorite restaurant delivered to their home. Noticing this trend, many restaurants have invested in their own delivery systems, or they rely on third party food delivery platforms to service customers. App-based food delivery companies have aggressively emerged on the scene and disrupted the foodservice industry. California restaurant owners often discover these apps offering their food for delivery to customers even when they never agreed to the service. Unauthorized food deliveries can diminish the restaurant owner’s intended quality of their food, or misinform customers about prices and menu changes.
AB 2149 requires a food delivery company to obtain the express written consent of a food facility before delivering the business’ food. According to AB 2149, a food delivery company is any online business acting as an intermediary between consumers and multiple food facilities to submit food orders from a consumer to a participating food facility, and to arrange for the delivery of the order from the food facility to the consumer.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez represents California’s 80th Assembly District, located in southern San Diego County, including the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, and National City. She serves as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Women in the Workplace, and Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. For more information on Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez visit https://a80.asmdc.org/
