B.C. places 15-per-cent cap on fees for food delivery services

The B.C. government has placed a cap on food-service delivery fees.

On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth announced a temporary 15-per-cent limit on fees charged to restaurants from food delivery companies such as SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and Uber Eats.

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There is also a cap of five per cent on other related fees, such as online ordering and processing fees, to ensure that companies don’t shift delivery costs elsewhere.

The order will be in place until three months after the province’s state of emergency, which began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, is lifted.

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B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association president Ian Tostenson told Global News in October that food delivery platforms can charge restaurants as much as 30 per cent in commission on the total price of a food order, putting even more pressure on an industry struggling to stay afloat.

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Both of B.C.’s major political parties had promised to limit the fees during the provincial election campaign in October.

U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York have already implemented similar caps.

— With files from Richard Zussman