Food delivery apps will have to reveal how much they’re charging Chicago restaurants

Food delivery apps like Grubhub and DoorDash are already transparent about just how much they'll charge you to have food delivered to your house. But as of May 22, they'll have to tell customers exactly how much they're charging Chicago restaurants, too.

In a press conference today, Mayor Lori Lightfoot discussed new measures the city is implementing that will require third-party delivery apps to disclose how much commission they're taking from local restaurants to execute their service.

"It's very important that there's transparency. I think the average customer who's ordering wants to know what the actual payment is—what the fee is going to be for the restaurant," Mayor Lightfoot said. "And if a delivery service is taking what I think some have alleged, which is an inordinate amount of the fee, making it difficult for restaurants to be able to earn what are already very tight margins, I think the average consumer wants to know that and is going to act accordingly on the basis of that information."

During lockdown, national third-party delivery apps have come under fire for reportedly charging eateries exorbitant fees for a now critical service. State and city officials across the country have started backing bills that would cap the fee for restaurants or offer more transparency to consumers.

"We have been talking to the various app companies and food-delivery companies that do services on apps for some time. We had extensive conversations with the restaurants and also consumers, and we think that this strikes the right balance around transparency," Mayor Lightfoot says. "It's certainly our hope that we're not going to have to force food delivery businesses into compliance, but if we do, we will."

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