Image: Dreamstime / The B.C. government will roll out a permanent cap on food-delivery fees starting this Sunday, January 1, the first of its kind in Canada, by limiting delivery fees to 20 per cent of an order.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Food delivery fees

B.C. govt. to cap food-delivery fees starting Sunday, January 1

Dec 29, 2022 | 7:43 AM

CHILLIWACK — The B.C. government will roll out Canada’s first permanent cap on food-delivery companies starting this Sunday, January 1.

According to a news release issued early Thursday morning, there will now be a limit on what food-delivery companies can charge restaurants in B.C. in 2023, giving small business owners greater assurance about their costs.

“We all have a favourite local restaurant, somewhere we celebrate as families and friends, eat our favourite foods, or get a taste of home,” said Brenda Bailey, Minster of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation. “When restaurants were being charged unfair fees, our government acted fast to implement a temporary cap on delivery-service fees. We’re excited to bring in a permanent cap in the new year that will provide more support to restaurants.”

The Food Delivery Service Fee Act was passed on Nov. 3, 2022, in response to delivery companies charging fees to restaurants as high as 30 per cent of an order’s value during the pandemic. It followed a temporary cap put in place in December 2020, and extended the cap again in September and December 2021.

The new permanent cap limits the fees that delivery companies can charge restaurants to no more than 20 per cent of the dollar value of an order. The act also allows delivery companies to offer optional, enhanced services for restaurants to opt into at their discretion. The provincial government did not specify what these “enhanced services” entailed in its news release.

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To ensure drivers are treated fairly, the act prohibits delivery companies from downloading costs onto drivers, ensuring employees and contractors will continue to be paid their wages and gratuities.

“We’ve seen dramatic growth in app-based delivery work in recent years,” said Janet Routledge, Parliamentary Secretary for Labour. “But we need to ensure workers are treated fairly. It was a priority to include protections for food-delivery workers in this legislation that prevent the costs of the delivery-fee cap from being downloaded onto them.”

The B.C. government says it has also supported the hospitality industry by equipping bars and tourism operators with liquor licences with the option of permanently purchasing beer, wine and spirits at wholesale prices; by authorizing thousands of temporary patios; and increasing access to the small-business corporate income tax rate by raising the ceiling from $15 million to $50 million in taxable capital.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

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B.C. govt. to cap food-delivery fees starting Sunday, January 1

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