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A man is seen making deliveries on an electric bicycle in New York’s Times Square (Luis C. Ribeiro of the New York Daily News)
When New York City introduced minimum wage rules for food delivery workers last year, some celebrated it as a landmark moment for the restaurant industry. But now that the policy is in place, concerns about how it will affect restaurants have proven to be well-founded, with the city’s goals and the small businesses that make it up. It is clear that we still need to find a way to balance the needs of Urban structure.
When I opened my restaurant in 2014, I was acutely aware of the challenges that lay ahead in such a competitive industry. Although I loved welcoming customers into my restaurant and cherished the community we had built as a famous Italian food hotspot, the realities of owning a restaurant also meant long hours and the risk of taking a business off the ground. I meant it. Now, the city’s new minimum wage requirements for delivery workers have created many new hurdles and disrupted my business and countless others.
What is particularly disappointing is that policymakers were fully aware that this was likely to happen, but decided to go ahead anyway.
Each delivery order is confirmation that we’re doing the right thing. But since the city’s new rules went into effect, my restaurant has not only had to deal with confusion about what it means for our business, but customers have also had to deal with higher prices. , while service issues and poor food quality are recurring issues.
I’ve seen this change myself in photos shared and feedback from customers I’ve known for years. Customer orders are now expensive and arrive cold or unrecognizable by the time they arrive. With delivery drivers no longer incentivized to pick up large orders, many now sit in restaurants for long periods of time before picking them up, reducing the convenience and quality of food that once earned customers’ trust.
The consequences of this new rule not only hurt my restaurant’s already small profits, but also limited the opportunities I could provide my staff with certainty. While we have been able to drive a large portion of our revenue using these platforms, our restaurants would not have been as successful without offering these services alongside in-person dining. I know.
However, the impact of these changes has resulted in a significant drop in delivery orders, putting 70% of our total sales at risk and leaving me and my staff feeling uncertain about the future.
Rising delivery costs and declining food quality may be contributing to customer dissatisfaction, but ignoring the broader impact on service that was once the driving force behind restaurants like mine staying afloat You can not.
As the details of this rule were being discussed, the city’s own research predicted that costs would increase to cover this change and that the negative impact on restaurants using these platforms would actually be essentially negligible. I was there. That’s exactly what happened, but it’s unclear why it had to be done in a way that had such a huge impact on restaurants and customers.
It is clear that this latest policy is ad hoc and does not adequately consider the disruptive impact on restaurants and our ability to meet our customers’ clear demand for food delivery. What’s worse, the city doesn’t apply these rules fairly to all types of businesses.
Small restaurants like mine are far more vulnerable to these cost increases than the multibillion-dollar grocery delivery services that are not subject to the rules, and they don’t have to avoid them. . The fact that food deliveries from grocery stores were somehow exempt from this rule was also well known, but equally ignored. It’s an inconvenient hurdle to push through this change.
Delivery drivers help keep our business afloat and should be meaningfully compensated for the services they provide. However, this new rule is flawed and will prove to be disruptive to the restaurant industry as a whole, leading to higher costs and lower service quality.
I urge policymakers to make much-needed improvements to this policy, which completely misses the mark and harms the very industry it is meant to protect.
As I answer calls from concerned patrons, questions about the future of my restaurant and the health of my employees and customers loom large. New York City has a responsibility to work to stabilize the industry and address the unintended consequences of policies that impact restaurants and the lives of hardworking New Yorkers.
Mr. Pesce is the owner of La Panineria in Greenwich Village and a member of Dashroots, a national advocacy network that elevates the voices of local merchants, delivery workers and consumers.
See more at New York Daily News
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