Dutchess bill aims to hold 3rd-party food ordering apps transparent about pricing

It would require individual restaurants to first authorize these apps to take orders on their behalf and advertise their menu.

News 12 Staff

Oct 13, 2021, 7:25 PM

Updated 1,151 days ago

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New legislation in Dutchess County aims to hold third-party food ordering apps transparent about pricing.
It would require individual restaurants to first authorize these apps to take orders on their behalf and advertise their menu.
These apps would also have to list taxes separately from gratuity and fees.
It would also prohibit falsely representing or inflating restaurants' prices.
Dino Vanikiotis, owner of the Planet Daily Diner, says people were coming to the restaurant, picking up their food and getting overcharged by $5 to $10.
“Somehow they linked their website to our website. The customer would place the order thinking that it was the Daily Planet Diner, but when they came in to pay, they realized that it wasn’t and they were getting overcharged,” he says.
Vanikiotis said it took two to three months to figure out what application was causing the issue before it was resolved, because it wasn’t any of the well-known ones, like DoorDash and GrubHub, which they still use.
"So, I think it's great to know, that as an elected official, I can help people and not only help small businesses, I'm a small business owner myself, but help the consumer and protect both. It's very important to what we do in government," says Dutchess County Legislator Michael Polasek.
The legislation was passed by the county Legislature unanimously Tuesday night and County Executive Marc Molinaro is expected to sign it into local law.
It would take effect Jan. 1.