A temporary law in Denver limiting food delivery fees that companies like GrubHub and DoorDash charge restaurants will be extended to June 14, a crucial decision for restaurant owners who have relied on to-go orders to make ends meet during the pandemic.

More than 93% of local restaurants surveyed by the Colorado Restaurant Association say their delivery revenue has increased or remained the same since the cap was put in place, according to CRA President and CEO Sonia Riggs.

On Monday, a bill to move the law’s sunset clause past its initial date of Feb. 9 was unanimously approved by the Denver City Council. The emergency measure, first enacted last October, was sponsored by District 4 Councilwoman Kendra Black.

“As long as (restaurant) capacity is restricted, the cap is a tool that we can use to help them stay open,” she told Colorado Politics before the vote. 

But there are other rules in Black’s bill that she envisions could stick around even longer, including requirements that restaurants opt in to the delivery company service, delivery charges are clearly displayed on receipts, drivers receive 100% of tips earned, and fees are prohibited on calls that don’t result in orders.

“Even after the fee cap sunsets,” she said, “I think the council should consider keeping these elements in place.”

While delivery service providers aren’t in favor of the new rules, most are still following them. “There have only been a few complaints filed,” Black said, “and in both cases, the delivery companies received a warning and then complied.”

Some companies, such as DoorDash, have added an additional fee to every customer’s order in response to the city’s 15% commission cap. 

But others, including GrubHub, have no plans to up the cost, despite deeming the fee restrictions as “counterproductive at a time when restaurants need more support, visibility and order volume than ever,” a GrubHub spokesman wrote in an email. 

Riggs said the Colorado Restaurant Association is “supportive” of the extension and appreciates the Denver City Council’s “willingness to act.”

For small, independent restaurants that have been “hardest hit” by the COVID-19 crisis, she said, the extra protection granted by the city has “given them a desperately needed additional revenue stream they would not have otherwise been able to access, as delivery fees for this type of restaurant were often prohibitively expensive before the cap was put in place.”

Into summer, Denver is “likely to see restricted capacities into summer,” Riggs said, “and measures like this will be critical to helping restaurants survive this ongoing crisis and keep people employed.”

Similar legislation has been passed in other major cities across the country, such as Chicago and Seattle, as well as elsewhere in the state of Colorado, including Adams County and the city of Aurora.