This news has been in the headlines regularly over the past twelve months: restaurateurs consider the delivery costs charged by delivery apps to be disproportionate. Rumors had been circulating for several months now that the government of Quebec, like other Canadian provinces and American states, could impose a limit on these costs charged to merchants per transaction.
Last week, André Lamontagne, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, tabled the bill that will limit to 15% of the amount of an invoice the fees that these applications impose on restaurateurs, instead of the usual 30% charge. However, the law would be in effect as long as his government does not lift the state of health emergency that has prevailed since March 2020.
"The digital meal delivery platforms that existed before the pandemic enjoy a virtual monopoly and charge restaurants considerable fees," Minister André Lamontagne said in his press release. We listen to the demands of restaurateurs and we consider it a priority to help them through this difficult period. "
The opposition parties are now going up to the barricades and want to ensure that this legal measure will affect as many restaurateurs as possible and that it will continue beyond the state of health emergency, that is to say throughout the period. period of economic recovery.
Uber Eats, Doordash and Skip have been talking about them since the start of the pandemic, since delivery is one of the only ways restaurant owners have to continue serving meals to customers. At the height of the health crisis, deprived of sources of income, restaurateurs spoke loudly in order to be heard on these costs deemed unfair charged by companies which have a virtual monopoly on the market.
