Restaurant owner says third-party delivery law hasn’t been working

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - One Eastern Iowa restaurant owner said a new law that went into effect July 1st isn’t working.

Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law that makes it so third-party delivery companies need to have a contract with the restaurant in order to use its likeness and menu on its website.

“We’ve had 2 delivery drivers last week, 2 drivers this week, and 2 on Tuesday,” said Curt Bean, owner of Bop’s Pizza in Cedar Rapids. “When the drivers come here, they expect the orders to be ready, when in fact, they haven’t been placed because we don’t have a contract.”

The Iowa Restaurant Association said people should make complaints to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office under the “Consumer” section. Owners could also file civil lawsuits, but according to a spokesperson, they aren’t aware of any happening.

“The customers don’t realize that we don’t partner with Grubhub, and they’re probably going to wait longer than if they went through the company we partner with,” said Curt.

The frustration doesn’t stop with Bean and other restaurant owners, a delivery driver said they took feel left in the dark.

“It’s a lose-lose either way,” said Brian Myer,” a Doordash Driver of 3-years.

He said, in the last month, companies have refused to fill his orders.

“We can’t control when businesses want to partner with Doordash,” he said. “We can only deal with what was sent to us. Customers do get upset, and they have the right to, but it comes back to being a miscommunication between the business and Doordash.”

The Iowa Restaurant Association said the kinks were still being worked out, but Curt and Myers said they hoped the companies would be a little more forthcoming.

“My name is on every box that goes out of here,” Curt said. “At the end of the day, that makes me look bad.”

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