The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impaired the local economy by financially jeopardizing various restaurant, food service, and other related industries throughout the City. Restaurants have been limited to takeout and delivery offerings in order to limit the spread of COVID-19, which has placed a sudden and severe economic strain on many local restaurants, particularly those small businesses that are already operating on thin margins, which further adds to financial pressures in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Miami Beach consumers have increasingly began to use third-party applications and websites such as UberEATS and GrubHub to place orders with restaurants for delivery and takeout, and these third-party platforms frequently charge restaurants up to 30 percent in service fees - and sometimes more - for the services offered, on top of paying for marketing and delivery.

Restaurants, and particularly restaurants that are small businesses with few locations, have limited bargaining power to negotiate lower fees with third-party platforms, given the high market saturation of third-party platforms, and the dire financial straits small business restaurants are facing in this COVID-19 crisis.

Therefore, I would like to discuss and explore potential options the City may take to address these third-party service fees on takeout and delivery orders that are currently the sole source of revenue for these small businesses. It is vital that the local restaurants survive this crisis and remain sources of employment and neighborhood vitality in the City

Should you have any questions or concerns about any of the foregoing, please don’t hesitate to contact me or my aide Luis Callejas.