Ordering DoorDash? Proposed California law would share your information with restaurants
Food delivery platforms like DoorDash would be required to share customer information with the restaurants they order from under a new California bill.
The lawmaker behind the bill says it will “level the playing field” between food delivery apps like DoorDash, Grub Hub, Postmates and Uber Eats and California restaurants, 60 percent of which are owned by people of color, according to the California Restaurant Association and the U.S. Census.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, is the sponsor for Assembly Bill 2149, which authorizes food delivery platforms to share customer information with the restaurants from which they order. That information includes the customer’s email address, phone number and delivery address.
The bill would limit information request to once per calendar year.
“Restaurants shouldn’t fear losing their customers when they don’t agree to the conditions of some multi-million dollar food delivery app. This bill will put the power back in the hands of small business owners in California,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
Gonzalez’s office said that the tech companies behind delivery apps can use customer information to undercut restaurants and direct business toward their competitors.
Tech companies are “eroding the customer’s relationship with the restaurant,” said Jot Condie, CEO of the California Restaurant Association.
“The tech platforms who are delivering the food and the restaurants who are preparing it both have a responsibility for the customers’ experience and satisfaction. If we are going to be partners in this, we both need to be part of that communication channel,” Condie said in a statement.
The legislation comes amid significant pushback from the tech community over another bill authored by Gonzalez, Assembly Bill 5, which requires businesses to classify more workers as employees entitled to benefits.
Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates have spent tens of millions of dollars on a proposed ballot initiative that would allow them to continue to classify their drivers as independent contractors in defiance of AB 5.
