Dozens of local restaurants have pivoted to offer curbside pickup or delivery service for food and alcohol after San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg ordered restaurants on March 18 to close their dining rooms to combat spread of the coronavirus.
When you call in your order and pick it up curbside, 100% of the proceeds go to the restaurant. Some restaurants also offer their own delivery service.
If you need a delivery service, H-E-B-owned Favor announced that it is waiving local restaurant commission fees and has reduced delivery fees on locally owned restaurants. Favor is providing its runners with cleaning supplies and financial assistance for up to four weeks for those diagnosed with COVID-19. Click here for more information.
Elsewhere, consumers filed a class action suit in federal court in Manhattan against GrubHub, DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats for allegedly charging delivery customers "exorbitant" fees. Click here for more information.
And in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed passed an emergency order April 10 temporarily capping the commissions the apps there can charge restaurants to 15%, after learning that the apps' fees of up to 30% were wiping out the narrow profits of struggling restaurants. Click here for more information.
To help keep local restaurants and the 57,000 food service employees in the city afloat, NOWCastSA created this map. Get added by emailing news@nowcastsa.org with subject line: "AddMeToTheMap"
View Curbside and Delivery Map in a full screen map
Restaurateur Jean-Francois Poujol who operates two Beacon Hill eateries - SoHill Cafe and Julia’s Bistro & Bar - knew this day was coming and had already begun preparing by creating a free delivery service.
For Poujol and others, it’s a matter of survival. After the country was declared to be in a state of national emergency on March 13, business plummeted by 50 percent at both of his establishments.
“We’ve decided to create this free delivery program with very affordable menu prices because if we don’t act now, we might be forced to close our doors and lay off our employees by the end of March,” he said. (scroll down to read more)
Poujol encourages other restaurants to follow suit and contact their city officials to ask them for their support in promoting free delivery service. Meanwhile, Poujol worries about the thousands of people who work at restaurants and bars.
“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in San Antonio who work in the food service industry as servers and bartenders and depend on tips to pay their bills like rent, car payments, college tuition and other living expenses,” Poujol said.
Meanwhile, local attorney Justin Hill of Hill Law Firm called SoHill on its first day of delivery service to order from their menu. “SoHill is one of my favorite restaurants. So when I heard about their free delivery service I wanted to take advantage of it, mainly to help support the restaurant and, of course, still be able to enjoy their pizzas delivered right to my office,” he said.
To be added to this map, please email: news@nowcastsa.org with the subject line, “Add Me to the Map.”
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