Vendor pricing · verified September 2026
Washington, DC's delivery commission cap in 2026
Washington, DC was the third US city, after Seattle and San Francisco, to cap delivery commissions during the pandemic, and it made the cap permanent with the Fair Meals Delivery Act of 2021, effective March 10, 2023. The permanent law is narrower than the headline. It does not set a single 15% rate. It requires DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub to offer restaurants a core delivery service, defined as listing the restaurant and making it discoverable on all of the app's platforms, for no more than 15% of the order. Apps may sell higher tiers, reported at 25% to 30%, that add visibility in browsing, cuisine categories and curated lists. Restaurants on the 15% tier appear mainly when a customer searches for them by name.
Source: Barred in DC, March 16, 2023, describing the Fair Meals Delivery Act of 2021 as it took effect; Restaurant Business and Washington City Paper coverage of the original emergency cap. Read September 2026. This page describes the law; it is not legal advice.
What the law requires and what it allows
Washington DC's cap reads as a flat 15% and is not one. The Fair Meals Delivery Act of 2021, effective March 10, 2023, does not set a single rate that applies to every order. It requires the platforms to offer restaurants a core delivery service at no more than 15%, and defines that core service as listing the restaurant and making it discoverable across all the platforms the app operates.
The word doing the most work in that sentence is discoverable, and the law never defines it. That leaves the platforms to decide what a 15% listing actually surfaces in. Apps may and do sell higher tiers, reported at 25% to 30%, that add placement in browsing, cuisine categories and curated lists. A restaurant on the capped tier can find that it appears mainly when a customer searches for it by name, which is the traffic it was least likely to lose anyway.
Councilmember Mary Cheh saw this coming and said so during the debate, warning of a race to the bottom in which the 15% tier would become a sham offering and the 25% tier the effective baseline. Whether that is what happened is something a DC owner can check directly by asking which placements each tier includes.
| Provision | Detail |
|---|---|
| Law | Fair Meals Delivery Act of 2021, effective March 10, 2023 |
| Cap | 15% of the order for core delivery service |
| Core delivery service | listing the restaurant and making it discoverable on all platforms the app offers; "discoverable" is not defined |
| Higher tiers | allowed; reported at 25% to 30%, adding placement in browse, cuisine categories and curated lists |
| Council warning | Councilmember Mary Cheh cautioned that the 15% tier could become "a sham offering" with 25% as the effective basic level |
The practical test is whether your restaurant surfaces in general browsing at the 15% tier. Ask the platform, in writing, which placements each tier includes.
What a $40 order costs a DC restaurant
One more thing the 15% does not cover: payment processing and marketing fees sit outside the definition of core delivery service. So an invoice on the capped tier can still total more than 15% of the order, entirely lawfully. Compare the invoice, not the tier name.
On a $40 order the capped tier costs $6.00 and the reported higher tiers cost $10.00 to $12.00. The decision between them is a real one about how much discovery you are buying, but it should be made with the placements written down rather than described on a call.
| Arrangement | Legal maximum | Cost on a $40 order | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace, core delivery tier | 15% | $6.00 | restaurant |
| Marketplace, higher tier (reported) | 25% to 30% | $10.00 to $12.00 | restaurant |
| Ginger Direct, your own site | no commission; card processing as low as 2% + 5¢ | about $0.85 | restaurant pays processing; guest pays a $1 order fee |
Payment processing and marketing fees are outside the 15% definition of core delivery service, so the invoice can exceed 15% even on the capped tier. Compare the invoice, not the tier name.
How to tell which tier you are actually on
None of this helps if you do not know which arrangement your restaurant is signed up to, and that is more common than it sounds. Tier changes are often made in a phone call, described in terms of the marketing they add rather than the percentage they cost, and they show up afterwards as a different number on a statement nobody reads line by line.
The check takes ten minutes. Open a full month of payout statements, add every charge the platform deducted, and divide by the subtotal those charges were calculated on. That percentage is your real rate, and it is the only number worth comparing against the cap. Then ask your account manager, in writing, which tier you are on, what the capped tier includes, and what changes if you move to it.
The wider point is that a cap limits what a platform may charge on the orders it brings you. It does nothing about the orders you could have taken yourself. A repeat customer who already knows your name costs the same commission as a stranger the app introduced, which is why the cheapest response to any commission rate is to move the second order onto a channel you own.
Frequently asked questions
What is Washington, DC's delivery commission cap?
Under the Fair Meals Delivery Act of 2021, effective March 10, 2023, delivery apps must offer DC restaurants a core delivery service, meaning listing and discoverability on all of the app's platforms, for no more than 15% of the order. Higher-priced tiers with more visibility remain allowed.
Why is the DC cap described as having a catch?
Because it caps only the core tier. Apps may sell higher tiers, reported at 25% to 30%, that add placement in browsing, cuisine categories and curated lists, and the law leaves "discoverable" undefined. Councilmember Mary Cheh warned the 15% tier could become a sham offering.
When did the DC cap become permanent?
March 10, 2023, when the Fair Meals Delivery Act of 2021 took effect. DC had capped commissions on an emergency basis during the pandemic beginning in 2020, the third city to do so after Seattle and San Francisco.
Does the 15% include payment processing and marketing?
No. The 15% applies to core delivery service. Processing and marketing are separate charges, so a restaurant on the capped tier can still see an invoice above 15%.
How does direct ordering compare with the DC cap?
Orders from your own site carry no commission and no tier. With Ginger Direct a restaurant pays card processing as low as 2% + 5¢, about 85 cents on a $40 order, the guest pays a $1 order fee, and there is no monthly fee. The same order is $6.00 on the 15% tier and $10.00 to $12.00 on the reported higher tiers.
Compare it against a system with no monthly fee
Ginger is $0 a month with online ordering, no contract, interchange-plus processing as low as 2% + 5¢, and the Box, up to two printers and a card terminal included for restaurants over $40,000 a month in card volume. The live demo opens in your browser with no signup.