Vendor pricing · verified September 2026
San Francisco's delivery commission cap in 2026
San Francisco made its pandemic delivery commission cap permanent in June 2021, one of the first cities to do so, and DoorDash and Grubhub sued the following month, calling the ordinance unconstitutional. On July 26, 2022 the Board of Supervisors amended the law. A platform is now exempt from the flat 15% limit as long as it offers restaurants a core delivery service at 15% of the order or less; a restaurant may then choose to pay more for additional services such as marketing, advertising and consulting. Platforms had until December 1, 2022 to notify restaurants of their new fee structures, and the amended law took effect January 31, 2023. Grubhub said it would drop its lawsuit once the ordinance took effect.
Sources: Restaurant Dive, "San Francisco weakens 15% delivery fee cap"; San Francisco Chronicle and SFist (July 2022) on the amendment; Law360 and Restaurant Business on the July 2021 lawsuit. Read September 2026. This page describes the law; it is not legal advice.
The timeline, and what the amended law does
San Francisco was the first city to make a pandemic commission cap permanent, and it was sued for it within weeks. The Board of Supervisors passed the 15% cap unanimously in late June 2021; DoorDash and Grubhub filed suit that July, arguing the ordinance was unconstitutional and, in their words, a dangerous overreach.
The city did not win that fight so much as settle it by rewriting the law. On July 26, 2022 the Board passed an amendment that keeps the 15% cap for a restaurant using a platform's most basic services, but allows an owner to opt out of the limit and pay more in exchange for the platform's marketing and promotional services. Grubhub said it would drop its lawsuit once the ordinance took effect, which it did on January 31, 2023. Platforms had until December 1, 2022 to tell restaurants how their pricing was changing.
The practical effect is that San Francisco's cap is now a floor option rather than a ceiling. Fifteen per cent is available and must be offered, but nothing stops a restaurant from agreeing to more, and the services bundled above the cap are exactly the ones a platform can argue drive volume. That is the same structure Washington DC ended up with, arrived at by a different route.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| June 2021 | Board of Supervisors makes the 15% delivery commission cap permanent |
| July 2021 | DoorDash and Grubhub sue the City, calling the cap unconstitutional |
| July 26, 2022 | Board passes the amendment: a platform that offers a core delivery service at 15% or less may sell additional services (marketing, advertising, consulting) above 15% to restaurants that opt in |
| December 1, 2022 | deadline for platforms to notify restaurants of new fee structures and pricing options |
| January 31, 2023 | amended law takes effect; Grubhub had said it would drop its lawsuit at this point |
The structure is the same one Washington, DC adopted in 2023 and New York City adopted in 2025: a capped basic tier that must be offered, and paid tiers above it that a restaurant chooses.
What a $40 order costs a San Francisco restaurant
Because the cap binds only the basic tier, the spread on a single order is wide. At 15% a $40 order costs $6.00. On the reported higher tiers it runs $10.00 to $12.00, which is the same range a restaurant would pay in a city with no cap.
The question worth asking your account manager is not whether San Francisco has a cap. It is which tier your restaurant is currently on, what placement the 15% tier actually includes, and what you would lose by moving down to it. Get that answer in writing, because it is the difference between the law protecting you and the law simply existing.
| Arrangement | Legal maximum | Cost on a $40 order | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace, core delivery service | 15% | $6.00 | restaurant |
| Marketplace, opted into additional services | no statutory limit; DoorDash's national Plus and Premier plans are 25% and 30% | $10.00 to $12.00 at the national plan rates | 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 |
Once a restaurant opts into services above the core tier, the cap no longer applies to it. Ask which placements the core tier includes before deciding the visibility is worth the extra points.
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 San Francisco's delivery commission cap?
15% of the order for a core delivery service. The Board of Supervisors made the pandemic cap permanent in June 2021 and amended it on July 26, 2022 so that a platform offering the core tier at 15% or less may sell additional services above that to restaurants that opt in. The amended law took effect January 31, 2023.
Why was the San Francisco cap amended?
DoorDash and Grubhub sued the City in July 2021, arguing the flat cap was unconstitutional. The 2022 amendment kept a 15% core tier while allowing restaurants to opt into marketing, advertising and consulting services above it, and Grubhub said it would drop its suit once the amendment took effect.
Is there still a cap if I opt into marketing services?
No statutory limit applies above the core tier. Restaurants that opt in pay the platform's own rates for those services; DoorDash's published national Plus and Premier plans are 25% and 30%.
When did the amended San Francisco law take effect?
January 31, 2023. Platforms had until December 1, 2022 to notify restaurants of their new fee structures and pricing options.
How does direct ordering compare with the San Francisco 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, and the guest pays a $1 order fee; there is no monthly fee. The same order is $6.00 on the 15% core tier and $10.00 to $12.00 at the national plan rates once a restaurant opts in.
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.