Seattle cracks down on food delivery apps with one of the strictest laws in the US


In one of the strictest measures in the United States, a new Seattle law, effective Sept 15, will require third-party meal-delivery apps such as Grubhub to get written consent from restaurants before listing their menus or taking orders without permission. — Dreamstime/TNS

SEATTLE: During the pandemic, restaurants around Seattle started to notice they were getting more food orders from different versions of their menus that sometimes dated as far back as 2014. Worse, when the kitchens couldn’t fulfill orders from such outdated menus, those angry customers posted negative reviews about the restaurants online or called the restaurants to complain.

Last year, Art of the Table owner and chef Dustin Ronspies said he received to-go requests for stuffed quail and other small plate items from a menu he wrote eight years ago. His staff had to tell the delivery drivers that the kitchen didn’t have those ingredients on hand.

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