Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill regulating food delivery platforms in Florida, requiring explicit consent from restaurants for listings, transparent consumer cost breakdowns, and prohibiting unauthorized price alterations.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation on Tuesday to regulate the operations of food delivery platforms within the state.
Granted gubernatorial permissibility, the bill introduces standards for how food delivery platforms interact with restaurants and consumers. Under its purview, food delivery platforms must obtain explicit consent from restaurants to take orders and arrange for deliveries. If consent is not granted, the restaurant’s menu must be removed from the platform.
The bill further stipulates that platforms must provide consumers with a transparent breakdown of costs associated with each order, including the purchase price of the food and beverage, any commission, delivery fee, tip, gratuity, or taxes due on the transaction.
A food delivery platform additionally may not, without an agreement with the food service establishment, intentionally inflate, decrease, or alter a food service establishment’s pricing.
“Food delivery apps are very popular,” Sen. Jennifer Bradley said on the Florida Senate floor during deliberations in February. “They provide great convenience to consumers but the fast growth of food delivery has also made clear that we need consistent standards for transparency, consent and communication between the platform’s restaurants and consumers.”
If a restaurant does not provide consent to be listed on a platform, the bill also requires a food delivery service to remove its listing on the food delivery platform within 10 days after receiving the request for removal, unless there is an existing agreement between the two parties stating otherwise.
By July 1, 2025, a food delivery platform must provide a food service establishment with a method of contacting the consumer while the order is prepared and being delivered for up to two hours after the order is picked up.