The funds available run up to $1 million. Source: WTSP
The funds available run up to $1 million. Source: WTSP

Food delivery platform DoorDash has announced a restaurant disaster relief fund to offer grants of up to $10,000 to restaurants affected by any kind of natural disaster. The funds will cover disasters over the coming 12 months. Overall, the funds available run up to $1 million and they will be open to restaurant owners starting from November 1st

DoorDash is partnering with Hello Alice, a small business support platform. The company has said that restaurants that were affected by the recent Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in California can also apply for the funds. The qualifications for these grants don’t seem to be that complicated. For starters, all applicants must be players in the restaurant space. 

They must also be experiencing hardship due to state or federally declared natural disasters. The restaurants must also have a physical location in the US. DoorDash notes that it does not intend to offer large companies this help.

DoorDash notes that it has also set up a bank reconciliation platform. Source: CNET
DoorDash notes that it has also set up a bank reconciliation platform. Source: CNET

For this reason, only restaurants with fewer than three outlets will be eligible to apply. They must also have fewer than 50 employees in every single location and revenues of not more than $3 million in each location over the last 12 months. The funds granted can be used for disaster recovery including renting out new locations, buying supplies, regular maintenance, and payroll. 

DoorDash notes that it has set up a bank reconciliation platform that will help restaurants with credit issues. The food delivery service is in the process of launching an app that it says will help restaurants track live orders and get real-time data on sales and operations. The new relief program comes at a very interesting time for DoorDash. 

The company, and several other food delivery apps, have launched a lawsuit against New York City about new laws trying to regulate the food delivery apps. The new laws will cap the amount of money a delivery app can charge a restaurant in fees. 

They have decided to launch the suit to fight the regulations. Source: Engadget
They have decided to launch the suit to fight the regulations. Source: Engadget

DoorDash says that the laws will hurt the restaurant business and will make food delivery expensive for the end consumers. As such, they have decided to launch the suit to fight the regulations. There was also another law in New York City that will force food delivery apps to share customer data with restaurants it works with. 

The city believes that restaurants could benefit a lot from such data but DoorDash disagrees. The company in fact called the law “a shocking and invasive intrusion of consumer privacy.” It has launched a lawsuit against the city albeit New York has said it is holding off any plans to implement the laws until the suit is determined. 

Despite these legal challenges, DoorDash continues to report a lot of growth. In its second-quarter earnings report, the food delivery app noted that its gross order volume was up 70% year over year to hit $10.5 billion. The company also said that revenues were up by a whopping 83% during the same period, hitting an all-time high so far of $1.2 billion.