{"id":191897,"date":"2026-04-10T07:19:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191897\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T07:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:19:24","slug":"mamdani-administration-acts-to-protect-immigrant-restaurant-owners-from-delivery-app-junk-fees-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191897\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani Administration Acts to Protect Immigrant Restaurant Owners From Delivery App Junk Fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u202f\u2014 Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine announced a settlement of more than $875,000 with HungryPanda to resolve violations of the City’s Third-Party Food Delivery Service Laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The investigation found HungryPanda violated New York City\u2019s Fee Cap Law, in some cases charging immigrant-owned restaurants thousands of dollars in illegal junk fees. The action marks the first time DCWP has enforced the law against a delivery app company for harming business owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many neighborhood restaurants are already navigating high costs and razor-thin margins,\u201d said Mayor Mamdani. \u201cThey should not also have to contend with hidden, illegal fees from the apps they rely on to reach customers. This settlement returns money to the businesses that were overcharged and makes clear that New York City will enforce the law to protect small business owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHungryPanda counted on these restaurant owners being too small and too busy to fight back,\u201d said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. \u201cThey were wrong. This settlement puts money back in the pockets of hundreds of immigrant-owned businesses, and it’s a clear message to every platform in this city: we are watching the fine print.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRestaurants are the heart of every New York City neighborhood, bringing people together, keeping us fed and creating a thriving economy,\u201d said\u202fDCWP Commissioner Sam Levine.\u202f\u201cThe Fee Cap Law was enacted to protect these small businesses from predatory fees that make operating in New York City difficult. This settlement lets it be known that DCWP will not allow HungryPanda, or any other delivery app for that matter, to rip off consumers, workers, or small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City\u2019s small restaurants\u2014many of them immigrant-owned\u2014define our neighborhoods and fuel our local economy. When delivery apps break the law and siphon off hard-earned revenue through illegal fees, it\u2019s not just unfair\u2014it undermines these businesses and the communities they serve. I commend Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine for stepping in, enforcing the law and delivering real relief to hundreds of small businesses,\u201d said Assembly Member Robert Carroll. \u201cThis enforcement action sends a clear message: New York will stand up for small businesses, enforce the law and work to build a local economy that works for all. I\u2019m proud to stand with this administration and DCWP as we continue fighting to protect restaurants, workers and consumers across our city. Today we made it a little easier for everyone\u2019s favorite neighborhood restaurant to stay in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incumbent on all of us in government to support those small businesses and protect them. And these large corporations are taking advantage of small businesses,\u201d said Council Member Harvey Epstein. \u201cI really applaud the effort of the DCWP team to bring this case, the fight that we’re doing over junk fees across our city sends a clear message that if you take advantage of small businesses, you will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are putting a warning to all delivery apps that we will not be defrauded, we will catch you, and we will make sure that you pay,\u201d said Council Member Shahana Hanif. \u201cThat accountability in the city is front and center, and anyone trying to hurt our small businesses, our workers, will be in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

HungryPanda, a third-party delivery platform used predominantly in New York\u2019s Asian immigrant communities, will pay more than $580,000 in restitution to more than 380 restaurants citywide, along with more than $294,000 in civil penalties and fees.<\/p>\n

DCWP found the company used a range of tactics to impose unlawful charges, including bundling multiple fees into a single line item, frequently relabeling fees and mischaracterizing illegal overcharges as \u201cpromotion deductions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the settlement, HungryPanda must comply with the Fee Cap Law, provide clear fee disclosures to restaurants, implement internal compliance policies and training and submit annual certifications attesting to compliance.<\/p>\n

DCWP enforces New York City\u2019s Third-Party Food Delivery Service Laws<\/a>, which cap fees charged by delivery apps and protect restaurant owners. The caps are:<\/p>\n

15% for delivery services5% for basic services, including order processing and platform listing 20% for enhanced services (only if a basic service is offered at or below 5%)3% for electronic payment processing (with limited exceptions if higher costs are documented)<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, HungryPanda was part of a $5 million settlement<\/a> alongside Uber Eats and Fantuan that secured restitution, penalties and damages for more than 49,000 delivery workers for violations of the City\u2019s Minimum Pay Rate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This case was handled by DCWP staff counsel under the supervision of senior agency leadership.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK\u202f\u2014 Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and New York City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-191897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-new-york-state","12":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}