The FTC Is Coming for Delivery App Fees. Here's What That Means for Your Restaurant.

The Federal Trade Commission just put every major food delivery platform on notice. On April 16, 2026, the FTC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking targeting unfair and deceptive fee practices in online food delivery services. This is not a lawsuit against one company. It is the beginning of a federal rulemaking process that could reshape how DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub charge both consumers and restaurants across the country.

If you run a restaurant on any of these platforms, this story matters to you. Not because the FTC is going to fix your problems tomorrow, but because the agency's own investigation confirms what you already know: these platforms have been operating in ways that obscure costs, misrepresent fees, and in some cases charge for things customers never agreed to pay.

What the FTC Is Actually Investigating

The FTC's ANPRM is a formal request for public comment on whether a nationwide rule is needed to stop deceptive fee practices on delivery platforms. The agency is asking specific questions about how platforms disclose, or fail to disclose, the full cost of an order. The questions cover total price transparency, hidden fees, variable charges, unauthorized billing, and whether platforms are charging consumers for things they never agreed to buy.

This comes after the FTC already took action against two major platforms. In December 2024, the agency secured a $25 million settlement with Grubhub over allegations it misled consumers about delivery costs. In December 2025, Instacart paid $60 million to settle FTC allegations that it advertised "free delivery" while hiding service fees until checkout. The FTC's position is clear: these are not isolated incidents. They are patterns.

The ANPRM also notes that while several states, including California, Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Virginia, have passed their own fee transparency laws, there is no uniform federal standard. The FTC wants to change that. A federal rule would allow the agency to seek civil penalties against violators and pursue consumer refunds more easily.

Why Restaurant Operators Should Pay Attention to Delivery App Fee Rules

Most of the FTC's focus in this rulemaking is on consumer-facing fees. But the same opacity that harms consumers also harms restaurants. When platforms bury fees in checkout flows, customers get sticker shock. That sticker shock leads to order abandonment, lower order frequency, and negative reviews directed at your restaurant, not the platform.

There is also a direct financial angle. The FTC's investigation specifically asks whether platforms are billing consumers for fees or charges without their express informed consent. That question has a mirror image on the restaurant side. Platforms routinely issue refunds and credits to customers and then deduct those amounts from your payout, often without clear notice, without your approval, and sometimes for orders you fulfilled correctly.

DoorDash calls these "error charges." When a customer reports a missing or incorrect item, DoorDash issues a refund and deducts between 25% and 100% of the item price from your next payout. The platform decides whether the error was your fault. You find out after the fact. The dispute window is narrow, and the process is designed to be time-consuming enough that most operators never bother.

Uber Eats and Grubhub operate similarly. A customer claims an item was missing. The platform issues a refund. The cost comes out of your pocket. No phone call. No verification. Just a line item in your next payout summary that most operators never catch.

The Money You Are Losing Right Now

Research from delivery analytics firm Craver found that roughly 3% of all delivery orders result in a refund request. On a restaurant doing 100 delivery orders a day, that is three refund claims every single day. At an average order value of $35, that is over $100 a day in potential deductions, or more than $36,000 a year, before you account for the fact that many of those claims are fraudulent or incorrect.

The platforms do have fraud detection systems. DoorDash says it flags customers with high refund rates and requires photo evidence for certain claim types. But those systems are imperfect, and the burden of catching errors falls on you. If you do not dispute a charge within the window, the money is gone.

This is the part the FTC's rulemaking does not address directly. The agency is focused on consumer-facing transparency. But the same structural problem, platforms making unilateral financial decisions and burying the details in payout reports, exists on the merchant side too. The FTC's action is a signal that regulators are paying attention to how these platforms operate. It does not mean your money is coming back automatically.

What You Can Do About Delivery Platform Fee Practices Right Now

The FTC's rulemaking process will take months, possibly years, to produce enforceable rules. You cannot wait for regulators to fix this. Here is what you can do today.

• Pull your payout reports weekly, not monthly. Most operators review their delivery earnings monthly, which means errors compound for weeks before anyone notices. Log into your Merchant Portal on DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub at least once a week and filter transactions by "error charges" or "adjustments."

• Dispute every charge you did not cause. DoorDash gives you a dispute window of a few hours after a charge is issued. Uber Eats and Grubhub have their own timelines. If you see a charge for an order you fulfilled correctly, dispute it immediately. Do not assume the platform will catch its own mistakes.

• Document every order. Bag labels, receipt check-offs, and order photos are your evidence. If a customer claims an item was missing and you have a photo of the sealed, labeled bag, you have a case. Without documentation, you have nothing.

• Submit a comment to the FTC. The agency is accepting public comments for 30 days after the ANPRM is published. Restaurant operators have standing to comment. If you have experienced unauthorized deductions, undisclosed fee changes, or refund policies that cost you money, this is a rare opportunity to put that on the record with a federal regulator.

• Know your state's rules. If you operate in California, Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts, or Virginia, your state already has fee transparency laws in effect. Understand what those laws require platforms to disclose and use that knowledge when you are reviewing your own agreements and payout terms.

The Bigger Picture for Your Bottom Line

The FTC's action is a validation of something restaurant operators have known for years: delivery platforms operate with a level of financial opacity that would not be acceptable in any other business relationship. You sign a contract, you fulfill orders, and then a third party decides how much of your revenue you actually keep. The rules for how that works are buried in terms of service that change without notice.

Federal regulation may eventually force more transparency. But in the meantime, the money being taken from your payouts through unauthorized refunds and disputed error charges is real, and it does not come back unless someone fights for it. Most operators do not have the time or the systems to track every deduction across three platforms and dispute them before the window closes.

That is exactly what Jelly does. It monitors your payouts across DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, identifies unauthorized refunds and unpaid canceled orders, and disputes them on your behalf. With a 91% recovery success rate, no contracts, and a free trial, it is the kind of audit your delivery revenue has needed all along.

The FTC is asking the right questions. While they work through the rulemaking process, you still have orders going out the door and money coming out of your payouts. Do not wait for Washington to fix it.