Economic Vitality Committee Agenda and Packet 2020 12 18

Home Browse Search

SUBJECT: BUSINESS PANDEMIC SUPPORT RECOMMENDATIONS DATE: DECEMBER 18, 2020 PAGE 7 OF 9 So far, the County program has been well -received by the business community. The program eligibility limited the businesses to include: restaurants, hotels, gyms, personal service providers, and non -profits. Because of funding limitations and business types, there will be many businesses that could benefit from these supplies that will not be likely to receive them. Also, all of these supplies are used and then disposed —so the need will continue as long as restrictions do. Because Boulder County contracted the actual supply program, staff feels this is another program that could be mobilized. Targeting it in 2021 may also be a good fit as we will have a better understanding of the County's location on the Dial framework and what industries may be most in need. To -go ware is likely to be an ongoing supply need for restaurants, and this could offer the opportunity to pilot use of compostable products —tying in with the Economic Vitality Strategic Plan goals. $200,000 of funding for a program like this might allow the City to positively impact 400 local businesses. Lastly, delivery fees and related programs have been discussed as a priority initiative. Communities in the metro region have recently enacted legislation to regulate third - party delivery fees. While there is a general acknowledgment that the fees can be excessive and also that they create additional financial hardship on already struggling restaurants, the results of legislation are mixed. City/County of Denver was one of the early adopters of legislation to cap fees, which has resulted in delivery services finding another means to achieve profit —simply levying a new fee on the consumer side. It may be difficult to design and adopt legislation that does not have negative externalities that could be greater than the original problem. There are currently only two delivery service providers licensed and/or remitting tax to the City: GrubHub and DoorDash. Staff has had many discussions with the City of Boulder regarding their "Restaurant Safe Ordering Service, SOS." In this model, the City is paying the restaurant portion of third -party delivery fees by contracting with a single provider, Nosh, which was done through a competitive process. The restaurant portion is capped at 15% and the total payment Boulder will make to Nosh is also capped at $125,000. The program is open to any licensed Boulder restaurant and will run through December 30; though the City also did negotiate that the 15% cap will remain through 2021 or until in -restaurant dining capacity restrictions are lifted. Instead of simply creating the restriction, Boulder created an incentive using CARES funding. While any licensed restaurant can participate, they do need to register with the Nosh platform. In the first 3 weeks of the program, Boulder had about 40 restaurants registered. The subsidy is definitely helping the restaurants that choose to participate, but there is a large effort in place to work with restaurants to get them registered. Boulder is also impacting a much wider population that may be utilizing delivery. Staff would not have the capacity to stand-up a program such as this and it would likely take a couple months between contracting, promoting, registering, etc. for it to have an impact. Agenda Packet P. 12