Congresswoman Lee Announces New Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Restaurants from Harmful Practices by Delivery Service Platforms

October 22, 2026 Press Release Image Watch and download video here LAS VEGAS, NV – Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) joined local small businessowner Kristen Corral, Co-Founder of Tacotarian and the Nevada Restaurant Association to announce the introduction of her bipartisan PROTECT Small Restaurants Act . This legislation will prohibit third-party delivery services (3PDs) from listing restaurants on their platforms without the restaurant’s permission. “Our small, independent restaurants are already struggling from razor-thin profit margins and decreased tourism rates. The last thing they need is big corporations hurting their reputation and making it harder for them to bring costumers through their doors,” said Congresswoman Susie Lee. “That’s exactly why I introduced legislation to prohibit third-party delivery services from listing restaurants on their platforms without the restaurant’s permission. Restaurants deserve peace of mind that they’re free from this harmful practice while juggling everything else that comes with owning a small business.” The success of services such as DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub have, in part, been at the expense of small independent restaurants. Since 2020, hundreds of thousands of cases have been reported of third-party delivery services listing restaurants on their platforms without authorization from the business owner. In many cases, these owners only discover these listings after receiving negative reviews of delivery orders they didn’t authorize or even offer from their establishments. Currently, there is no federal law prohibiting this predatory behavior. “Small businesses are facing some of the toughest years we’ve seen in a very long time – margins are extremely thin and rising costs are impacting restaurants every day. And now, restaurants continue to find themselves listed on third party delivery platforms without their consent,” said Kristen Corral, Co-Founder of Tacotarian. “That matters because, at the end of the day, the last person to interact with your food is a delivery driver without the certifications and permits restaurants are required to have. I’m excited about the PROTECT Small Restaurants Act, and I want to thank Congresswoman Lee for her leadership on this issue.” For many restaurant owners, average operating costs now range from 92.5% to 101.2% of revenue, meaning many operators are spending as much as or more than they generate in sales before taxes. Nearly nine in 10 independent restaurant owners surveyed said they raised menu prices to cope with rising costs. The Providing Real Oversight of Third-parties Executing Certain Transactions for (PROTECT) Small Restaurants Act will: Require third-party delivery systems (3PDs) to enter into partnership agreements with the restaurants for which the services deliver, Prohibit 3PDs from arranging for the delivery of an order from a vendor without first obtaining a partnership agreement with the vendor expressly authorizing the 3PD to take orders and deliver meals prepared by the vendor, Require 3PDs to remove vendors listed on their platforms without a valid partnership agreement within 10 calendar days of notification by the vendor, and Strengthens the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to crackdown on this predatory practice by classifying these unauthorized listings as “unfair or deceptive acts” under the law to enforce these requirements. The PROTECT Small Restaurants Act is endorsed by the National Restaurant Association, Independent Restaurant Association, and Nevada Restaurant Association. “At the end of the day, what we're asking for is simple: if you spend years building a restaurant, investing your savings, hiring employees, and earning the trust of your community, someone else should not be able to take your name and profit from it. And if you're a consumer ordering food online, you deserve to know that the restaurant you're ordering from is actually preparing your food,” said Peter Saba, Senior Government Affairs and Communications Manager for the Nevada Restaurant Association. “These are basic protections that restaurant operators across the country deserve. On behalf of the Nevada Restaurant Association, we thank Congresswoman Lee and support passage of the PROTECT Small Restaurants Act.” “Independent restaurants shouldn’t have their names, menus, and reputations used by third-party delivery platforms without their consent. When restaurants lose control over how their food is sold and delivered, they pay the price in lost revenue and customer trust. The PROTECT Small Restaurants Act is common sense: if a company wants to sell a restaurant’s food, it should have that restaurant’s permission,” said Erika Polmar, Executive Director, Independent Restaurant Coalition. “By requiring partnership agreements and giving the FTC the authority to enforce these protections, this legislation will help ensure independent restaurants have a say in how they are represented on third-party delivery platforms. We appreciate Representatives Susie Lee and John McGuire for standing up for the small businesses who anchor our communities, and we look forward to working with them to move this legislation forward.” ### Issues : Economy, Jobs, & Small Businesses