Unreasonable delivery fees result in penalties for food delivery merchants!

Compiled from The Paper
 
Wanting to buy a 15-yuan milk tea but facing a 20-yuan minimum order, having to order an extra cup to meet the threshold—many consumers encounter such minimum order requirements when ordering food delivery. Recently, two merchants in Taizhou, Zhejiang, were ordered by market regulators to rectify their practices for setting unreasonable minimum order fees and failing to guide consumers to order as needed.

 
 

Case review
On March 30, it was learned from the Market Supervision Administration of Luqiao District, Taizhou City, that during a special law enforcement campaign against food waste, a local restaurant was ordered to rectify its practice of setting a "minimum order of 20 yuan" for delivery. Previously, when inspecting online food establishments, law enforcement officers found that a steakhouse's delivery page indicated a minimum order of 20 yuan, but the prices of items such as crispy deep-sea cod strips and New Orleans chicken wings (4 pieces) were all below 20 yuan. The officers issued a notice of rectification.
 
"Why can't we set a minimum delivery order?" the steakhouse manager asked. Law enforcement officers explained that the Anti-Food Waste Law requires food service operators to guide consumers to order according to their needs and in appropriate amounts. Setting a minimum order higher than the unit price of some items prevents consumers from ordering as needed, limits their choices to some extent, and may lead to excessive purchases, creating a risk of food waste.
 
In a batch of anti-food waste cases published by the Linhai City Market Supervision Administration on the 28th, there was also a case where a restaurant was penalized for setting an excessively high minimum delivery order.
 
In March, during an online inspection of food delivery platforms, local law enforcement officers found that a cold noodle shop had set a minimum delivery order of 50 yuan, significantly higher than the 10-20 yuan minimum of similar establishments. The price of a single-person meal at this shop was under 20 yuan, which did not meet the minimum order, easily inducing excessive ordering and potentially causing food waste.
 
The bureau determined that the cold noodle shop's actions violated Article 7 of the Anti-Food Waste Law, constituting a failure to guide consumers to order according to their needs and in appropriate amounts. In accordance with Article 28, Paragraph 1 of the Anti-Food Waste Law, it ordered the shop to rectify the issue and issued a warning. "Online food delivery units setting a minimum order should determine a reasonable range based on operating costs and respect consumers' right to order meals autonomously and appropriately. The minimum order set by the party in this case was significantly higher than industry standards, preventing some consumers from ordering as needed," said a relevant official from the Linhai City Market Supervision Department.
 
 
《 [1] The People's Republic of China Anti-Food Waste Law
Article 7
Catering service operators shall take the following measures to prevent food waste:
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(2) Actively provide consumers with reminders to prevent food waste, post or place anti-food waste signs in prominent locations, or have service staff provide prompts and explanations to guide consumers to order according to their needs and in appropriate amounts;
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Catering service operators shall not induce or mislead consumers to order excessively.
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Article 10
Catering delivery platforms shall prominently remind consumers to order food in moderation. Food service operators providing services through delivery platforms shall display on the platform page information such as food portion size, specifications, or recommended number of diners for consumers.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
"Every grain is the fruit of hard work" is a poem we learned in childhood. Although it is catchy, food waste still occurs frequently. With rapid economic development and rising living standards, some poorly educated children and adults engaging in retaliatory consumption have no concept of ordering in moderation. They often have eyes bigger than their stomachs, ordering a full table of food only to leave much of it uneaten. Thus, our country has finally corrected this misconception at the legislative level.
 
Although Chinese laws and regulations do not explicitly stipulate specific minimum delivery fees for takeout, delivery platforms should determine such fees based on actual circumstances, aligning with market rules (such as in-store product pricing and normal consumer spending ranges) as well as legal requirements. At the same time, they must prominently remind consumers to order in moderation and provide information on food portion sizes, specifications, or recommended diner numbers on the platform page. The two cases above not only alert businesses to commonly overlooked laws and regulations but also remind consumers to always cherish food.