new delivery legislation

New legislation regulates third-party delivery apps in Texas

Starbucks Delivers Houston Uber Eats home delivery

Restaurants have new protections thanks to SB 911.

The Texas Legislature has approved a new measure that regulates the relationship between restaurants and third party delivery apps. After passing both the Texas House and Senate with bipartisan support, SB 911 heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for final approval.

The bill's key provisions give restaurants more control over their relationships with third party delivery services. They include:

Prohibiting delivery services from using a restaurant’s trademarks to suggest the restaurant sponsors or endorses the service
Prohibiting charging a restaurant any fees unless they are agreed-to in writing
Requiring removal of a restaurant from the services within 10 days of receiving a removal request
Requiring apps to provide consumers with a clearly identified way to report problems with an order directly to the delivery service.

The bill also prohibits Texas cities and counties from enacting any local regulations that would conflict with signed agreements between restaurants and delivery services, such as San Francisco's ordinance that capped commissions at 15-percent. Both the Texas Restaurant Association and third party services such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub supported the legislation.

“With SB 911, Texas has shown once again that we’re willing to be creative and work in a collaborative fashion to solve the public policy challenges of the day,” said Kelsey Erickson Streufert, Vice President of Government Relations and Advocacy for TRA. “When restaurants were ordered to close their dining rooms, pickup and delivery became essential, and it became clearer than ever that restaurants and consumers need basic transparency and fairness protections in this evolving market. We immediately set to work with third-party delivery companies to draft SB 911, improving competition and fairness for all parties.”

HB 598, which was also introduced this session, would have limited delivery fees charged to restaurants to 15-percent of an order's value. That legislation never made it out of the House's Business & Industry committee. In an email, Streufert tells CultureMap the TRA was "neutral" on HB 598, because it had already begun working with delivery services on SB 911.

"In a sense they are alternatives because they both seek to address concerns restaurants and consumers have raised regarding third-party delivery services," she writes. "SB 911 addresses those concerns by empowering restaurants to control their own business by improving transparency, particularly on fees; strengthening trademark protections; and giving restaurants a meaningful opt-out procedure if third-party delivery does not work with their business model. We believe this will strengthen competition and fairness for all parties."

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the more things change

Houston's essential Jewish diner looks better than ever after refresh

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

It’s tricky to renovate a restaurant that’s as essential to its community as New York Deli. A staple of Houston’s Jewish community for almost 50 years, the tiny restaurant near Meyerland will serve as many as 400 people during a busy Sunday brunch.

Still, the time had come, as the tape on the deteriorating banquettes and peeling wallpaper illustrated. With the restaurant’s lease up for renewal, co-owner Michael Saghian saw an opportunity for some updates.

“I couldn’t be the new guy who ruined the place by moving it,” he tells CultureMap. “We worked out a deal with the landlord [to stay] and did a big refresh.”

The most noticeable change is the removal of the restaurant’s front door and vestibule. Instead, diners enter through the restaurant’s companion bagel shop. Separate entrances made sense when the bagel shop was certified kosher by local religious authorities, but now that designation only applies to the Bellaire location that opened in 2020. Not only is the new setup easier for people with mobility issues to navigate, it allows more light into the dining room, brightening the place considerably..

Saghian and co-owner Riana Sherman worked with interior designer Erin Hicks on the refresh. Tables, chairs, and banquettes are all new, but the color scheme remains the same. The process yielded 10 more seats, and the furniture is a little more durable, too.

“People have flipped chairs because they’re so lightweight,” Sherman says. “We got a sturdier chair.”

Behind the scenes, an expanded kitchen allows for the restaurant’s cooks to work faster and more efficiently. An additional egg cooker should cut down the amount of time people wait for their food to arrive.

“The kitchen had one of everything. Now we have two of everything. We can pump out a lot more food,” Saghian says.

Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers such as the “bagel girls,” a group of woman who’ve eaten breakfast at the restaurant since the ‘80s. A piece of old wallpaper has been framed and hung on the wall, too, as a nod to the space’s history.

New York Deli interior changes Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers.Photo by Sergio Trevino

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

Saghian says he suffered from sleepless nights as he worried about people’s reactions to the changes, but so far his customers have been effusive.

“It still feels like an old school diner,” Saghian says. “It has pieces you remember. Even the new stuff is old school.”

While the physical environment is new, the staff remains the same. To ensure he kept the same team of cooks and servers, Saghian paid their wages for the two weeks the restaurant was closed for renovations.

Even more importantly, the prices are the same. That’s something that will make even the oldest regulars happy.

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