Restaurant supply platform DoorDash has launched a restaurant catastrophe aid fund that may supply grants of as much as $10,000 to US eating places affected by pure disasters over the subsequent 12 months, the corporate stated Wednesday. The $1 million fund will probably be open to eligible restaurant house owners starting November 1st and is a partnership with small enterprise help platform Hello Alice. Restaurants affected by Hurricane Ida in August and the continued California wildfires are eligible to use, the corporate stated.

To qualify, eating places have to be experiencing hardship as a result of a state or federally declared pure catastrophe; have a brick-and-mortar location within the US with three or fewer areas; and have fewer than 50 staff per location. The eating places should have income of $3 million or much less at every location for the previous 12 months and have been open for a minimum of six months. Applications will probably be processed each three months.

Restaurants can use the grant funds for hire, utilities, upkeep, provides, payroll, and different important bills, DoorDash stated.

The firm additionally unveiled a brand new companion program that matches retailers on its platform with a devoted level of contact for help and banking reconciliation points, and it launched a brand new cellular app for iOS and Android, which it says will probably be out there “in the coming months.” It will permit eating places to trace reside orders and get real-time knowledge about gross sales and operations.

DoorDash’s newest announcement in help of eating places comes at a considerably awkward time. The firm is concerned in two lawsuits towards New York City that contain legal guidelines making an attempt to manage how supply firms work with eating places there.

Along with Grubhub and Uber Eats, DoorDash is suing NYC for capping the quantities the platforms can acquire in charges from eating places. In a complaint filed in US District Court on September ninth, the businesses argue that the price caps are authorities overreach. They sought an injunction stopping enforcement of the rule which restricts platforms from charging eating places greater than 23 % per order, however they have been accused of adding unclear fees on high of their supply charges, exceeding the utmost.

And on September fifteenth, DoorDash filed a lawsuit towards New York City over its legislation requiring supply firms to share buyer knowledge with eating places it really works with, calling it “a shocking and invasive intrusion of consumers’ privacy.” Earlier this month, the city agreed to hold off on implementing the data-sharing requirement whereas the lawsuit is pending.

In its second-quarter earnings report, DoorDash reported its gross order quantity was up 70 % 12 months over 12 months to $10.5 billion, however income was up 83 % from the year-ago quarter, to $1.2 billion.