”The sugar high might be wearing off for app-based rapid grocery delivery companies, at least in New York City, as venture capital dries up for the money-losing operations and regulators home in on them.
Three bills introduced in the City Council would place new regulations on advertising and limit the weight of deliveries for the app-based grocery companies operating within the five boroughs.
Darkened windows at the locations of many micro-fulfillment centers have earned them the moniker “dark stores.” The companies behind the dark stores, such as Fridge No More, Gorillas and GoPuff, have gained traction with customers—and investors—for their easy-to-use, on-demand grocery service. The firms normally lease ground-floor retail space to warehouse food and provide a headquarters for the delivery workers, who pick up orders as they come in…
A July 13 letter from Councilwoman Gale Brewer to Vilda Vera Mayuga, commissioner of the Consumer and Worker Protection Department, questioned whether the micro-fulfillment warehouses are appropriately zoned. Brewer stressed that if the centers are to be classified as retail establishments, then they should follow the same laws as supermarkets and small storefronts.
The laws include access to store aisles, access to pricing, weights and scales for inventory, and the requirement to accept cash for purchases.”
