November 14, 2025
DoorDash will pay $18 million to resolve the city of Chicago’s suit in Illinois federal court alleging it fooled diners into paying higher prices, charged hidden fees, used tips to subsidize its own costs and took advantage of restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the city’s announcement Friday.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled the settlement reached with the food delivery giant, which was accused of gaining massive market share and exploding in growth through deceptive business practices, namely during the COVID-19 public health emergency when government shutdown orders restricted dining and customer demand for deliveries skyrocketed.
Between 2014 and 2021, DoorDash Inc. misled diners by charging “service fees,” “small order fees” and a $1.50 “Chicago” fee along with delivery fees while hiding them from consumers by grouping them with taxes, suggesting they were imposed by the government, the city said.
DoorDash also failed to disclose that the food prices featured on its app might differ from those found on the restaurant’s own website or in-store menu, the city said. DoorDash also allegedly offered discounts that only applied if diners met a minimum order amount.
The city further accused DoorDash of offering free advertising and delivery services to eateries that have no contractual relationship with the platform and aren’t affiliated with DoorDash while using tips from diners to subsidize its payments to its delivery drivers.
The $18 million settlement DoorDash will pay will go to different entities: $3.25 million will go to restaurants that were listed on DoorDash without their consent and are still not listed on the app today. The company will provide instructions to those unaffiliated restaurants on how to enroll for settlement payment and in the future will not list those eateries without getting consent first.
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The city is represented by Rebecca Hirsch and Stephen J. Kane of the City of Chicago Department of Law’s Affirmative Litigation Division, and Brian E. Bowcut of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Read DoorDash Inks $18M Deal With Chicago Over Fee Practices.