By Marco Shalma

New York City just removed the lid on delivery apps’ fees—what used to max out at 23% can now hit 43%. That means nearly half of your dinner order goes straight to apps, before the restaurant sees a cent. They call it “enhanced services.” Restaurant owners call it legal extortion dressed up in a slick app.

Here’s the play. The apps sued the city, forced a settlement, and sold the Council on “flexibility.” In practice, it means: pay us more or get buried under chains with ad budgets. Delivery costs already jumped 58% after the worker minimum wage law. Now, restaurants are bleeding margins while customers think their favorite spots are still fine. They’re not.

The delivery worker making $17.96 an hour isn’t thriving either. After gas, insurance, and phone bills, they’re hustling for scraps, calculating whether your neighborhood is worth the ride. The food shows up cold because everyone in the chain is losing—except the tech execs cashing in from their Napa mansions.

This is the real NYC food economy right now: restaurants squeezed, workers stretched, diners paying more for less. If you want to help, start simple. Call the restaurant directly. Pick it up yourself. Tip in cash.

At New York Eats Here, we’re not anti-tech. We’re anti-bullshit. And a 43% cut while the people feeding the city go broke? That’s pure bullshit.

ATM required. Regrets impossible.

Here’s what I’m seeing this week across the city: small business owners are tired of waiting for “support,” chefs are finally speaking their minds, and landlords still think they’re the main character. The city’s heartbeat isn’t in City Hall; it’s in the prep kitchens, bodegas, and bars that keep opening despite the math not making sense.

1. The Price of Grit: Eggs, flour, and rent are up again, but nobody’s cutting the hustle. Restaurants are tweaking menus like it’s Tetris. A guy in Washington Heights told me, “If the government won’t control prices, I’ll control portions.” That’s real economics.

2. Chain Exodus: Starbucks, Duane Reade, and a few legacy franchises are downsizing hard. Every closing is a new shot for someone local. The people with the best neighborhood read, not the biggest budget, are the ones who’ll win those corners.

3. Family Feud Season: More mom-and-pop tension than usual. Expansion talk divides families faster than politics. My advice: growth isn’t the enemy, disorganization is. If you can’t scale structure, you’ll drown in success.

4. Experiential Everything: Pop-ups, collabs, chef takeovers, everybody’s chasing “vibes.” Most are missing the point. Experience without story dies quick. Tell me why you’re doing it, not where.

5. Policy Theater: Every official is talking small-biz relief again. None are showing math. If they really wanted to help, they’d start by cutting the red tape that strangles the smallest players. Until then, it’s speeches over spreadsheets.

That’s the pulse. If you’re running something real in this city right now, you’re not crazy-you’re part of the last honest business model left: sweat, story, and survival.

📍96th & Broadway – Manhattan

For 20 years, rain or snow, Ahmed grilled chicken over rice on the corner of 96th and Broadway. No sign. No name. No Instagram. Just a cart, a dream, and the fire always lit.

Most people never knew:

Behind the steam and sizzle, he was sending money to Egypt, raising three kids in Queens, and saving stack by stack to buy a building. Last year, he did it. A brownstone in Harlem. Paid off.

No investors. No marketing. Just halal and hustle.

Have you ever eaten from that cart?

You helped build a legacy.

This is what New York tastes like.