LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Las Vegas restaurants owners who are part of a class action lawsuit are pushing for change. After having an imposter restaurant deliver food using their name on a popular food deliver app, they want a state law to stop it from happening again.
FOX5′s broke the story back in April and reported on a class action lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court by a number of restaurants in the Vegas area against Uber Eats. It is now filed in federal court.
The woman who uncovered what was happening to dozens of restaurants including her own, the owner of the Manizza’s Pizza recently testified before state lawmakers.
“I am here to tell a story about what happened to my business this spring,” started self-proclaimed pizza nerd Christina Martin. Martin has built her small business from the ground up.
“I received a phone call from a guest inquiring about menu items that we do not serve and after a quick dive found out that they found us on the Uber Eats platform…I begrudgingly downloaded the app, entered my restaurant name, and found a local business posing as Manizza’s Pizza,” Martin recounted. Potential sales were stolen and a subpar product sold under her brand name.
“They were just siphoning business off of my reputation that I have worked so hard to build…It is a huge deal when it comes to public health because if you are already operating on pretty low morals and values, what is it to you to serve food with poor food handling practices?,” Martin questioned.
What was happening to Martin’s restaurant was happening to others including popular spots like Esther’s Kitchen and Gaetano’s.
“The law has not kept up with the actual technology,” asserted attorney Jacqueline Bretell. Bretell now represents the restaurants and testified before an Interim Committee on Government Affairs the current loophole needs to be closed and a mandatory verification process for restaurants selling food online put in place.
“There is no current law. There is no statute. There is nothing on the books that states in order to go on a platform like this that you have to demonstrate that you are a legitimate business, or a legitimate restaurant owner,” Bretell revealed.
Restaurants we checked with said since FOX5’s initial coverage of this story, the imposter restaurant has stopped but they say the concern is no law is in place to stop it from happening again.
When this was happening Uber Eats told FOX5 “any imposter restaurants we discover will immediately be taken off the app.”
At the recent meeting, lawmakers expressed interest in drafting a law to make sure restaurants selling food online are verified and working to propose the idea during the next legislative session.
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