'It's angering': Victoria restaurants claim food delivery service owes them thousands

Several Victoria restaurants that were hoping to support a local delivery service say they're out thousands of dollars since the company has failed to pay them.

Clif Lier, owner of Fol Epi in downtown Victoria, says the financial challenges of running a restaurant have compounded recently, and he claims that he's owed thousands of dollars from local food delivery company Tutti.

The restaurant owner says he turned to Tutti and its food delivery app during the pandemic because it offered cheaper prices than large corporations – like DoorDash and Uber Eats – and because he wanted to support another local company.

"We are strong supporters of local business and local producers," he told CTV News on Thursday.

But, he says things went sour several months ago when he discovered that Tutti owed him thousands of dollars.

"It's angering," he said. "We worked so hard to make this money over the past few months."

Leir says the company still owes him about $4,000, despite multiple requests from him.

"That's $4,000 from our bottom line, and bottom lines these days are almost nothing. So it's very hard," he said.