[cgriswald]

> Firstly, restaurants are not allowed to pay "less than minimum wage" in any US state, though some states have two separate minimum wage rates for tipped and untipped employees.

This is a difference without distinction. It is the separate minimum wage for tipped employees which allows the restaurant to pay less than the minimum wage. If the tipped employee minimum wage is $A and the untipped employee minimum wage is $B, and the tipped employee earns $C in tips:

The restaurant must pay $A. If $A + $C < $B, the restaurant must pay $B -($C + $A) more so the employee earns $B. Else, the restaurant doesn't have to pay anymore.

That's exactly how DoorDash works. They pay $1 (equivalent to $A), guarantee another amount (equivalent to $B), and if $A + $C < $B, they fill in the difference.

> But more fundamentally Instacart and Doordash deceived consumers in a way restaurants don't.…

How so? They operate exactly as restaurants do in tipped employee minimum wages states in regard to tips.