Fantuan forces delivery drivers to front customers’ cash

Tianpeng Zhang had been working for Fantuan in New York City, a Canadian food delivery app catered towards Chinese and Asian cuisine, for about a year when he started to notice his subpar working conditions. 

In addition to having to take on as many as five deliveries within one hour, Zhang and other Fantuan delivery workers are often forced to front customers’ payments at cash-only restaurants, workers said. In order to complete these orders, workers have to carry with them hundreds of dollars in cash.

The workers are eventually reimbursed for the orders each Tuesday and Friday, but the practice comes with several risks.

“Carrying so much cash on you is very dangerous, because you then get targeted for robberies,” said Zhang. “When robbers see our Fantuan delivery boxes, they know that inside will be a few hundred dollars in cash. So we get targeted more than other delivery workers.”

“The worst part is when it’s raining,” added Yequn Lin, a former Fantuan worker. “You already have all this stuff, and then on top of that you have to fish around for cash.”

Fantuan’s practice of making drivers front cash payments is unique to the platform.

“It’s impossible to compare other delivery apps to Fantuan," said Zhang "The others are heaven, Fantuan is hell."

Deyi Yang, another Fantuan worker, noted that when he previously worked at Uber Eats, orders like these were optional but by no means mandatory. And although Fantuan drivers technically have the option of rejecting trips where they will have to front cash, they are penalized for it. 

“One out of three of my order requests are these fronting orders. If I reject them, it impacts my income,” said Yang. “My acceptance rate decreases afterwards, making it less likely that I will receive order requests in the future.”

A spokesperson for Fantuan did not respond to requests for comment.

Fantuan has previously been scrutinized for its violation of minimum wage laws in NYC.

In January 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found Fantuan, along with Uber Eats and Hungry Panda, guilty of wage theft, as the companies failed to pay workers the minimum delivery worker wage of $22.13 per hour. Fantuan in particular was responsible for paying over $468,000 in restitution to 285 workers across NYC, and more than $52,000 in civil penalties and fees.

Since Fantuan has started to abide by minimum wage requirements in recent months, workers say that they’ve been given less hours and order requests, making it even more important that they take on risky cash-fronting orders. 

“Fantuan needs to stop making us front costs for orders,” said Deyi Yang. “With Uber, if they want us to front cash payments, the company will pay for it first, or make it completely optional. Fantuan should follow suit with this practice.”

DCWP has received 30 complaints from workers about Fantuan since the beginning of the year, according to the department, including complaints about pre-paying. But there are no current laws that prohibit the practice if workers are made whole within seven days after the end of the pay period.

But current and former Fantuan workers are optimistic about future policy change, organizing alongside the volunteer-led grassroots group Chinese Delivery Worker Solidarity (CDWS) to change their working conditions.

“The minimum wage rate that delivery drivers have now did not exist until Latin American workers fought for it,” continued Yang. “As a newcomer to the movement, I realized that I already have rights that my predecessors fought for. So when I see the abuses happening now with Fantuan, I see it as an injustice. It is my obligation to become involved in organizations like CDWS, fight against the injustices, and push for change.”