Food delivery platforms have become an established part of the urban dining culture, but their success is reliant upon gig workers. While prior research has uncovered substantial socioeconomic consequences associated with the platform economy, little is known about how delivery platforms affect local employment. Using a quasi-experimental research design, this paper explores the impact of the spatiotemporal market entry of Grubhub, Postmates, DoorDash, and UberEats on local restaurant employment. Expanding upon prior theoretical work, our analysis suggests that the entry of delivery platforms does not affect restaurants’ demand, as the number of food preparation-related workers remain unchanged. However, as those platforms fundamentally reduce the number of dine-in service workers, we find an overall negative impact on local restaurant employment, which is only partially compensated for by an increase in gig workers (i.e., delivery drivers). Our findings inform policy makers and the restaurant industry on the macroeconomic impact of such platforms
