The City of Fort Collins has announced a partnership with a third-party delivering service to assist local restaurants while also incentivizing hungry consumers to avoid chains.

Officials from the city announced the partnership with NoCo Nosh, a Fort Collins based, independent delivery service. Beginning Wednesday, anyone purchasing food through the delivery service will have the local restaurant’s portion of delivery fees paid for by the city.

Fort Collins will also be covering the processing fee and first $.50 of each delivery fee for city residents utilizing NoCo Nosh’s platform. 

“Our goal is to help Fort Collins restaurants maintain revenue during the toughest months of the pandemic and this program is a key element,” Josh Birks, Economic Health and Redevelopment Director, said in the release.

“We can all show our support for local restaurants by keeping them busy and this partnership means the restaurants will keep more of the funds to pay their employees, cover rent, and maintain quality service by reducing delivery expenses paid by restaurants.”

After Dec. 30, restaurants will continue having discounted delivery prices as the city negotiated a discount on delivery cost of 15% — and takeout cost by 12.5% — for those using the service, according to the release.

NoCo Nosh is co-owned by several Northern Colorado restaurants that are aiming to work tighter and keep food delivery economically sustainable and keep money in Northern Colorado.

Any Fort Collins restaurant can sign up free with NoCo Nosh on their website.