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Preston Super Soda withdraws DoorDash delivery plan for now after board flags permitting, oversight gaps
Summary
Preston Super Soda’s owner asked to use DoorDash’s platform for alcohol deliveries; commissioners and counsel said local permitting, geofencing, delivery logs, and age‑verification access must be resolved. The owner agreed to withdraw the DoorDash plan and return with a revised, store-run delivery proposal.
Parth Patel, owner of Preston Super Soda, asked the Caroline County Board of License Commissioners on Jan. 20 for permission to offer alcohol deliveries using DoorDash's technology (the company would provide the platform; store staff would make deliveries).
Commissioners and legal counsel repeatedly raised questions about whether DoorDash would need a county delivery permit, how the county would verify customer age and detect fake IDs, whether DoorDash could enforce geofencing to keep deliveries within Caroline County, and how inspectors would access delivery logs for compliance checks.
Legal counsel advised that Maryland’s 2024 legislative changes permit third-party delivery in principle but that a third-party vendor must obtain the appropriate local delivery-service permit before operating in the county. “DoorDash needs to get a local delivery service permit from you for Caroline County,” counsel said during the discussion.
Patel said DoorDash was his initial marketing strategy and that he planned to transition to an in-house delivery system if demand justified it. “My DoorDash part was just for the marketing purpose,” Patel said, and told the board he would withdraw the DoorDash-backed request and return next month with a delivery plan that did not rely on a third-party platform unless/until the county established rules and DoorDash sought a local permit.
Board members recommended that Patel either remove DoorDash from his plan and present a store-run delivery program (with manual logbooks and on-delivery ID checks) or return after county rules and a DoorDash application were in place. The board did not vote to authorize DoorDash or any third-party deliveries at the Jan. 20 meeting; the applicant agreed to revise and resubmit his proposal.
