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If you want to charge more just raise your prices.. hidden fees and extra costs should not be allowed in any billing.
Especially not as a flat percentage! I could understand a cover charge, a corking fee, or a fee for substitutions, but if everything gets a 20% charge, then it's really just pretending the prices are lower and nothing else.
That's why I don't use food delivery services in the US. They say free delivery ect, then they add 30% to the food costs plus processing plus if you actually want your food hot. I don't mind paying for the service, but don't bullshit me like I'm a 5 years old and don't understand what you're doing. Just charge me $10 to deliver it or whatever and call it a fucking day.
I agree, but restaraunts all over the world use "hidden" ways to subsidize lower prices.
For example here in Belgium, they don't give tap water and force you to buy bad bottled water at a 300-1000% markup (so much so that beer is often cheaper) in order to be able to post lower meal prices. But people here are stingy as fuck and will in the same breath complain (and write bad reviews) about restaurant prices being more than supermarket prices as well as that "the staff is all students/not enough staff".
This
Do not let this American scourge on your shores. Reject this mightily
..is he not British?
The scourge being the tipping custom I presume.
yes, he's scottish.
Fuck tipping
Put the whole hog in
I don’t see this as tipping, more like a commission. If I don’t have to decide, it isn’t tipping. The only issue I see is it makes the items seem 20% cheaper than they actually are.
What’s the difference between a $120 check that has wages factored into menu prices and a $100 check with a $20 service charge? They’re both $120.
So he did it on New Year's Eve and 4 month later whoever is writing this article still doesn't now if it's permanent or just one time thing? Great journalism.
Welcome to 2026 where the facts don’t matter.
Vibe reporting.
The headline is still true even if he only did it twice, it's still bad
Why is raising process on public holidays bad? (As long as the staff are also getting paid more)
Because the price on the menu should be what you are obliged to pay.
If they want to increase prices on holidays, they should print a menu with the correct prices.
The surcharge is written on the menu.. Printing two menus is wasteful and annoying.
Lots of places add a 10-15% surcharge on holidays here (Australia). As long as they are up-front about it, it's not that hard to do the math in your head..
Prices must indicate what you're going to pay. These hidden costs are scummy practices and very well regulated in the EU.
Not sure what you're defending here buddy, you like paying more?
Because hiding prices in obscure surcharges is deliberately misleading customers. Given that they are surely having a special menu for the occasion they can easily print the true prices instead of fake prices. I would avoid shady places doing that. If they fool customers when it comes to paying who knows how the fool them in the kitchen.
It's not hidden, it's written on the menu.
Having to calculate your final price of your meal, is a hidden price. A transparent price is when you pay concrete prices for concrete services, without any x% surcharge on everything. Maybe you like it that way, but exactly that should be illegal in the EU because it serves no purpose other than making prices appear smaller than they are by having a smaller number there that is not the full price.
Raise all your prices by 20% you fucking grifter.
Yeah. In nearly every way, the US and it's systems are a puuuuuurfect example we should all defenitely follow. Hmm hmm.
Putting the responsibility of fair wages for your employees on your customers is just a dick move. Treat your employees fairly or do the dishes yourself.
Fucking twat.
Just raise the prices of the food if you want more money. Simple as that.
Anytime anyone says we should follow in the footsteps of the USA you just know it's greed
In this case it's just "I want to squeeze people but also act as if .y food isn't expensive"
I'd hope flat x % surcharges are a violation of price transperancy rules in the EU but it could be that it is possible like in the UK. But it shouldn't.
How do I short a restaurant
Drench their electrical board with salt water?
Why don't more short sellers do that?
Maybe it is so cheap to DIY that there is no market for pros...I guess they could sell physical pentesting, mapping and finding the board as a service, for aspiring rackateering mobsters (like tramp)... :D
“a resto”
Sounds like Aussie slang. Why is naming things so easy for them?
that was davo at the bottlo
This is crazy, especially in a gastronomic restaurant where staff is paid well over market, especially for all the specialized waiter whose salary can compete with Upper middle management in tech.
Where can I read more about this?
Get fucked!
As long as it is visible before you order and comes explicitly in the final bill...it is just the tabled price...they're just forcing you to take extra steps...
On the other hand...I dont want anyone bugging me to pay them extra on top of the bill, I'm not their boss.
Nah fuck that, just increase prices by 20%, this is deliberately misleading pricing and shouldn't be allowed to spread.
Infact he should get aasaice fine just to send a message!
yeah its like if they want put a price in parenthesis for each item to show what it will really cost. Heck show the cost of ingredients and then the cost for the service to prepare it and then the cost for service to take your order and stuff and then how much is the restaurants profit if they want full transparency.
Doing this is different to increasing the price.
Firstly, from a PR point of view, it tells people that the extra money is going to the staff and not the restaurant.
More importantly, in the UK, we are legally able to object to a service charge placed on the bill and they have to remove it.
Doing this is different to increasing the price.
No it's not it's litterally increasing the price
it tells people that the extra money is going to the staff and not the restaurant.
They're always free to publish their books if they care about transparency.
we are legally able to object to a service charge placed on the bill and they have to remove it.
Great so assholes can get a 20% discount.
Menu prices should add up to what you are expected to pay, you don't add taxes, you shouldn't add service, those are expected functions of a restaurant, and the moment you give buisnesses an inch, they'll keep pushing until the price you pay at the end is tangential to what they list in the menu.
Your £20 main becomes £20+20% tax +20% service fee + 5% tip+ 10% London rent fee + 5% booking fee (brought to you by Ticketmaster) + 7.2% Mercury in retrograde insurance.
If you want to charge me £24 just update the fucking menu!
I do agree with you in that it’s much better for the price to be the price and for tips to be entirely up to the customer.
That’s how it is in most UK restaurants in my experience but tips being added on already is creeping in. It used to be for large groups, then smaller groups and now a few places do it for everyone. Very annoying.
Great so assholes can get a 20% discount.
You’d be being an asshole if you were just doing it on principle but I have received bad service and asked for the tip to be removed. I didn’t feel like I was being a dick.
between him and salt bae who also gouges people.
Or you could not come and close the door of your restaurant here.
The service fees should only apply to people who are over a certain income level or net worth. You get a mark on your ID to show that you’re rich. No mark, no fee.
The only thing i don't disagree with here is the mandatory tip on NYE. As it being an event, on a holiday, the service workers should absolutely deserve something gaurenteed. The fact that it was in London is not cool though and pushing tips in other countries to try and make it standard everywhere is infuriating. I hope the rest of the world avoids these places to send a message.
The other weird part I found in the article was the talk of the actual price of the food, as if for some reason choosing to get a $100 or more steak makes tipping that much worse? If you choose to go to a high end place you already know your tipping a lot more, if anything these people can afford it way more than the other way around!
No, on NYE Ramsey should pay his staff extra, not leave it to the customers