Bravo, well said
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A or THE top restaurant in Seattle.
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Now here’s an honest (alleged) description from a restaurant owner:
The service charge [is] 100% counted as [our] revenue … you could say that all that money is earmarked for labor — certainly our labor is higher than the service charge, but that’s just lip service to accounting. … The restaurant takes and keeps all the money.
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Comal in Berkeley has returned to its old practice of adding a 20% service charge with no tip line on the bill. At Comal Next Door (counter service) it’s 15%.
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But it was to the staff not to the customers.
Crazy. Thanks for adding that to the discussion!
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Recently had dinner at Pasta Supply Co. and lunch at Chez Panisse. 15 and 17% service charges respectively but at both places I felt comfortable adding a tip to bring it somewhere over 20%
This would never happen but what about graded service charges similar to a health department score and it hangs in the window + listed on menu with some kind of breakdown
Like an A grade for 100% to employees and benefits etc and lower grades for how shady they get
I’m sure itd turn into some kind of splintered off charges that themselves would then need regulation
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That’s funny.
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There’s no persuasive explanation given for the practice whatsoever, except that everyone else is doing it.
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There’s a case to be made for breaking out the cost of the health-care mandate as everybody does for sales tax. It’s similar to a tax, and as discussed above it can reasonably be excluded from gross receipts, avoiding having to pay the landlord their percentage. But the business needs to be sure that the surcharge is actually spent on what they say it’s for or they can be subject to lawsuits.
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There is a Reddit thread that shows Melrose Umbrella Company has a 40% service charge! Wow.
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Original Reddit post deleted. This was a service charge for a party of ten. I don’t believe they have a service charge for except for large parties.
I just checked their google reviews and many recent, negative reviews mention this fee. The management is responding to the reviews saying this was a mistake on their point of sale systems. They seem to be reimbursing the fee if you notify them of it.
They responded and asked me to email them. I just did so I’ll keep everyone posted on how it gets handled!
Picture thousand words. Thanks.
But a service charge of 40%, even for large parties, is rather unusual, no?
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Per comments to the deleted Reddit post, it was a mistake in their point of sale system and being refunded.
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Ah… Thanks for the clarification (b/c that would’ve been really horrific if that were their actual policy).
It’s kind of horrific to me that anybody would pay that without challenging a $194 service charge on a $485 bill. How strong are the drinks?
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just me, or does it seem like the people doing the service charge are the most “hipstery” type restaurants? Animal, Alimento, etc…
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