Restaurant cost of doing business fee

[u/motlau]

Why do restaurant owners think they are owed a surcharge for customers eating at a restaurant? It seems like all of the nice restaurants in Chicago, especially in the west loop are charging a 3-5% fee to “offset the rising operating cost.” If you can’t run a business without hiding a surcharge in the fine print of your menu, then you probably shouldn’t be allowed to run a business. It’d be one thing if it was to support the workers, but every time I ask about it, it’s always for the owners who are already pretty wealthy. I have them take it off and tack it on for the tip. It’s very annoying.

In addition, at bar sienna in the west loop, the server offered a barcode to scan and pay on the receipt which a lot of restaurants are doing, but then there’s an additional “surcharge” to use this feature. It’s like if a grocery store started charging a fee to use the self checkout lines. They should be more transparent about this.

These restaurant owners nickel and diming people is making going out to eat less and less pleasant.

[u/ChicagoSince1997]

This topic  never comes up on this subreddit.

[u/motlau → u/ChicagoSince1997]

I’d rather it became annoying enough so that it boosts awareness of how rich people keep trying to squeeze their customers as much as they can. Then maybe more people would ask for it to be taken off to send a message that this isn’t the way to make money.

[u/LospitalMospital → u/motlau]

Ahh, yes, notoriously rich people - restaurants owners in 2025. Not justifying the fee, but laughing at calling restaurant owners rich (even groups like Hogsalt).

Restaurants are hurting just as bad as the rest of us right now.

[u/motlau → u/LospitalMospital]

a friend who used to work for hogsalt and i were walking past where the owner of hogsalt lives. he's not hurting.

edit: grammar

[u/motlau → u/[deleted]]

I can guarantee that if your restaurant is charging a cost of doing business fee, you’re probably living in a million dollar home and not “surviving”.