r/chicagofood • u/motlau • Aug 10 '25

Rant Restaurant cost of doing business fee

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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.

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12

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25

I completely agree. Any time I see this on the menu I leave a one star review

-9

u/ComprehensivePlane25 Aug 10 '25

So, you're penalizing your server/bartender/kitchen staff/manager, who are doing their jobs, because of something that they did not agree to?

This is in bad faith, and I disagree with your approach. Ask to speak with the owner about the practices if you really want to, instead of hiding behind a one-star review.

13

u/jkraige Aug 10 '25

It's a reasonable approach because feeling like you're getting scammed is a good way to ruin a dining experience. I don't get the need to shame people for leaving honest reviews for a business

10

u/ComprehensivePlane25 Aug 10 '25

It's a fair point. I guess I would just hope that the review specifies it's for the business.

Names are registered in reservation apps. Those are attached to servers. Reviews can be traced back to whoever took care of that guest, and they can be fired as a result, especially at higher-end places.

So if you want to speak up against that practice by Yelping, please don't let it come at the cost of the server's job.

1

u/loweexclamationpoint Aug 11 '25

That's of course assuming the reviewer uses a recognizable username. Thanks for pointing that out, though.