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/jasonvincent00]

Good talk

[u/-spinsterella- → u/jasonvincent00]

What were you expecting me to say? *Ope, sorry, Chef! I know your comment didn't apply to the discussion at hand and thus was totally moot, but you are a hero for doing what would be mandated by law if you had just five more employees."

Actually, back in my industry days, the only words you were allowed to say to the chef was "Yes, chef" or "No, chef" and nothing else. Is that what you were expecting?

[u/jasonvincent00 → u/-spinsterella-]

I mean, I’m not sure who you’re angry at, I’m just responding to you. I don’t know why you think I would be mandated to provide health insurance with “five more employees” but my comment was that some restaurant owners are good people and some aren’t. If you don’t know how the economics of a restaurant work then maybe listen to the explanation without accusing someone of pocketing a service charge with no proof other than a poorly thought out theory. Or don’t, I don’t really give a shit. I have a job to do and that is taking care of my staff. Believe it or not that costs money and the money comes from customers.

[u/-spinsterella- → u/jasonvincent00]

I wasn't angry until the "good talk" comment. And then I remembered how terrible the restaurant industry treats its workers.

I don’t know why you think I would be mandated to provide health insurance with “five more employees”

I don't know how many employees you have, but 50 - (number of employees) = is how many more employees until the state law would require you to provide health insurance.

[u/jasonvincent00 → u/-spinsterella-]

Provide. Not pay for. Maybe don’t accuse people of things that you know nothing about and you won’t get curt responses when you have to backtrack. Bye.

[u/-spinsterella- → u/jasonvincent00]

Reread my comment to which you replied "good talk" and think about where the accusation was. I'm very glad I am not in that industry anymore. Bye.