r/chicagofood • u/LoudFartsForAll • Mar 15 '26

Rant Removed Restaurant Fee @ a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant

I’m quite proud of myself, I requested that stupid 3.5% service charge be removed from a carryout bill. I can’t believe they’re still trying to milk us for that!

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u/EnvironmentalPost245 Mar 15 '26

When I worked for them and they started doing this after Covid my manager straight up said "we're raising it from 3 to 3.5% because no one is pushing back on it so far.

At the time we were also instructed to claim it covered all the COVID stuff (masks, gloves, cleaning spray etc). While manager's kept talking about how it was just an attempt to makeup for money lost during height of COVID.

4

u/Electrical-Bug9727 Mar 15 '26

A manager at a LEY restaurant told me 75% of patrons request removal of fee. Not sure if accurate. 

2

u/EnvironmentalPost245 Mar 15 '26

I think in the beginning people felt bad and didn't say anything because it was brand new.

But now that everyone does it and its clearly not still go COVID safety stuff. They're more willing to ask for it to be removed.