Restaurant 3% surcharges for inflation, and health care, is a BIG Pet Peeve for Me

[Kozman]

Sometimes. I have seen it stated on many restaurants I go to that the tip is calculated on the price BEFORE tax.

As it should be.

Sometimes this I find this to be calculated after tax. I wonder if the news ever exposes this at certain restaurants. Then I sit back and think about it and realize that the difference is minimal and not worthy of a news story.

To be quite honest if they suggest a tip after the calculated sales tax, really what is the big freaking deal. Only when the total bill exceeds hundreds or thousands of dollars will the calculated tip on top of the sales tax really make a difference.

We all know tipping at restaurants is customary in the US so just suck it up and leave a tip of between 15 to 20 percent and call it a day.

 

[Kozman]

Sometimes this I find this to be calculated after tax. I wonder if the news ever exposes this at certain restaurants. Then I sit back and think about it and realize that the difference is minimal and not worthy of a news story.

To be quite honest if they suggest a tip after the calculated sales tax, really what is the big freaking deal. Only when the total bill exceeds hundreds or thousands of dollars will the calculated tip on top of the sales tax really make a difference.

We all know tipping at restaurants is customary in the US so just suck it up and leave a tip of between 15 to 20 percent and call it a day.

I do after I subtract the tax. It's the principal not the difference. Each to their own preference..

 

[rapmarks]

Our club has a mandatory 18% tip. the year they didn’t have it, the tips were lower. Most of the people I know leave an extra dollar or two at lunch and more at dinner. It is announced at every function to please leave extra for the staff. Some leave an extra five per person at lunch. We don’t have volume, and we don’t want to lose our staff.

 

[Ken555]

Our club has a mandatory 18% tip. the year they didn’t have it, the tips were lower. Most of the people I know leave an extra dollar or two at lunch and more at dinner. It is announced at every function to please leave extra for the staff. Some leave an extra five per person at lunch. We don’t have volume, and we don’t want to lose our staff.

Why don’t they simply increase menu prices and pay a higher wage?


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[rapmarks]

Why don’t they simply increase menu prices and pay a higher wage?


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They do pay a higher wage and they have increased prices. They could go tip less and just pay hourly. When you have a club in southwest Florida, it is hard to keep staff over the summer, about 65% leave for the summer.

 

[austdav]

Why don’t they simply increase menu prices and pay a higher wage?


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Also most waitresses make more than the people in the kitchen and claim less on their taxes. So more yet are going to leave the field. So its not a matter of giving someone a few extra bucks.

 

[dioxide45]

Sometimes this I find this to be calculated after tax. I wonder if the news ever exposes this at certain restaurants. Then I sit back and think about it and realize that the difference is minimal and not worthy of a news story.

To be quite honest if they suggest a tip after the calculated sales tax, really what is the big freaking deal. Only when the total bill exceeds hundreds or thousands of dollars will the calculated tip on top of the sales tax really make a difference.

We all know tipping at restaurants is customary in the US so just suck it up and leave a tip of between 15 to 20 percent and call it a day.

Tipping after or before tax is really just a rounding issue for us. I usually round a tip up to a whole dollar. So 20% on 7% of taxes isn’t enough to worry about.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

You're in the slim minority who isn't going to stand for it. Most people will complain -- and still pay. It's not like they're going to cook for themselves as an alternative. That isn't in the cards.

I remember being at a pricey deli in Manhattan. (It's one of the reasons I go to Manhattan -- a fresser sandwich. Before "When Harry Met Sally," you could still easily get a table.)

Fruit salad at the time was selling for $8 a pound, which was $7 a pound more than fruit being sold at a bodega. A woman complained about the mark-up. The deli guy behind the counter sounded like the man who did the Carvel Ice Cream commercials in the 1970s. "Who's going to chop all this fruit? You?"

She paid and left. She wasn't the kind of person who cuts food with a knife.

It's the same with the fees. Imagine the same $8 fruit salad. But it is listed at $5, and then another $3 is tacked on at the end. "Who's going to chop all this fruit? You?"

That's what we're dealing with.

I guess I'm in that minority who is not going to stand for it, I blasted the company on yelp that recently refused my GC's and charged a 20% surcharge on the bill that was never disclosed prior to receiving the bill, their website reviews sections and our local nextdoor. I will not return to restaurants that do this switch and bait and don't take their own gift cards and suddenly put a limit on them and then place a 20% surcharge on the bill. I have not returned to the restaurant that changed me a healthcare fee and I noticed when we were last back in that area, that the restaurant across the street from it was packed and this restaurant had like 3 cars in the parking lot.

 

[zentraveler]

A simple example of how this has evolved with food and wage inflation never mind the fees: met a colleague for lunch yesterday. $7/hr to street park at a meter near the restaurant. Had a bowl of pasta and a glass of water. Companion had a cobb salad and iced tea. We split the bill and (no fees that I could see except tax) my share was $42 with a 20% tip. So - almost $50 for a modest plate of pasta in San Francisco in Pacific Heights. Maybe next time we will meet for burritos; it is certainly possible to eat for less but this was a real shock.

 

[ScoopKona]

A simple example of how this has evolved with food and wage inflation never mind the fees: met a colleague for lunch yesterday. $7/hr to street park at a meter near the restaurant. Had a bowl of pasta and a glass of water. Companion had a cobb salad and iced tea. We split the bill and (no fees that I could see except tax) my share was $42 with a 20% tip. So - almost $50 for a modest plate of pasta in San Francisco in Pacific Heights. Maybe next time we will meet for burritos; it is certainly possible to eat for less but this was a real shock.

Most of that bill is "rent," then "labor," then "utilities," then "food." (Restaurants are usually very, very wasteful places when it comes to gas, water and electricity.)

Margins for restaurants are not good. This used to be my wheelhouse. They're really not kidding when they say that they have to sell six hamburgers to pay for a broken plate.

McDonald's is a real estate company which also happens to sell hamburgers. Most people refuse to wrap their heads around that. The reason you see every celebrity chef who has ever been on TV slinging cookware, pre-packaged foods and similar is because that's where they make their money. I've worked for some of these guys. (Most of them are nothing like their TV personality. Gordon Ramsay is a teddy bear.)

For everyone who can't sell Wolfgang Puck toaster ovens, there's surcharges, fees, and pushing labor costs onto the guest.

 

[Tia]

A simple example of how this has evolved with food and wage inflation never mind the fees: met a colleague for lunch yesterday. $7/hr to street park at a meter near the restaurant. Had a bowl of pasta and a glass of water. Companion had a cobb salad and iced tea. We split the bill and (no fees that I could see except tax) my share was $42 with a 20% tip. So - almost $50 for a modest plate of pasta in San Francisco in Pacific Heights. Maybe next time we will meet for burritos; it is certainly possible to eat for less but this was a real shock.

Yicks must of been a seafood pasta bowl I hope and a huge Cobb salad full of the good stuff.

 

[am1]

Most of that bill is "rent," then "labor," then "utilities," then "food." (Restaurants are usually very, very wasteful places when it comes to gas, water and electricity.)

Margins for restaurants are not good. This used to be my wheelhouse. They're really not kidding when they say that they have to sell six hamburgers to pay for a broken plate.

McDonald's is a real estate company which also happens to sell hamburgers. Most people refuse to wrap their heads around that. The reason you see every celebrity chef who has ever been on TV slinging cookware, pre-packaged foods and similar is because that's where they make their money. I've worked for some of these guys. (Most of them are nothing like their TV personality. Gordon Ramsay is a teddy bear.)

For everyone who can't sell Wolfgang Puck toaster ovens, there's surcharges, fees, and pushing labor costs onto the guest.

Add in theft and security.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/bay-area-restaurant-surcharge-19455915.php

Apparently a local place backed off on their 6% inflation surcharge when post about it went viral.. They decided to just adjust the menu prices...

 

[am1]

I've watched servers from the pass line for a long time.

The subset of "people who claim to be good tippers" and "people who actually are good tippers" is very, very small. I'm not accusing anyone here of anything. Only that servers get crap tips far more often than they get 15-20%.

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard some variation of the following, it would pay for the shipping container I'm currently loading: "I'm not tipping more than 10%. That's what it's always been. If they need more money, they can find a better job."

Don't get me wrong, working fine dining, even 10% is enough to pay the bills when a four-top costs $600 at a bare minimum. That's STILL an improvement on the sheer number of people who make servers run around like mad, and then write "get a real job" where the tip should go. (There are many variations of "I ain't gonna leave a tip." Get a real job is the least offensive.)

The people who treat servers like crap were basically our entertainment. Except in certain kitchens where the cooking is done within earshot of the dining area, they can't hear anything the kitchen has to say. And the kitchen has an awful lot to say. It's all we really had to talk about. "Get a load of table 12. They look like they just crawled off the set of Deliverance/Eastern Promises/Sprockets/Eastenders."

With your knowledge who are the worst tippers?

 

[Superchief]

A friend of mine who has owned a mid-scale restaurant/ bar in the city told me his costs for taxes, inspections, and licenses have increased more than anything over the last several years (including pre-Covid). He also had to invest a substantial amount to comply with new food and facility regulations. I would expect larger cities are much worse.

 

[Panina]

I went to the dentist today and there was a sign that if you use your credit card to pay there will be a 3% fee. What pissed me off is no one informed me prior to my appointment.

I really do not want to use a personal check nor do I want to use a debit card. A credit card always protects you plus they don't need to have that info.

This is just making the majority of Americans poorer. You need to go to the doctor and if you don't have the money so you charge it and have to pay the surcharge too.

 

[ScoopKona]

With your knowledge who are the worst tippers?

Sunday Brunch crowd. Sunday anything, really.

 

[ScoopKona]

Add in theft and security.

Thankfully not an issue where I worked (Las Vegas Strip). The casino provides that as part of the package.

Theft is also minimal because it's difficult to get things past all the cameras.

 

[Tia]

Sunday Brunch crowd. Sunday anything, really.

Had a friends teenagers years ago working at a local restaurant/bar and they told her it was the worst for them too, sadly so.

 

[CO skier]

McDonald's is a real estate company which also happens to sell hamburgers. Most people refuse to wrap their heads around that.

... including the McDonald's Corp. Board of Directors, apparently, or at least the McDonald's President:

McDonald's plans $5 US meal deal next month to counter customer frustration over high prices​

"As grocery inflation has slowed, more people are choosing to eat at home, McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said. In the first quarter, the company said fast food traffic was flat or down in many key markets, including the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

“The consumer is certainly being very discriminating in how they spend their dollar,” Kempczinski said during a conference call with investors. “It may be more pronounced with lower-income consumers, but its important to recognize that all income cohorts are seeking value.”

 

[ScoopKona]

... including the McDonald's Corp. Board of Directors, apparently, or at least the McDonald's President:

McDonald's needs to keep its franchisees happy -- 1/4 of which just sold their business. Because they make most of their money in rent and the rest in franchise fees. They don't own a lot of restaurants themselves, after all.

 

[Patri]

I haven’t been to fast food in years, but I may go to McD’s next month.

 

[TolmiePeak]

I haven’t been to fast food in years, but I may go to McD’s next month.

Why? There far superior places to eat at similar prices.

 

[ScoopKona]

Why? There far superior places to eat at similar prices.

McDonald's is addictive. (So is the rest of fast food.) But McDonald's is peerless when it comes to hooking diners and keeping them coming back for more.

 

[rapmarks]

McDonald's is addictive. (So is the rest of fast food.) But McDonald's is peerless when it comes to hooking diners and keeping them coming back for more.

not for me, the food is awful, one taste and I don't go back, went last year for first time in many years and remembered why I hadn't been there.