Restaurants Fees - Take out

[Anonymous]

In addition to the tipping issues going on everywhere (tips -above service charges, tips for take out at fast food places, etc - just had one more experience tonight which drove me nuts

Stopped at Fish Taco in Bethesda to grab two tacos for my high school son. Take out.

As I waited for the tacos, I looked at my receipt and noticed a “packing fee” of 5 percent - so for my bill, an additional of .70 cents

This is not a bag fee. I wouldn’t have accepted a bag bc I was just walking to my car plus I bring my own

My bag had no napkins or fork. I realize lots of people don’t need them anyway. Tonight I actually needed them.

It’s purely a fee for putting a container in a bag.

Too much nickel and dining.

They lost me as a customer.

When will the fees end? Should I bring a plastic to go container and request no fee?

Annoyed

Any other new fees out there these days?

[Anonymous]

Mon Ami Gabi, note on the menu:

SURCHARGE
As a way to offset rising costs associated with the restaurant (food, beverage, labor, benefits, supplies), we have added a 3% surcharge to all checks. We do this in lieu of increased menu prices. You may request to have this taken off your check, should you choose.

Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mon Ami Gabi, note on the menu:

SURCHARGE
As a way to offset rising costs associated with the restaurant (food, beverage, labor, benefits, supplies), we have added a 3% surcharge to all checks. We do this in lieu of increased menu prices. You may request to have this taken off your check, should you choose.

Ridiculous.

+1 and zero chance they have not also raised prices already.

[Anonymous]

Reported by Channel 9:

At Penn Quarter Sports Tavern in downtown DC, customers will see not one, but two surcharges on the bill.

The first is a 6% service fee to offset rising wages due to the “DC Minimum Wage Act” or Initiative 82, which is incrementally raising the tipped minimum wage to more than $17 an hour.

The restaurant also added a new surcharge that is becoming more common around the District. A 3% fee just for using a credit card.

A 3.75% surcharge is listed at the very bottom corner of the menu at all restaurants in the Clyde’s Restaurant Group.

And now a consumer protection non-profit named Travelers United is trying to take a stand. The group is suing one of DC’s oldest and most successful restaurant groups, Clyde's, for the fee it’s been tacking onto bills. Clyde’s fee is labeled a “2023 surcharge” on the menu.

“You can’t charge a fee and say that you are charging a fee because it’s 2023,” said Travelers United Attorney, Lauren Wolfe. “That’s not allowed.”

Wolfe believes Clyde’s is in violation of the DC Consumer Protection Act, which says restaurants have to clearly disclose surcharges on the menu, and says Clyde’s isn’t the only one violating the law.

[Anonymous]

I order Doordash from 1 restaurant near our house occasionally, and generally get about the same amount of food for 3 people each time. They email me receipts. In 2021 it was $75. In 2022 it was $100. Now it’s $130. And portions have gotten smaller, my husband complains and there’s few leftovers. I’m willing to pay for delivery but the increase and extra fees hurt.

[Anonymous]

At my restaurant we did this to offset the cost and time of packaging to-go orders. And people who eat in are more likely to drink so there's that revenue loss.

[Anonymous]

Seventy cents seems perfectly reasonable to cover the extra labor and materials cost for a to go order

[Anonymous]

They lose a lot of revenue when you do takeout. Waiters, busboys, etc don’t get tipped out when there’s no table service. No alcoholic drinks, which usually has a large chunk of the restaurant markup. You can spare the buck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seventy cents seems perfectly reasonable to cover the extra labor and materials cost for a to go order

When did this become reasonable? Getting food to-go has always been a thing. It's such a racket, this is why we stopped eating out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They lose a lot of revenue when you do takeout. Waiters, busboys, etc don’t get tipped out when there’s no table service. No alcoholic drinks, which usually has a large chunk of the restaurant markup. You can spare the buck.

Then restaurants can stop offering to go options. Adding nuisance fees will make customers less likely to dine in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reported by Channel 9:

At Penn Quarter Sports Tavern in downtown DC, customers will see not one, but two surcharges on the bill.

The first is a 6% service fee to offset rising wages due to the “DC Minimum Wage Act” or Initiative 82, which is incrementally raising the tipped minimum wage to more than $17 an hour.

The restaurant also added a new surcharge that is becoming more common around the District. A 3% fee just for using a credit card.

A 3.75% surcharge is listed at the very bottom corner of the menu at all restaurants in the Clyde’s Restaurant Group.

And now a consumer protection non-profit named Travelers United is trying to take a stand. The group is suing one of DC’s oldest and most successful restaurant groups, Clyde's, for the fee it’s been tacking onto bills. Clyde’s fee is labeled a “2023 surcharge” on the menu.

“You can’t charge a fee and say that you are charging a fee because it’s 2023,” said Travelers United Attorney, Lauren Wolfe. “That’s not allowed.”

Wolfe believes Clyde’s is in violation of the DC Consumer Protection Act, which says restaurants have to clearly disclose surcharges on the menu, and says Clyde’s isn’t the only one violating the law.

This is when customers will just stop tipping all together. The cc transaction fee is already built into menu pricing since carry cash became less common 20+ years ago.

So keep adding fees that result in no
tips and staff quitting. How long will the restaurant survive then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They lose a lot of revenue when you do takeout. Waiters, busboys, etc don’t get tipped out when there’s no table service. No alcoholic drinks, which usually has a large chunk of the restaurant markup. You can spare the buck.

But it’s not an either/or situation. They choose to accept takeout orders because they want to have diners AND takeout orders. So they might have 80 diners and 60 takeout orders instead of just 80 diners. Not all restaurants accept takeout orders. Takeout orders are cheaper for the kitchen to produce because they don’t require less front of the house hours than dine in. They are also marked up by the delivery service to cover the service fees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In addition to the tipping issues going on everywhere (tips -above service charges, tips for take out at fast food places, etc - just had one more experience tonight which drove me nuts

Stopped at Fish Taco in Bethesda to grab two tacos for my high school son. Take out.

As I waited for the tacos, I looked at my receipt and noticed a “packing fee” of 5 percent - so for my bill, an additional of .70 cents

This is not a bag fee. I wouldn’t have accepted a bag bc I was just walking to my car plus I bring my own

My bag had no napkins or fork. I realize lots of people don’t need them anyway. Tonight I actually needed them.

It’s purely a fee for putting a container in a bag.

Too much nickel and dining.

They lost me as a customer.

When will the fees end? Should I bring a plastic to go container and request no fee?

Annoyed

Any other new fees out there these days?

All this over seventy CENTS. You sound like a nightmare.

You also sound like the perfect candidate to cook at home.

Cue tired, lame “It’S tHe PrINcIpLe!!!!!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seventy cents seems perfectly reasonable to cover the extra labor and materials cost for a to go order

What extra labor and materials? Fish Taco is not a fancy restaurant. In fact, a takeout order probably entails less labor and fewer materials than an eat-in one does.

[Anonymous]

They are trying to get the people who take out as they are not supposed to tip