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That, plus it's not like individuals haven't suffered because of COVID either, so marking it as such is just going to make some people upset.
If your costs increased, increasing the price of the food isn't hiding anything. Why does it have to be earmarked as COVID. For sympathy?
I don't mind but it just looks bad from a marketing standpoint. Just include it in the regular items, otherwise it gets construed as "nickel & diming". It's like when airlines tack on "baggage fees" or when hotels add "resort fees". People react negatively to it.
I'm guessing it's to imply that the price change is temporary so that when this is all over people will come back and won't think the food is overpriced.
Given how reticent people are to be going out + how nobody knows how long this will last, I'd venture to say they'll need to up revenue by more than $2-3 per order anyway. Reevaluate later, if you can. (But that's why I said target specific menu items too. Do 40-50% of your customers get something you're known for? They value that experience more, so raise that a whole $1 or more. Raise other things less. etc)
I would just raise prices to compensate. You don't have to tell them which part of the price is for rent, supplies, and staff either.
The alternative is to just go out of business, due to the severely reduced capacity. Meaning even if everybody in town wanted to go to the restaurant, they could still only seat half of the people that they could seat three months ago.
We have one at most restaurants in San Francisco. The fee is like $5. Whenever I order a meal for one delivery now it costs from $35 to $70 and these are from the cheapest restaurants
This, just say the increase in price for most products is due to increased costs of food items in general. Customers understand since food items at grocery stores are more expensive in general nowadays, and are probably willing to pay a bit more to not have to cook themselves. Even if the bill comes out to the same cost people are gonna freak out at "covid fee" on their bill. You'd even be better off calling it mandatory gratuity regardless of party size.
They should probably use this opportunity to reset and price their meals realistically and remove tipping/place less emphasis on it.
They have to raise prices regardless. Having the items priced properly just reads better than a lower price and a bunch of fees. Makes folks feel like they're getting ripped off.
So increase prices for COVID effects. Increase prices even more because you want to pay your wait staff differently than anywhere else around you. Convince your wait staff that they'll make more money without an emphasis on tipping. Communicate to your customers that you have higher prices but they don't have to tip and hope they don't see the prices and just not bother coming. Unless I misunderstood what you were trying to say. Nobody is going to do that.
I can understand the concept, although having a fee/surcharge doesn't seem like the friendliest way of doing it.
There was a hairdresser on the news yesterday here that was charging a $5 fee, which he explained was to help pay for cleaning supplies they never had to purchase before. Five bucks per customer, though? Damn that's steep.
There was a hairdresser on the news yesterday here that was charging a $5 fee, which he explained was to help pay for cleaning supplies they never had to purchase before. Five bucks per customer, though? Damn that's steep.
We've supported local restaurants by doing pickups at least once a week. Just did it last night in fact. But I disagree with higher prices to subsidize prior lost income. Sorry, but the whole economy is in the same boat. They don't have any special rights to be made whole. Should Starbucks and McDonalds surcharge also until they are made whole for their lost income from March-May?
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Yeah this is kinda dumb considering lower overhead and much wider profit margins. I don't think people realize how slim the restaurant business operates.
Implying they weren't thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting things beforehand? I'd maybe look for a different dentist.
I don't even know how restaurants can survive with a capped capacity. It's gotta be a full house or I can't imagine the profits being there.
ppe, deep cleaning, temporary loss of earnings, (possible) wage increase due to risk... 10% charge on bill, just to be open and provide some normality?
yeah, i understand this, and i'd be happy with this
yeah, i understand this, and i'd be happy with this
For transparency. Some people appreciate that.
I suppose an option would be to explicitly say we have had to raise prices due to the current financial climate. But to just raise prices and look the other way doesn't sit well with me.
It was actually -- according to them -- due to the cost of meat rising. They added that fee in to address that cost instead of raising prices on every item. They did raise the prices across the board after they received backlash.
I've been tipping 15% minimum, often 20% since the outbreak. But I always hated the fact gratuities were added automatically in the US. What if I have bad service? I like to be the judge of that. Regardless I think the situation sucks for restaurants right now.
It'd actually be smart if they marketed it as a badge of honor that the extra fee goes into PPE, disinfectant, and extra costs to operate under COVID instead of "We need to raise prices since we are at less than max capacity" because 1, most restaurants around me are NEVER at even half capacity so running at lower capacity isn't affecting their bottom line. The ones that it does affect their bottom line they are already doing exceedingly well and are surviving fine even without dine in. And 2, I'd eat at restaurants that advertised this since I'd know they are taking COVID seriously (eventually other restaurants will catch on and just use it as a marketing gimmick I guess).
I thought I read somewhere that fridays/weekends are like the majority of the profits of some restaurants (depending on location, normal workday lunch and dinner times as well) so they are (hopefully) packed in normal times at peak hours. If a restaurant is never running at even half capacity than I'm not even sure why they're wasting money on the extra real estate.
Tough situation I would only be okay if a portion was split with staff and that amount was told upfront
Maybe time for America to review tipping. Just charge enough for the food to pay everyone properly in the whole chain.
Eh tipping hasn't been based on service for a long time now. It's more like a "help us pay for our waitstaff" fee nowadays.
Yeah, I was talking about peak hours/days. Not everywhere is like NYC with a thriving dining scene and space is not always at a premium. Out of the 20-30 restaurants we have in the downtown area probably only 4 of them would be hurt by being at half capacity. The pubs/bars I'm more worried about.
Was basically just making a point that some places could see this as an opportunity to market themselves as "clean" dining when maybe they don't really need to adjust what they do all that much and charge a little more.
You have to do it, because you still have people saying "I'm picking up, why would I need to leave a tip'.
No they don't. I mean, legally, they can add whatever surcharges they like, but morally and ethically, it's a pretty shitty thing to do.
It is deceptive and dishonest when airlines and hotels do it, and the same is true of restaurants.
Price your items accordingly, and don't try to sneak on a surcharge at the end.
I don't trust restaurants to equitably pass those fees to the workers, so I'd rather just tip more. Sadly that won't account for kitchen and cleaning staff.
The whole industry is fucked up, the tip model needs to end.
The whole industry is fucked up, the tip model needs to end.
So I had a question on this: with the restaurants closed, are the people who are packaging the food and whatnot for pickup still considered wait staff (and paid as such)? I would think not, but I wasn't sure.
I'm not 100% sure, I think some places they have one person doing it all (At this barcade I went too, the who cooking the food was also the guy pouring the drinks. Makes sense you don't to have multiuple people.
Kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Restaurants are really hurting right now and are struggling to make ends meet so the extra money would help, but people are eating out much less and if customers just stop coming altogether because they don't want to pay an increased amount that's not great either.
I was more wondering if they get paid like wait staff (below minimum wage) which seems criminal with no tables to wait and thus no in person tips (other than takeout which most people will not tip near 20% for good reason).