Eh, maybe. It just seems a bit overt to state the extra charge separately. These are the people who are coming out to support your establishment, it seems daft to be making the point that you're now charging them more; "Thanks for coming out we appreciate it! Heres the extra charge we've added on just for you" if there is a genuine need to raise prices... then just raise prices.
Then you are "hiding" said prices within the menu items. It's more transparent to be explicit that there is a COVID fee.
Restaurants have every right to do it. I personally think it's poor form, but I understand why they would do it and if folks are willing to pay it, then so be it. If push came to shove, I personally would be less likely to buy food from that restaurant, but customers will vote with their wallets. Always have. Always will.
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?
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)The fee was like just $2-3 from what I saw. If you raised prices people would probably be paying more than that.
Why should the pass the loss of earnings on to the customer? Everyone is losing out because of it. Should there be a new surcharge on all goods and services?
Honestly it's probably better to just build it into the pricing, particularly on more popular items. When you call something a fee/surcharge it immediately rankles people.
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.
lol fuck thatMy dentist told me I'll be charged an additional $10 for covid cleaning/disinfecting at my next appointment
Kind of bullshit in my eyes
My dentist told me I'll be charged an additional $10 for covid cleaning/disinfecting at my next appointment
Kind of bullshit in my eyes
My dentist told me I'll be charged an additional $10 for covid cleaning/disinfecting at my next appointment
Kind of bullshit in my eyes
For transparency. Some people appreciate that.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?
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.It's a shame that they were probably driven to do that by people who aren't tipping extra / being respectful of the situation restaurant owners are in. If it's a step they have to take to stay afloat, I'm all for it.
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'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.
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.
Recently saw an "investigative" local news piece sort of shaming local restaurants (AZ) for adding a new COVID-19 Surcharge at the end of peoples bills. They even said of course customers are informed prior, but they went out of their way to get people to say what an "outrage" it is.
Restaurants already run on razor thin margins, it's worse in America with tipping because we offset heavily underpriced food this way. Restaurants have every right to add a COVID fee after losing months of business, and now can only operate with capped capacity. I'm wondering if this kind of surcharge will become the norm across the country and if it will get people more open to the idea of doing away with tipping.
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.
Recently saw an "investigative" local news piece sort of shaming local restaurants (AZ) for adding a new COVID-19 Surcharge at the end of peoples bills. They even said of course customers are informed prior, but they went out of their way to get people to say what an "outrage" it is.
Restaurants already run on razor thin margins, it's worse in America with tipping because we offset heavily underpriced food this way. Restaurants have every right to add a COVID fee after losing months of business, and now can only operate with capped capacity. I'm wondering if this kind of surcharge will become the norm across the country and if it will get people more open to the idea of doing away with tipping.
You have to do it, because you still have people saying "I'm picking up, why would I need to leave a tip'.
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.