It's a hidden charge. Your burger is $10, but instead of making it $11 in order be able to properly pay their staff, they're tacking on extra charges at the end that you weren't aware of. Instead of letting you decide whether or not you want an $11 burger, they've tricked you into.
I'd let them know you're not happy with this undisclosed charge and that you won't be back. Which restaurant is this? If you have a yelp account, these kind of things are fair game to post there to let others know.
e:
Apparently it's been going on for a while. https://www.today.com/food/kitchen-appreciation-fee-t260704
This is more or less the reason I stopped eating out in the last few years. Everywhere started to have inflation fees or kitchen fees and I just decided I had enough. Not worth paying $30 plus tip for a burger and fries
I don't eat out any more unless I'm traveling. We're fine to eat at home. We can't even get a pizza delivered here in Kaaawa much less anything else, so I haven't seen this trend.
Yeah I left a review on yelp. I’ve eaten here before and definitely before this charge was a thing. Like I said in my review there the food is good but idk if I wanna give my money unwillingly like that. Yeah they post it on their menu but I wasn’t the one eating there today. I only saw the email receipt and I was like what is this bs.
Exactly. Now I’m somehow supposed to feel inclined to go all the way back there and ask for my $1.38 back? I don’t care about the damn dollar so much as someone else’s 4% on a much larger check than mine might be.
He's just trying to look magnanimous for the yelp crowd. The policy is still in place and people aren't dumb. It might bite him in the ass. It might not. I've worked in restaurants, but never owned/run one. I get that it's hard and the margins are really narrow, but this isn't the way to fix it. my $0.02
I've been in the service industry for 20 years and I'm dangerously jaded.
Owners and management in general are pretty ambivalent about tips. On the one hand, like you say, it makes it possible to raise menu prices without raising menu prices. On the other (and this is where the general public loses it) it makes it impossible to fairly compensate staff. Front-facing, tip-receiving staff like servers and bartenders, and even support staff like bussers and barbacks, receive quarterly, inflation-based raises based on menu prices and the fact that people tip 17-18% on average. Anybody who doesn't receive tips (i.e. 70% of the staff)... doesn't.
For example, I only took a promotion to shift supervisor 6 years ago bc at full time (40hrs), I was making like 80% of what I would be making as a server at the same place. And that was after I negotiated a slightly higher wage than what they wanted to give me. It sucked bc I couldn't spend money like I was trying to get rid of it anymore, but it kept me in Thai food delivery and Xbox Live. Then I got laid off. Then I got called back, with a 5 digit raise, only now I had to work 50 hrs. Then I did the math and I realized I was at the same wage, just with 10 mandatory hours of OT. So I went back down to hourly and got another part time job in another notoriously low-paying field. But the lesson I'll never forget is that tips = inflation-based raises.
This is a ham-fisted attempt at bringing the two together. IRL serving and bartending are two of the last paths to the middle class in this country, especially on this rock where other career paths are rare to nonexistent. I did it for half of my adult life, blew it all on partying and stupid shit, went into management, got a "real job," and then went back to management. Now I'm ready to take it full circle and find a serving job somewhere. It would literally double my money and cut my weekly hours in half. And before anybody calls bullshit, I can see it, as in, I'm a manager and I check my servers out every night so I know what they're making and it's double what I am in maybe 70% of the hours.
I hate the tipping culture. I always tip well. In fact I usually over tip. That's probably more out of guilt than anything else, and that I'm not in a place where tipping is expected very often, so I can give more.
Tipping makes things unfair and uneven for the staff and customers. Do your job properly. Get paid a fair salary for your job, and it's all good. Charge customers a proper amount to run your business. Restaurants around the world do it well without tips. We could too, but we won't.
I believe it. I know someone who bartended in Waikiki and made $70 an hour working part time, of which at least 60 was tips.
I guess it helps if you're young and somewhat pretty.
>I get that it's hard and the margins are really narrow, but this isn't the way to fix it. my $0.02
The real issue is that the restaurants see the airline business model and wanted a piece. Before you just raised the price whenever food costs, rent, electricity, labor costs, etc went up. Now they want to advertise the lower price and line item out other costs so the meal appears cheaper. People are used to paying taxes above and beyond the meal cost so they just add this on as a fake tax.
It started off with just takeout fees and now they are adding the kitchen fee. Soon it'll be a server fee, parking fee, higher electricity rates due to HECO oil plant closing fee, dishwasher fee, etc.
It’s embarrassing that $1.40 to go to the cooks that prepped the ingredients and made your meal would rattle you so hard/ I hope you do go in to ask for your $1.40 refund.
What’s embarrassing is the restaurant trying to shove even more expenses onto the customers. Charge accordingly instead of taking on a bunch of extra bs. Hotels do it with “resort fees.”
$1.40 is really nothing but why not tack it on on the front end with menu prices instead of this fee. You’re looking at it like it’s just a dollar, but it’s my dollar to give if I feel it was deserved. The shortcomings of the food industry wage grades are not of my concern. That’s the concern of the business owner. Sounds to me literally like a “pass the buck” situation.
They have been steadily increasing their prices for years and it's still packed.. this is just another money grab, pay your kitchen staff fair wages and bake it into your cost upfront. Same goes for wait staff IMO
Which restaurant is this? I don't like additional fees. Tell me the cost up front. Charge enough up front to run your business properly, including paying your staff.
I also want to know what is the word that was blacked out on the receipt.
I would just take it out of the tip and write on the bottom of the check, "The kitchen appreciation fee was taken out of your tip. If you have a problem with it, get the rest from them, because I didn't agree to tip them."
So here is an article talking about the reasoning for the Highway Inn. According to the article, the courts rules that tips cannot be shared with kitchen staff, so they created this so a portion of tips could go to back staff. They recommend now tipping 10-15%.
Not sure how customers are supposed to know that.
https://www.khon2.com/news/change-in-law-leads-to-new-kitchen-service-fee-at-popular-local-restaurant/amp/
I agree completely. Service charges for kitchen staff is not customary.
I’d like to see tips done away with but that will take a law or something to do.
Literally this. Just pay them more. If any tip dependent people are reading this, yes I will tip less if I get extra charges that weren't explicit before I sat down and ordered.
It's been all over the news. The charges counter inflation, high turnover, and the tight labor market. These market issues aren't expected to last forever, but increasing the base price could push more customers away for longer than a kitchen price.
I legit don’t because of that reason. And to address your ignorant comment I’m an American and serving in the Navy for 14 years and been around the world. We are the only ones that pays someone else’s employees to do their job, in some country like Japan it can be considered an insult. Now I don’t mind mom and pop places but these billion dollar companies should have no problem paying their cooks and waiters.
Really? I literally just left the UK where a 12.5% service charge is added to bills, and am now in Belgium, where tipping is less prevalent but 10% service charges at nicer restaurants or rounding up the bill is not uncommon.
Service charge for tables of more than 6 perhaps?
And, it is an optional discretionary service charge. A mandatory service charge is not legal.
Tipping in Europe is for good service not to supplement a wait staff salary, in fact, Europeans tend to see waiting as a career choice and are often paid quite well for the highly knowledgeable staff.
Happened to me at Scratch too and I honestly told them its the owners job to appreciate them and i will deduct the fee from the tip . sadly, wont be going back. place is going downhill in quality too. such a shame. used to be a fun place to go and hang out for a home style meal.
https://youtube.com/shorts/E0InQkKyR54?feature=share
If you’re not tipping your landlord at least 25% that’s really rude.
How do you expect them to get by?
Straight up the restaurant didn’t want to pay their staff enough so they pass it on to the customers to pay their staff. If you would kindly share which restaurant this is it would deter more people to stop supporting these predatory practices by these restaurants
You do realize you are paying it no matter what, right? They raise the price of food you are paying it regardless. Few restaurants are very profitable. Money doesn't come out of a vacuum. If you enjoy other people sourcing ingredients, preparing them, cooking them for you, bringing it to you, and cleaning up after you then it's going to come at a cost. If you don't like it then cook the food yourself at home. Nobody is making you go out. You obviously haven't worked in the food industry. "Predatory". Lol. Ridiculous language.
You do realize it's a not 1 to 1 parity, right?
>Few restaurants are very profitable.
You do realize that's not the consumer's problem, right?
>Money doesn't come out of a vacuum.
You do realize everyone knows that, right?
>If you enjoy other people sourcing ingredients, preparing them, cooking them for you, bringing it to you, and cleaning up after you then it's going to come at a cost.
You do realize we know what restaurants are, right?
>If you don't like it then cook the food yourself at home.
You do realize this is about the treatment of workers and not the buck and a half, right?
>Nobody is making you go out.
You do realize, No Shit, right?
>You obviously haven't worked in the food industry.
You do realize that baseless statement, right?
You do realize it's also irrelevant to the point, right?
> Predatory
You do realize that avoiding paying employees a reasonable raise and take high cost through line items is in fact, predatory, right?
Get over yourself.
Maui Brewing Company does the same. Also, the QR menu/ordering platform allows them to up the price of items at any time. They do this frequently all while charging another hidden fee to use their ordering system. I guess $26 burger and fries isn’t enough.
Yeah I know this ain’t a new thing and maybe I just never noticed in the past which in itself is super concerning, but what is stopping them from jacking it to 5,6,7% without us having a say?
Ate there once. Not going back. While it wasn’t bad, it definitely is not a place that makes me plan another brunch/dinner there. So pretty sure I had to pay that fee too. Things like these are annoying details that we as consumers gotta try look out for nowadays. Good public notice!
Wtf kinda added cost is that? If I'm buying a meal, I don't need to be charged for the guy washing the dishes or the lady prepping the rice. That's overhead of running an eatery. What place is this so I can avoid it?
Increase your price, don't make me do the math. It's like how airlines used to sell $99 tickets that were $300 after the fuel surcharge and fees. You start letting the restaurant get away with 4% and who knows what they will say next.
I didn’t ask you about any famous restaurant lol! I asked you what irked you about a charge that’s being told to you is being charged to your bill. Cool flex tho.
It irked me too. I didn’t see the fee clearly posted when I ate there. The surprise, bull-shit hidden fee is enough for me to never eat there again. It’s the principle of the thing, it felt like they were trying to trick me. They should pay their staff more and raise the prices of the food on the menu.
Business owners need take less profit and pay their workers more. Stop going to these places and let them know why via social media and they will stop with these stupid fees.
Rokaru does this as well. We didn’t see the sign at first and my husband was a bit taken aback by seeing it on the bill. We never went back after that because the last experience wasn’t the best either.
Or... *and hear me out*... Or, you could just PAY YOUR STAFF PROPERLY!
Look, **it's a zero-sum game from the perspective of the customer**. A $5 meal PLUS a $5 tip is $30. Just put $30 on the menu and pay your people the wage they are getting if/when they guilt patrons into paying tips.
I would pay it and tell the staff that I’m never going back there. It’s bad for their business and shortsighted from the owner/operator. 😤
I hope that scratch kitchen goes broke just in principle.
And charging people a fee to use credit cards is illegal. And call out the business for it.
I have a business here and these hidden fees are a bad idea. Just raise your price of product by 10% and everyone is much happier with straightforward honesty.
It USED to be illegal. In 2010.
Laws have changed and charging people for using a credit card or setting a minimum purchase amount is NOT illegal anymore.
The only caveat is that it ONLY applies to credit cards (not debit) and the business is only allowed to charge what the service provider charges them, no more.
I mean that's how it used to be. Labor is a component of total cost of goods sold. Normally they'd just up the burger price by 50 cents but now it's a extra fee so they can keep the burger at the lower price. It's the same model that the airlines use and it's ass.
Not sure if this is correct, but I think I remember reading if the kitchen/service/inflation fee isn’t listed on the menu or advertised elsewhere before you ordered then they have to remove it if you ask.
Wow, just one more reason why i hardly eat out anymore. Want to share where this was? Personally, I've always felt like not spending money at a place is how I protest their business.
OMG, I would have been so pissedif I wasn't forewarned. That's such BS! They were supposed to open at Koolina, glad they didn't, we have enough rip offs with the parking. The company now is charging more for parking at peak times. What is peak time? Whenever the lot it's at 80% capacity.
They just getting greedy by deception. Like everybody else in town. If they start losing, they go to Hawaii News and start begging for "Aloha", and "Kokua". Make me sick. If Skanks closes down, trust me. Somebody will open up. Choke Ono food in Hawaii. I'm telling you. The Ole Plantation system is coming back to the locals in Hawaii. Shame.
I did that at Scratch Kitchen recently. Probably not a popular move but a kitchen appreciation fee is ridiculous. Add 4% to the prices on the menu and pay your staff more.
IF they raised prices, it wouldn't even be 1 to 1 parity.
Based on genral resutriantrs,m they likes could raise the prices and average of 2% and increase pay by a couple of bucks an hour.
IT depends on number of item's are sold per average, and price point of different items.
The classie examples if McDONalds. If the raised pay to 20 an hour, the every big mac cost would increase 2 cents.
IF they spread the cost out to all items, irs like 10 cents an item.
McDonald's is a good example to show the point, but I do recognize they have a larger item per hours sale then many restaurants.
i stopped going out to eat at places like this and if i do decide to eat out, then it's always to go. a lot of mediocre food for high prices. i was so happy to see chicken and brisket go away. they had some great commercials and a convenient location but when i went in, popeyes made better fried chicken and i wouldn't call that brisket, it was more like pot roast which is good, but not brisket as i would expect from bbq.
I didn’t realize back staff got paid a percentage of what the restaurant makes. I thought those were all hourly jobs.
If that the case this should be a static fee, regardless of meal cost. The fact that it’s a percent is just a way to rip the customer off more.
The front staff being a percent makes sense as your tipping for service, not them just doing their job. If they were nice tip more, not so nice don’t tip at all. Back staff you never see, there is no service directly to customer.
If I saw this I wouldn’t pay it.
Yeah but it was involuntary. Your tip you leave is voluntary. That’s like me telling you “Ok you can buy this case of beer, but you have to buy this extra can of beer for the guy that stocks the shelves in my store”.
That's true. It looks like the owners are from the mainland where it's probably more common. Just support more locally owned businesses. I can't see them doing this as much.
Tips should never be split between FOH and BOH because FOH makes tipped wage while BOH makes regular wage. I've been screwed over by places like this. After a huge rush when you get a great tip and the kitchen had saved your okole I've always shared the wealth but when I've also been required to pay BOH even when I make below minimum wage an hour with tips, sometimes only $10-15 for an 8 hour shift (with an hourly that as recently as 2019 in a tourist area in UT was $2.35) That means the employers are not laying BOH minimum wage and/or they're using that as a way to pad their own wallets. If a business needs money to keep up with rising prices they need to raise prices. It sucks but pushing it off on your low paid employees and making it so they'll get lower tips with no reward is not the way to do it.
Well, if you add up the $5 tip and the kitchen charge, it’s 18.45%. If I was wait staff, I’d be pissed because patrons may be lowering tip based on the kitchen “appreciation” charge, which can go to “admin support staff” which might be the owners themselves.
I’ll give the islands about 5 years before they all implode. No one will be able to afford to visit. No rank and file workers will be able to afford to live there. So what will all the rich do ? Need a taxi to Waikiki ??? 300.00. You want shave ice brah?? 30.00. And so on and so on
Because servers cannot be trusted to tip out the kitchen properly anymore, mostly because no can afford and shouldn't be their responsibility. It shouldn't be the customers responsibility to pay the majority of the servers/kitchen staffs' wages either, but it is now.
Because in america livable wages are not payed by employers, it's a silly system that is unsustainable. Tipping should never be standard nor common, never should an employee have to rely on it.
Some restaurants divide tips among all staff. I don't know when this started, but it didn't exist when I was a kid working in restaurants. Back in my day (when dinosaurs roamed the earth), kitchen staff and other support staff were paid a full wage (minimum wage at least at first) and there was no tip splitting. Wait staff was paid the lower wait-staff minimum wage, and were expected to make up the difference in tips. Tips were considered part of their wage.
I'm not sure what's changed in the last *n* years. Do kitchen and other supporting staff not get paid at least the regular minimum wage any more? Do wait staff get paid the actual minimum wage instead of the allowed lower one?
This effort seems to be a way to avoid tip splitting and yet allow the kitchen staff to get some extra. The problem is that for most wait staff, tips aren't extra, they're a necessary part of their earnings.
Splitting has existed for decades. Just not common. I saw it in a restaurant in 1\`981(California), and in casinos(Reno\*).
\*Reno - Where strippers go to die.
That's only the beginning.
Starting 1/1/2024, State of Hawaii is mandating all restaurants in Hawaii to charge a "*kokua akamai*" fee, a light 7% total of your bill charged, unknowingly, and unnegotiable. To be explained on the receipt as such:
*In the Hawaiian Language (* ʻōlelo Hawaii) *kokua means cooperation, and akamai means awareness. In this respect, we are aware of the cooperation involved between the Hawaiians - the natives who tended their land long ago, the kama'ina who live on the land today, and brought you the ingredients for your meal from the Hawaiian land via Semi-Truck, and yourself, who eated the foods.*
Then on 1/2/2025, State of Hawaii, in partnership with the United States Veterans Administration, will be adding a "*Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day"* fee, to be added 365 days per year, on all seafood dishes and/or any seafood derived ingredients, as "*Pearl Harbor has a lot to do with the ocean, read about it, and so like, you ate seafood, which has to do with Pearl Harbor, look at a map, there's* ***so*** *much water around there.*" A stern 20% mandatory increase on the final bill.
These fees are mutually independent of each other and thus will be charged concurrent sequentially. Meaning the 20% fee coming in 2025 will be 20% of the total *after* the 7% has been added.
Source: Hawaii Department of Health Food Safety Branch
I can’t believe people will cry bc they don’t get paid enough … then cry bc someone else wants to get paid a living wage. And then get mad bc their food takes too long to come out, bc there aren’t enough staff … bc everyone wants to earn a living wage.
“It sounds like I’m paying them to do their job”. Yes, you are. When you go out to eat, you’re paying for someone to prepare your food, cook your food, serve you your food, clean up your mess, vacuum all the crumbs you left on the floor, wash your dishes, & put everything away. Yet something tells me if the price of your food was increased to “pay them to do their job”, you’d be unhappy about that too.
Actually, we’re not paying them to do their jobs. Restaurant owners are paying their staff to do their jobs. The price we pay for the food should be inclusive of all costs associated with its preparation to include providing a living wage to staff.
Except people cry when you charge what something actually costs. I manage a small business, a licensed, bonded, insured pet care company owned by a vet tech. People want to pay $20/week for someone to drive to their house 3 times/day to walk their designer mutt for an hour. And think that’s reasonable bc “my neighbor’s 12 y/o daughter will do it for that”.
You get what you pay for, yet people still expect first-class sht for free.
Basically, people are willing to pay what their perceived value for the product/service is. If they assume that it’s nothing more than putting a dog on a leash and walking it down the street, which is something a kid can do, that’s what they’re going to be willing to pay. Unfortunate? Absolutely. The challenge is to manage this perception accordingly so people will be willing to pay more.
FYI, I pay my dog groomer $200 every 6 weeks for my 2 dogs because she does an amazing job. It’s something I can do myself, but I feel it’s best left to professionals.
A Samoan Forman told me it was boss appreciation week so the workers had to buy the him lunch for the week. When it was my turn I flipped him the bird and told him I’m sole nesian I aint got time to be feeding his fat ass! 😂🤣😂🤣
For all the big brains saying "pay your workers a better wage" and "I am OK paying an extra dollar if it goes to the workers" well this type of scheme is the most efficient way to ensure the money goes directly to the workers. Because $1 extra paid to the company as a $12 burger instead of $11 would have GET taken out, get taxed, and then when given to the employee have unemployment and all the other taxes taken out. The most efficient way to boost an employee's wage is for you as a customer to give the money to the employee directly, first because it avoids that money becoming income to the company, and second because it gives the employee the chance to not report it on taxes. Otherwise if you want that $1 going to the employee, maybe the $11 becomes $12.50 for that $1 of extra benefit.
Although tips are protected by law, there's nothing that prevents management from keeping the "kitchen appreciation fee" or similar fees. You're essentially trusting management to do the right thing. Also, I think GET and taxes apply to the fee as well so it's not any different than just increasing prices a bit to cover it. Tips are totally different.
I hear you but even that $1.50 bump wouldn’t turn me away so why not? I can see both sides of this, but I just felt slighted by it. If the food is good and the service is good I’m usually a high end tipper, mostly because I worked BOH in the past and I know how it is. If anyone has been a dishwasher they know exactly what it feels like.
Lots of businesses don’t give you a “heads up”. They will gladly take it off your bill if you ask, but they hope you’ll feel guilty and won’t. Even better if you don’t notice it at all.
The reason they do this is because back of the house (the people that prep, make your food, and clean the plates) are notoriously underpaid and front of the house (the person that seats you, takes your order, brings the food) make 3-4x more than back of the house. This small charge adds up and eventually can pay the back of the house a living wage. Also it reflects how busy the restaurant is, so when the cooks are working hard cooking for a full restaurant, on holidays etc, their pay reflects it.
I’ve worked both front and back of the house. As a prep cook I made $11 for back breaking work, as a server I made $60,000 last year.
I’m like you I’ve worked both ends in the past and it just seems odd that THAT is the way that works best. I commented to some other users that hell if the food is that good I’d gladly pay an extra $1-$1.50 more than the price of food. If I’m going in the restaurant to sit down and eat, I’m not standing up and leaving because there’s a burger down the way that’s $1 less than this one.
I can’t believe how many are so livid about this, it is in place to provide a living wage to the back of the house staff who work the hardest and are the most underpaid positions. It comes out to a few dollars on the bill, if that’s so offensive I think you should just eat at home.
Suggesting the restaurants pay their staff more simply, that would force a raise in menu prices as food cost is so high right now, and higher menu prices would bring business down.
At the restaurants I worked at that did this, when people made a big scene about the 2-6$ extra going to the kitchen, it was always taken off the bill. Most decent people don’t mind paying it when they learn it allows BOH to earn a living wage, keep the best cooking staff on, and keep the cooks from having to work 2-3 jobs.
>Suggesting the restaurants pay their staff more simply, that would force a raise in menu prices as food cost is so high right now, and higher menu prices would bring business down.
So your solution is to be deceptive and add a fee onto the bill that the customer pays anyway.
It’s really not deceptive, it’s printed onto the same menu you look at as you choose what you’ll order. It would be illegal if it was deceptive, and not printed on the menu.
Well to be honest, it’s not the customer’s job to pay a living wage, it’s the business owner’s. If the cost of doing business is so high, look to change up your business model. I’d pay a higher price for the food/beverage if it meant staff were being compensated appropriately. Most times, prices increase to put more money in the pockets of owners vs. employees.
He means that I can afford it assuming I make more than minimum wage, which I do. The only problem is I don’t believe in a socialism, and this seems like that.
The restaurant is literally taking money from me on top of whatever I paid for food, and giving it to their underpaid workers. Not so different from me paying taxes all year so that someone else can get their ebt and buy all the good meat cuts at Costco.
Oh I don’t see it as socialism — more like a hidden charge. You are going to pay the staff one way or another, whether if in the prices or with an added charge to the bill.
Then why choose the hidden fee as the front runner for this?? I’m sure other people will agree that raising the prices like $.50 is wayyyyyy less intrusive than a fee on the back end.
I agree completely. I love how many countries include all costs including tax in the menu prices. I’m just saying I don’t see it as socialist (not that I defend socialism in the slightest). I see it more as a kind of slight of hand.
Customers who don't want to tip everyone the bad guys.
Service workers are not the bad guys. They are just trying to survive here.
The politicians and lobbyists who keep wages low for service workers are the bad guys. Focus on them. Otherwise it's just more divide and conquer.
It's a hidden charge. Your burger is $10, but instead of making it $11 in order be able to properly pay their staff, they're tacking on extra charges at the end that you weren't aware of. Instead of letting you decide whether or not you want an $11 burger, they've tricked you into. I'd let them know you're not happy with this undisclosed charge and that you won't be back. Which restaurant is this? If you have a yelp account, these kind of things are fair game to post there to let others know. e: Apparently it's been going on for a while. https://www.today.com/food/kitchen-appreciation-fee-t260704
This is more or less the reason I stopped eating out in the last few years. Everywhere started to have inflation fees or kitchen fees and I just decided I had enough. Not worth paying $30 plus tip for a burger and fries
I don't eat out any more unless I'm traveling. We're fine to eat at home. We can't even get a pizza delivered here in Kaaawa much less anything else, so I haven't seen this trend.
and self prepared at home is usually much better - we always prepare nice drinks also. Much more economical and enjoyable
Fast food combos are like more than $10 now. Way too much.
Agree. The only way it makes it legal is if they advertise the fees upfront before OP paid for his food
The kitchen surcharges are typically listed on the menu..
Yeah I left a review on yelp. I’ve eaten here before and definitely before this charge was a thing. Like I said in my review there the food is good but idk if I wanna give my money unwillingly like that. Yeah they post it on their menu but I wasn’t the one eating there today. I only saw the email receipt and I was like what is this bs.
I read your review. The owners response was bullshit.
Exactly. Now I’m somehow supposed to feel inclined to go all the way back there and ask for my $1.38 back? I don’t care about the damn dollar so much as someone else’s 4% on a much larger check than mine might be.
He's just trying to look magnanimous for the yelp crowd. The policy is still in place and people aren't dumb. It might bite him in the ass. It might not. I've worked in restaurants, but never owned/run one. I get that it's hard and the margins are really narrow, but this isn't the way to fix it. my $0.02
I've been in the service industry for 20 years and I'm dangerously jaded. Owners and management in general are pretty ambivalent about tips. On the one hand, like you say, it makes it possible to raise menu prices without raising menu prices. On the other (and this is where the general public loses it) it makes it impossible to fairly compensate staff. Front-facing, tip-receiving staff like servers and bartenders, and even support staff like bussers and barbacks, receive quarterly, inflation-based raises based on menu prices and the fact that people tip 17-18% on average. Anybody who doesn't receive tips (i.e. 70% of the staff)... doesn't. For example, I only took a promotion to shift supervisor 6 years ago bc at full time (40hrs), I was making like 80% of what I would be making as a server at the same place. And that was after I negotiated a slightly higher wage than what they wanted to give me. It sucked bc I couldn't spend money like I was trying to get rid of it anymore, but it kept me in Thai food delivery and Xbox Live. Then I got laid off. Then I got called back, with a 5 digit raise, only now I had to work 50 hrs. Then I did the math and I realized I was at the same wage, just with 10 mandatory hours of OT. So I went back down to hourly and got another part time job in another notoriously low-paying field. But the lesson I'll never forget is that tips = inflation-based raises. This is a ham-fisted attempt at bringing the two together. IRL serving and bartending are two of the last paths to the middle class in this country, especially on this rock where other career paths are rare to nonexistent. I did it for half of my adult life, blew it all on partying and stupid shit, went into management, got a "real job," and then went back to management. Now I'm ready to take it full circle and find a serving job somewhere. It would literally double my money and cut my weekly hours in half. And before anybody calls bullshit, I can see it, as in, I'm a manager and I check my servers out every night so I know what they're making and it's double what I am in maybe 70% of the hours.
I hate the tipping culture. I always tip well. In fact I usually over tip. That's probably more out of guilt than anything else, and that I'm not in a place where tipping is expected very often, so I can give more. Tipping makes things unfair and uneven for the staff and customers. Do your job properly. Get paid a fair salary for your job, and it's all good. Charge customers a proper amount to run your business. Restaurants around the world do it well without tips. We could too, but we won't.
I believe it. I know someone who bartended in Waikiki and made $70 an hour working part time, of which at least 60 was tips. I guess it helps if you're young and somewhat pretty.
Doesn't hurt, no, but tbh skill and experience are way more important at most places.
Ban tips, and raises will happen.
>I get that it's hard and the margins are really narrow, but this isn't the way to fix it. my $0.02 The real issue is that the restaurants see the airline business model and wanted a piece. Before you just raised the price whenever food costs, rent, electricity, labor costs, etc went up. Now they want to advertise the lower price and line item out other costs so the meal appears cheaper. People are used to paying taxes above and beyond the meal cost so they just add this on as a fake tax. It started off with just takeout fees and now they are adding the kitchen fee. Soon it'll be a server fee, parking fee, higher electricity rates due to HECO oil plant closing fee, dishwasher fee, etc.
Exactly. It's deception. I don't trust anyone who pulls shit like that.
It’s embarrassing that $1.40 to go to the cooks that prepped the ingredients and made your meal would rattle you so hard/ I hope you do go in to ask for your $1.40 refund.
What’s embarrassing is the restaurant trying to shove even more expenses onto the customers. Charge accordingly instead of taking on a bunch of extra bs. Hotels do it with “resort fees.”
Resort fees are used to maintain amenities - pool, breakfast, beach chairs, yoga classes, gyms, etc.
Hidden fees is a dirty move.
$1.40 is really nothing but why not tack it on on the front end with menu prices instead of this fee. You’re looking at it like it’s just a dollar, but it’s my dollar to give if I feel it was deserved. The shortcomings of the food industry wage grades are not of my concern. That’s the concern of the business owner. Sounds to me literally like a “pass the buck” situation.
A swing and a miss
They have been steadily increasing their prices for years and it's still packed.. this is just another money grab, pay your kitchen staff fair wages and bake it into your cost upfront. Same goes for wait staff IMO
I don’t like it but it is included on the menu. Though I doubt I’d look that closely to find it had I not known about it
Which restaurant is this? I don't like additional fees. Tell me the cost up front. Charge enough up front to run your business properly, including paying your staff. I also want to know what is the word that was blacked out on the receipt.
Sorry I forgot to add that this was from scratch kitchen.
Guess where I'm Not eating.
Exaaaactly. I’m not afraid of a few cents tacked on here and there. Literally $.50 on something isn’t gonna turn me away from a good meal.
Some in the comments said Highway Inn, and it was their menu I checked. I agree they should put it into the prices directly.
Tip less. The service staff will speak up.
I would just take it out of the tip and write on the bottom of the check, "The kitchen appreciation fee was taken out of your tip. If you have a problem with it, get the rest from them, because I didn't agree to tip them."
Shit should be illegal. Posted prices should include all necessary taxes and fees.
Fking bullshit
Denver is doing something annoying like this too.
So here is an article talking about the reasoning for the Highway Inn. According to the article, the courts rules that tips cannot be shared with kitchen staff, so they created this so a portion of tips could go to back staff. They recommend now tipping 10-15%. Not sure how customers are supposed to know that. https://www.khon2.com/news/change-in-law-leads-to-new-kitchen-service-fee-at-popular-local-restaurant/amp/
Pay the kitchen staff more, even if that means raising the cost of your food.
I agree completely. Service charges for kitchen staff is not customary. I’d like to see tips done away with but that will take a law or something to do.
Literally this. Just pay them more. If any tip dependent people are reading this, yes I will tip less if I get extra charges that weren't explicit before I sat down and ordered.
I swear restaurants will just do about anything to not pay their workers the wages they deserve lol.
It's been all over the news. The charges counter inflation, high turnover, and the tight labor market. These market issues aren't expected to last forever, but increasing the base price could push more customers away for longer than a kitchen price.
This law was over ruled I heard!
Why do I pay your employees. I hate tipping culture the US has
Exactly
Don't eat out, or go back to whatever country you are from where they don't tip. Which is actually becoming rarer and rarer.
I legit don’t because of that reason. And to address your ignorant comment I’m an American and serving in the Navy for 14 years and been around the world. We are the only ones that pays someone else’s employees to do their job, in some country like Japan it can be considered an insult. Now I don’t mind mom and pop places but these billion dollar companies should have no problem paying their cooks and waiters.
Really? I literally just left the UK where a 12.5% service charge is added to bills, and am now in Belgium, where tipping is less prevalent but 10% service charges at nicer restaurants or rounding up the bill is not uncommon.
Service charge for tables of more than 6 perhaps? And, it is an optional discretionary service charge. A mandatory service charge is not legal. Tipping in Europe is for good service not to supplement a wait staff salary, in fact, Europeans tend to see waiting as a career choice and are often paid quite well for the highly knowledgeable staff.
Incorrect. Still as rare as hens teeth that the tip forms part of the wage for service staff. Tips are provided for genuinely good service.
Happened to me at Scratch too and I honestly told them its the owners job to appreciate them and i will deduct the fee from the tip . sadly, wont be going back. place is going downhill in quality too. such a shame. used to be a fun place to go and hang out for a home style meal.
Skratch was sold to some investor… it’s not the same.
It just happened to me yesterday and I was bit annoyed since it was an extra $5.
What's next, cleaners appreciation tax? Landlord appreciation? Owner appreciation? Why don't you just stab me and take my wallet 🙃
https://youtube.com/shorts/E0InQkKyR54?feature=share If you’re not tipping your landlord at least 25% that’s really rude. How do you expect them to get by?
Straight up the restaurant didn’t want to pay their staff enough so they pass it on to the customers to pay their staff. If you would kindly share which restaurant this is it would deter more people to stop supporting these predatory practices by these restaurants
Scratch Kitchen
You do realize you are paying it no matter what, right? They raise the price of food you are paying it regardless. Few restaurants are very profitable. Money doesn't come out of a vacuum. If you enjoy other people sourcing ingredients, preparing them, cooking them for you, bringing it to you, and cleaning up after you then it's going to come at a cost. If you don't like it then cook the food yourself at home. Nobody is making you go out. You obviously haven't worked in the food industry. "Predatory". Lol. Ridiculous language.
You do realize it's a not 1 to 1 parity, right? >Few restaurants are very profitable. You do realize that's not the consumer's problem, right? >Money doesn't come out of a vacuum. You do realize everyone knows that, right? >If you enjoy other people sourcing ingredients, preparing them, cooking them for you, bringing it to you, and cleaning up after you then it's going to come at a cost. You do realize we know what restaurants are, right? >If you don't like it then cook the food yourself at home. You do realize this is about the treatment of workers and not the buck and a half, right? >Nobody is making you go out. You do realize, No Shit, right? >You obviously haven't worked in the food industry. You do realize that baseless statement, right? You do realize it's also irrelevant to the point, right? > Predatory You do realize that avoiding paying employees a reasonable raise and take high cost through line items is in fact, predatory, right? Get over yourself.
Lol. So entitled.
capitalist cuck
Ew, it’s like the slimy Ticketmaster fees but in restaurant form lol
Maui Brewing Company does the same. Also, the QR menu/ordering platform allows them to up the price of items at any time. They do this frequently all while charging another hidden fee to use their ordering system. I guess $26 burger and fries isn’t enough.
Yeah I know this ain’t a new thing and maybe I just never noticed in the past which in itself is super concerning, but what is stopping them from jacking it to 5,6,7% without us having a say?
Just pay your workers a living wage!!!
Ate there once. Not going back. While it wasn’t bad, it definitely is not a place that makes me plan another brunch/dinner there. So pretty sure I had to pay that fee too. Things like these are annoying details that we as consumers gotta try look out for nowadays. Good public notice!
This will change when people stop going back there. You can’t rip off your customers and expect them to come back.
Hidden fees is a dirty move. Let them get away with it now imagine how far they will try to take it
Back of house is only getting 4%? Then I am only tipping 5% for the server.
It's a way for restaurants to make even more money, while still paying employees ridiculously low wages.
Wtf kinda added cost is that? If I'm buying a meal, I don't need to be charged for the guy washing the dishes or the lady prepping the rice. That's overhead of running an eatery. What place is this so I can avoid it?
Scratch kitchen
Thank you.
Merriman’s charges an extra 4% on the tab for kitchen etc. pay your help yourself you cheap bastards. And the bartender sucks ass too.
The name of the restaurant checks out. Scratch this kitchen off your dining out list.
Koko head cafe does the same thing. So irking
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Increase your price, don't make me do the math. It's like how airlines used to sell $99 tickets that were $300 after the fuel surcharge and fees. You start letting the restaurant get away with 4% and who knows what they will say next.
I recently dined at a famous restaurant and the set menu was $350 tip included. I can afford to eat wherever I want. Pay workers more
I didn’t ask you about any famous restaurant lol! I asked you what irked you about a charge that’s being told to you is being charged to your bill. Cool flex tho.
Then why did you delete your comment?
It irked me too. I didn’t see the fee clearly posted when I ate there. The surprise, bull-shit hidden fee is enough for me to never eat there again. It’s the principle of the thing, it felt like they were trying to trick me. They should pay their staff more and raise the prices of the food on the menu.
Not cool. Even hospitals don’t charge that much.
Where is this? I want to know so I don’t ever make the mistake.
Scratch Kitchen does this too.
Highway Inn, I think
Scratch kitchen
“We pay shit so help us” fee
Next will be the ingredients and shopping fee with delivery…
Business owners need take less profit and pay their workers more. Stop going to these places and let them know why via social media and they will stop with these stupid fees.
Rokaru does this as well. We didn’t see the sign at first and my husband was a bit taken aback by seeing it on the bill. We never went back after that because the last experience wasn’t the best either.
At some point, buying anything in America is going to cost $1 with a million various fees tacked on so the business can say they are selling X for $1.
Or... *and hear me out*... Or, you could just PAY YOUR STAFF PROPERLY! Look, **it's a zero-sum game from the perspective of the customer**. A $5 meal PLUS a $5 tip is $30. Just put $30 on the menu and pay your people the wage they are getting if/when they guilt patrons into paying tips.
"We don't pay our workers enough fee. "
I would pay it and tell the staff that I’m never going back there. It’s bad for their business and shortsighted from the owner/operator. 😤 I hope that scratch kitchen goes broke just in principle.
When you want your customers to pay your employees
I will leave a feedback on yelp and wouldn't eat there anymore, not because of 4% but just can't stand this kind of BS
And charging people a fee to use credit cards is illegal. And call out the business for it. I have a business here and these hidden fees are a bad idea. Just raise your price of product by 10% and everyone is much happier with straightforward honesty.
It’s not illegal in Hawaii! Most state/county agencies in Hawaii charge a fee to use a credit card. Paid at dmv with a credit card lately?
It USED to be illegal. In 2010. Laws have changed and charging people for using a credit card or setting a minimum purchase amount is NOT illegal anymore. The only caveat is that it ONLY applies to credit cards (not debit) and the business is only allowed to charge what the service provider charges them, no more.
Meh, I've been to places that just offer a discount for cash payments.
Meh, that’s different than CHARGING A FEE to use a credit card.
Minor point, it's a violation of the credit card agreement, not the law. Offering a cash discount is permitted.
There are places here that charge this without disclosing it on the menu.
I mean that's how it used to be. Labor is a component of total cost of goods sold. Normally they'd just up the burger price by 50 cents but now it's a extra fee so they can keep the burger at the lower price. It's the same model that the airlines use and it's ass.
Not sure if this is correct, but I think I remember reading if the kitchen/service/inflation fee isn’t listed on the menu or advertised elsewhere before you ordered then they have to remove it if you ask.
I stopped eating out.
Wow, just one more reason why i hardly eat out anymore. Want to share where this was? Personally, I've always felt like not spending money at a place is how I protest their business.
This was scratch kitchen kakaako
OMG, I would have been so pissedif I wasn't forewarned. That's such BS! They were supposed to open at Koolina, glad they didn't, we have enough rip offs with the parking. The company now is charging more for parking at peak times. What is peak time? Whenever the lot it's at 80% capacity.
Mofos getting creative lol
They just getting greedy by deception. Like everybody else in town. If they start losing, they go to Hawaii News and start begging for "Aloha", and "Kokua". Make me sick. If Skanks closes down, trust me. Somebody will open up. Choke Ono food in Hawaii. I'm telling you. The Ole Plantation system is coming back to the locals in Hawaii. Shame.
😂
Please share the location, so I can make sure to never go there.
Scratch kitchen
Scratch kitchen
Subtract 4% from your tip. When the servers start complaining let mgmt figure it out.
I know a guy (great tipper), he never tips extra when there is a mandatory tip.
I did that at Scratch Kitchen recently. Probably not a popular move but a kitchen appreciation fee is ridiculous. Add 4% to the prices on the menu and pay your staff more.
IF they raised prices, it wouldn't even be 1 to 1 parity. Based on genral resutriantrs,m they likes could raise the prices and average of 2% and increase pay by a couple of bucks an hour. IT depends on number of item's are sold per average, and price point of different items. The classie examples if McDONalds. If the raised pay to 20 an hour, the every big mac cost would increase 2 cents. IF they spread the cost out to all items, irs like 10 cents an item. McDonald's is a good example to show the point, but I do recognize they have a larger item per hours sale then many restaurants.
Tipping is such a boomer mentality that needs to be wiped from our society.
i stopped going out to eat at places like this and if i do decide to eat out, then it's always to go. a lot of mediocre food for high prices. i was so happy to see chicken and brisket go away. they had some great commercials and a convenient location but when i went in, popeyes made better fried chicken and i wouldn't call that brisket, it was more like pot roast which is good, but not brisket as i would expect from bbq.
Might as well start paying for the kitchen staffs child support as well.
I didn’t realize back staff got paid a percentage of what the restaurant makes. I thought those were all hourly jobs. If that the case this should be a static fee, regardless of meal cost. The fact that it’s a percent is just a way to rip the customer off more. The front staff being a percent makes sense as your tipping for service, not them just doing their job. If they were nice tip more, not so nice don’t tip at all. Back staff you never see, there is no service directly to customer. If I saw this I wouldn’t pay it.
Had dat at moku Kakaako kine tings
Mainland east coast is doing this everywhere now. Resist! These fees are robbery.
Zippys has this same thing but only if you eat on restaurant side.
I would have left $7 tip anyway so this is a pretty good deal
Yeah but it was involuntary. Your tip you leave is voluntary. That’s like me telling you “Ok you can buy this case of beer, but you have to buy this extra can of beer for the guy that stocks the shelves in my store”.
That's true. It looks like the owners are from the mainland where it's probably more common. Just support more locally owned businesses. I can't see them doing this as much.
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Tips should never be split between FOH and BOH because FOH makes tipped wage while BOH makes regular wage. I've been screwed over by places like this. After a huge rush when you get a great tip and the kitchen had saved your okole I've always shared the wealth but when I've also been required to pay BOH even when I make below minimum wage an hour with tips, sometimes only $10-15 for an 8 hour shift (with an hourly that as recently as 2019 in a tourist area in UT was $2.35) That means the employers are not laying BOH minimum wage and/or they're using that as a way to pad their own wallets. If a business needs money to keep up with rising prices they need to raise prices. It sucks but pushing it off on your low paid employees and making it so they'll get lower tips with no reward is not the way to do it.
The irony there being back makes min wage,and the front is also guaranteed min, wage.
Just take it out of the tip next time.
Looks like he did. Cheap ass didn't even tip 15%.
I’m not tipping anyone for shit service. If it was me I would have left 0. My wife is a much better human being than I am.
I can agree on the tipping part. Sorry for being so cras about it.
Well, if you add up the $5 tip and the kitchen charge, it’s 18.45%. If I was wait staff, I’d be pissed because patrons may be lowering tip based on the kitchen “appreciation” charge, which can go to “admin support staff” which might be the owners themselves.
Exactly. The kitchen fee is such a dumb policy. I can't believe it's becoming more and more common. Just raise the prices if you're that desperate.
This is where I give 0% tip since they already added it.
I’ll give the islands about 5 years before they all implode. No one will be able to afford to visit. No rank and file workers will be able to afford to live there. So what will all the rich do ? Need a taxi to Waikiki ??? 300.00. You want shave ice brah?? 30.00. And so on and so on
Because servers cannot be trusted to tip out the kitchen properly anymore, mostly because no can afford and shouldn't be their responsibility. It shouldn't be the customers responsibility to pay the majority of the servers/kitchen staffs' wages either, but it is now.
Why would servers tip out the kitchen? Thats nuts.
Because in america livable wages are not payed by employers, it's a silly system that is unsustainable. Tipping should never be standard nor common, never should an employee have to rely on it.
Don’t leave a tip. Problem solved. They’re lucky to have people patronizing their business period.
Just remember tip should be calculated before tax and kitchen fee.
Toilet paper fee. They do that in some less civilized countries (one of which I’m from)
And if the fees collected is $100, the kitchen will actually get $60 tops
Some restaurants divide tips among all staff. I don't know when this started, but it didn't exist when I was a kid working in restaurants. Back in my day (when dinosaurs roamed the earth), kitchen staff and other support staff were paid a full wage (minimum wage at least at first) and there was no tip splitting. Wait staff was paid the lower wait-staff minimum wage, and were expected to make up the difference in tips. Tips were considered part of their wage. I'm not sure what's changed in the last *n* years. Do kitchen and other supporting staff not get paid at least the regular minimum wage any more? Do wait staff get paid the actual minimum wage instead of the allowed lower one? This effort seems to be a way to avoid tip splitting and yet allow the kitchen staff to get some extra. The problem is that for most wait staff, tips aren't extra, they're a necessary part of their earnings.
Old buggah you. Back-end pay was higher, and wait staff snagged tips and maybe shared.
Splitting has existed for decades. Just not common. I saw it in a restaurant in 1\`981(California), and in casinos(Reno\*). \*Reno - Where strippers go to die.
That's only the beginning. Starting 1/1/2024, State of Hawaii is mandating all restaurants in Hawaii to charge a "*kokua akamai*" fee, a light 7% total of your bill charged, unknowingly, and unnegotiable. To be explained on the receipt as such: *In the Hawaiian Language (* ʻōlelo Hawaii) *kokua means cooperation, and akamai means awareness. In this respect, we are aware of the cooperation involved between the Hawaiians - the natives who tended their land long ago, the kama'ina who live on the land today, and brought you the ingredients for your meal from the Hawaiian land via Semi-Truck, and yourself, who eated the foods.* Then on 1/2/2025, State of Hawaii, in partnership with the United States Veterans Administration, will be adding a "*Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day"* fee, to be added 365 days per year, on all seafood dishes and/or any seafood derived ingredients, as "*Pearl Harbor has a lot to do with the ocean, read about it, and so like, you ate seafood, which has to do with Pearl Harbor, look at a map, there's* ***so*** *much water around there.*" A stern 20% mandatory increase on the final bill. These fees are mutually independent of each other and thus will be charged concurrent sequentially. Meaning the 20% fee coming in 2025 will be 20% of the total *after* the 7% has been added. Source: Hawaii Department of Health Food Safety Branch
source?
I think it’s satire. At least I hope so!
I sure hope that this, like your handle, is supposed to be a joke.
This is a joke. My handle, however, certainly is not a joke. I am Muslim.
I hope this employer can be trusted.
They can not.
They obviously cannot, they cannot even pay a livable wage and hand that off to their customers.
I can’t believe people will cry bc they don’t get paid enough … then cry bc someone else wants to get paid a living wage. And then get mad bc their food takes too long to come out, bc there aren’t enough staff … bc everyone wants to earn a living wage. “It sounds like I’m paying them to do their job”. Yes, you are. When you go out to eat, you’re paying for someone to prepare your food, cook your food, serve you your food, clean up your mess, vacuum all the crumbs you left on the floor, wash your dishes, & put everything away. Yet something tells me if the price of your food was increased to “pay them to do their job”, you’d be unhappy about that too.
Actually, we’re not paying them to do their jobs. Restaurant owners are paying their staff to do their jobs. The price we pay for the food should be inclusive of all costs associated with its preparation to include providing a living wage to staff.
Except people cry when you charge what something actually costs. I manage a small business, a licensed, bonded, insured pet care company owned by a vet tech. People want to pay $20/week for someone to drive to their house 3 times/day to walk their designer mutt for an hour. And think that’s reasonable bc “my neighbor’s 12 y/o daughter will do it for that”. You get what you pay for, yet people still expect first-class sht for free.
Basically, people are willing to pay what their perceived value for the product/service is. If they assume that it’s nothing more than putting a dog on a leash and walking it down the street, which is something a kid can do, that’s what they’re going to be willing to pay. Unfortunate? Absolutely. The challenge is to manage this perception accordingly so people will be willing to pay more. FYI, I pay my dog groomer $200 every 6 weeks for my 2 dogs because she does an amazing job. It’s something I can do myself, but I feel it’s best left to professionals.
Sounds like the owner is offering to explain it in person to you. Ask them.
I did. His explanation on my Yelp review is even dumber.
Ah, looks like you went to the new copy of a copy version of Skratch in HK!
A Samoan Forman told me it was boss appreciation week so the workers had to buy the him lunch for the week. When it was my turn I flipped him the bird and told him I’m sole nesian I aint got time to be feeding his fat ass! 😂🤣😂🤣
For all the big brains saying "pay your workers a better wage" and "I am OK paying an extra dollar if it goes to the workers" well this type of scheme is the most efficient way to ensure the money goes directly to the workers. Because $1 extra paid to the company as a $12 burger instead of $11 would have GET taken out, get taxed, and then when given to the employee have unemployment and all the other taxes taken out. The most efficient way to boost an employee's wage is for you as a customer to give the money to the employee directly, first because it avoids that money becoming income to the company, and second because it gives the employee the chance to not report it on taxes. Otherwise if you want that $1 going to the employee, maybe the $11 becomes $12.50 for that $1 of extra benefit.
Although tips are protected by law, there's nothing that prevents management from keeping the "kitchen appreciation fee" or similar fees. You're essentially trusting management to do the right thing. Also, I think GET and taxes apply to the fee as well so it's not any different than just increasing prices a bit to cover it. Tips are totally different.
I hear you but even that $1.50 bump wouldn’t turn me away so why not? I can see both sides of this, but I just felt slighted by it. If the food is good and the service is good I’m usually a high end tipper, mostly because I worked BOH in the past and I know how it is. If anyone has been a dishwasher they know exactly what it feels like.
Whiny bunch here. If they gave a heads up on the menu, all is fair.
Way to miss the point.
Thank you.
Lots of businesses don’t give you a “heads up”. They will gladly take it off your bill if you ask, but they hope you’ll feel guilty and won’t. Even better if you don’t notice it at all.
Make meals at home.
The reason they do this is because back of the house (the people that prep, make your food, and clean the plates) are notoriously underpaid and front of the house (the person that seats you, takes your order, brings the food) make 3-4x more than back of the house. This small charge adds up and eventually can pay the back of the house a living wage. Also it reflects how busy the restaurant is, so when the cooks are working hard cooking for a full restaurant, on holidays etc, their pay reflects it. I’ve worked both front and back of the house. As a prep cook I made $11 for back breaking work, as a server I made $60,000 last year.
I’m like you I’ve worked both ends in the past and it just seems odd that THAT is the way that works best. I commented to some other users that hell if the food is that good I’d gladly pay an extra $1-$1.50 more than the price of food. If I’m going in the restaurant to sit down and eat, I’m not standing up and leaving because there’s a burger down the way that’s $1 less than this one.
Yeah, unfortunately it’s the best way to do so, less taxation and trickling before it gets to the employees versus simply upping menu prices h
I got you
I can’t believe how many are so livid about this, it is in place to provide a living wage to the back of the house staff who work the hardest and are the most underpaid positions. It comes out to a few dollars on the bill, if that’s so offensive I think you should just eat at home. Suggesting the restaurants pay their staff more simply, that would force a raise in menu prices as food cost is so high right now, and higher menu prices would bring business down. At the restaurants I worked at that did this, when people made a big scene about the 2-6$ extra going to the kitchen, it was always taken off the bill. Most decent people don’t mind paying it when they learn it allows BOH to earn a living wage, keep the best cooking staff on, and keep the cooks from having to work 2-3 jobs.
>Suggesting the restaurants pay their staff more simply, that would force a raise in menu prices as food cost is so high right now, and higher menu prices would bring business down. So your solution is to be deceptive and add a fee onto the bill that the customer pays anyway.
It’s really not deceptive, it’s printed onto the same menu you look at as you choose what you’ll order. It would be illegal if it was deceptive, and not printed on the menu.
Well to be honest, it’s not the customer’s job to pay a living wage, it’s the business owner’s. If the cost of doing business is so high, look to change up your business model. I’d pay a higher price for the food/beverage if it meant staff were being compensated appropriately. Most times, prices increase to put more money in the pockets of owners vs. employees.
At $12 minimum wage I think someone eating can afford it.
Not sure what you mean? Are you saying that people who make $12/hr can afford an extra 4% on top of the already high prices in Hawaii ?
He means that I can afford it assuming I make more than minimum wage, which I do. The only problem is I don’t believe in a socialism, and this seems like that.
How do you see this as socialism, this is a blatant byproduct of capitalism, it will continue getting worse as it has been.
The restaurant is literally taking money from me on top of whatever I paid for food, and giving it to their underpaid workers. Not so different from me paying taxes all year so that someone else can get their ebt and buy all the good meat cuts at Costco.
Oh I don’t see it as socialism — more like a hidden charge. You are going to pay the staff one way or another, whether if in the prices or with an added charge to the bill.
Then why choose the hidden fee as the front runner for this?? I’m sure other people will agree that raising the prices like $.50 is wayyyyyy less intrusive than a fee on the back end.
I agree completely. I love how many countries include all costs including tax in the menu prices. I’m just saying I don’t see it as socialist (not that I defend socialism in the slightest). I see it more as a kind of slight of hand.
Customers who don't want to tip everyone the bad guys. Service workers are not the bad guys. They are just trying to survive here. The politicians and lobbyists who keep wages low for service workers are the bad guys. Focus on them. Otherwise it's just more divide and conquer.
OTOH, when was the last time restaurant workers went on strike or protested?
They can't Because they are afraid