Last night we went to one of our favorite restaurants UpNorth. It's part of a large restaurant group like FMK, but larger.
Back during Covid, they reduced the number of tables by 50% and installed plexiglass in the booths, and obviously business suffered. They added a 4% "surcharge" to the bill to help them cope with the lost profit. It inconspicuously stated on the bottom of the check that you could have the surcharge removed upon request, but most patrons either
1. didn't notice the surcharge was even there, or
2. didn't know there was an option to remove it, or
3. gladly paid it to help support the restaurant during tough times.
#3 was certainly the most common, and the category we fell into. It only amounted to a few bucks on a typical $125 bill, so I was happy to help them cope, even though no one felt the need to help my business during the 3 months we had to shut down, nor the subsequent 4 months where volume was well below normal, but I digress.
Well 5 years later, that stupid surcharge is still on the bill "to help with rising costs". Sorry, not paying it, and I haven't since 2021. If you need to add 4% to every entree, I'm still gonna order what I want, but don't nickel and dime me with BS. I have mentioned how insulting I find it to the manager, but all you get is that it's corporate policy and just ask to remove it if you don't want to pay it.
|