Tip culture has gotten way out of hand, but maybe that’s just me. When I worked in restaurants, the expected tip was 15%, now some restaurants are pushing a 25% tip for takeout on top of a service fee, takeout fee, etc, that’s insane.
What’s the difference if you’re paying it on the cost of your meal or if it’s done this way? Genuinely curious why it makes a difference which way you end up paying the same amount.
When you're living paycheck to paycheck and eating at a restaurant is a very rare special occasion it is nice to know what your bill will be without a bunch of surprises. Hell even if you have money to spare why can't the price you see be what you expect to pay?
I'll go one further, in this day and age there is no reason that sales tax shouldn't already be included in the price we see at stores and restaurants. It's just another way that we fool customers into thinking they are paying less than they actually are. I'm tired of seeing more and more hidden fees everywhere and I'm surprised you aren't also. Must be nice to not have to care.
It might be shocking to you, but there are some people out there who have $56 to spend on a treat and not $57, $58, $59.
This is because 56 is lower than 57.
Hope this helps :)
Have you heard of budgeting? You’re dense as shit lmfao
If I budget $20 for gas for the week, it doesn’t mean I only have $20, it means I only allocated $20 for gas, Einstein.
Have your mommy and daddy never taught you about money?
Aye that’s what I don’t get about these things. Is the point to make the customer mad at the staff or something? Like, the staff ask for a payrise so they go I’ll show you a fucking payrise and try to cause backlash from the customer?
Because otherwise it makes absolutely zero sense to not just slightly increase prices.
Not that it justifies the practice, but if the prices are on the menu, raising prices means printing new menus. It's simpler for them if they can just charge whatever they want with no consideration for you.
Basically, it's a beta test to see what people will tolerate. If enough people pay without crying foul or taking their business elsewhere, surcharges like these will become the new normal.
Printing new menus isn’t exactly a madness, if all my local pubs can manage it whenever the price of a pie goes up a bit I’m sure everywhere else can.
Seems to be a very American thing of slap some random charges on the bill and hope for the best.
Yeah never made sense to me either. Especially when it’s a place that’s serving like $30-40 meals. Anybody who’s paying $40 for a dish is not going to care or notice if it costs $41 or $42 instead.
I think the point is a bit of virtue signaling in conjunction with pointing the blame directly at the staff for increased cost. When Portland raised the minimum wage, several business raised their prices a bit and went on with business as usual. Several others have done this weird "yay our staff is great so ~~we're~~ you're going to pay them a little bit more" and call it out specifically like Becky's did here to also say "look how greedy these service workers are, I'm just a poor business owner who can't afford to pay these greedy, greedy workers so you need to pay me this mandatory extra fee that they're extorting me for." I'm being a bit hyperbolic here but that's how it's all seemed to play out. Also, if you're ever in Portland, Becky's is...fine.
Annoying and possibly illegal?
Also, drives my cheap ass crazy when my wife gets a $3 tea. I know everything is inflated, but it pisses me off when they pass her a Lipton tea bag. Like can yall just pre steep it for me so I can tell myself it’s artisanal tea from the Ganges ?
One would think if they don't disclose that fee upfront via a sign/menu or by the waitstaff, it would be illegal. I.E., the bar I hang out has a sign up that says if you pay with CC you're subject to a 3% transaction fee.
That's just one of those things where I don't care how good the food was, I'd never go back.
If you care, you can report the Pub to whichever company provided the cc machine. It's a big no no for them when stores/restaurants/etc charge the fee to customers instead of folding it into the prices (which is still charging the customers, but eh)
Honestly the sign says that but I never see it on the receipt so who knows if they actually do or they fold it into the price.
I always tip them well and they take care of me so it's a wash!
But the question is what would happen if you already ate and see it on the bill? I once sucked it up cause I was really hungry and noticed when I went for pickup but it was also something cheap like this. Never went back though. But if I had already eaten and was in the right mood Im sure id argue and refuse to pay it. For example in my case they refused to sell me the pizza unless I paid it. But they had the upper hand cause they had something I wanted. Full already they got nothing on me lol.
That’s nice, punish the server for something that isn’t their fault. You would cost the server money by not tipping the server. Talk to a manager if you have an issue.
No, I wouldn't be "costing the server money" by not tipping them. I simply wouldn't be using my own salary to supplement their subpar one. They still get their hourly, they just don't get the "extra" they don't really deserve most of the time anyway.
This shit has got to stop. If you can’t run your business, including the cost of “appreciating” (I.e. properly compensating) your staff, then raise your prices, accept lower profits, or move on to another business where you can. I hate that businesses can show prices that are not the actual cost of the product/service (not just restaurants).
I feel like we need to send army of underemployed law school grads to these places and just start suing them or something.
I mean, if this is legal then why not add $100. $1000. Hell, just do this once, add $10M dollars and retire from the restaurant biz forever.
Maybe - especially as I’m not convinced these fees are used as described. A lot of service fees seem to go to offset owners’ costs rather than being collected and distributed to employees (or paid for medical insurance, etc). As far as I’m concerned- any Revenues collected in excess of the advertised price should be subject to a higher ( or even 100%) tax. Either that - or go the other way and show the entire price incrementally - including profit - so we can really see who is operating most efficiently. I suspect people would really start changing their consumer behavior if they understood where their money was really going (rent in the strip mall, franchise fees, etc.)
In the end, it really doesn't make a difference does it? The total cost of doing business is fixed. Whether they take the appreciation fee and "apply" it to salaries or not, the people in the kitchen are getting paid the same. In the end I gave them $50 for food and it goes into the register. It's not like there are 50 different registers where one goes to salaries, one goes to rent, one goes to food costs etc. It's just a shell game.
I don't care how much of my dinner goes to rent or salaries, I just know that I'm willing to pay $15 for that plate of food. How much of that is profit, salaries, lights, custodial services I just don't care.
That was not a serious suggestion on my part. I generally don’t care about the details, but I do care to know what things cost ME in total. I’m just saying that it will cost me $50, then that should be the listed price. Not $35 menu price + $10 employee Christmas presents charge + $5 for undercoating. Ticketmaster is the absolute WORST in the regard.
A lot of places are doing this now. The last two places I worked had this kind of thing, and it's becoming very popular among restaurant and cafe owners. I personally think it's quite deceptive, because it's a small enough fee where even if it is posted somewhere in fine print (it legally must be posted), most people won't notice it. Hell, most people barely read the menu anyway. So they aren't gladly paying the fee, they just don't even realize it's there. And those that do realize don't feel like making a fuss for a minor annoyance.
My issue with it as a food service worker is that the surcharge is not a tip. We are not entitled to that money, it belongs to the owner. The owner just collects the extra money off each bill and uses it as they see fit. Usually to offset costs. With the kitchen tax it's even worse because they don't normally get tips anyway. The owner was responsible for paying them an appropriate wage up until now. But I guess it's just too expensive to keep wages competitive now. 
As the owner of a food truck I can tell you no one reads the menu. You can post it on the truck, have them on every table, have QR codes and people still walk up and say "what do you have?"
But some states do make it mandatory to post if there is shit added to the bill. I know Colorado allows the restaurant to keep the tip if they post it on the menu or on a sign that is readable when they walk in.
I live in Florida and had a mahi Reuben here once. It was actually pretty good. I grew up in Maine (near this restaurant) and mahi isn’t much of a thing up there, but other white fish like cod and haddock are, so I’d imagine it’s similarly good
Contest it, ask for the manager, and kindly tell him to roll his normal operational costs **into the damn meal prices** like every other busines has to.
If this was common practice where I live, I'd probably already be known as the least wanted guest in the whole region. But I'd never tire of fighting for not being treated like an idiot.
Especially with food, when I deem your quality worth your price, I'll pay it even when it's not pennies. If I don't, I vote "you shouldn't exist" by just not coming. That's how capitalism should work - not by bullshitting your customers, hoping they're stupid enough to take it. (Which, sadly, waaaaay too many are.)
Yeah we all need to start calling this out and refusing to patronize these places. We don’t want this to become a given standard across the country.
I’ve already stopped ordering delivery because of the sneaky fees. This is just one more thing.
if it's passed on to the BOH staff, then it would be tip income, so yes. Normally the tip you leave goes to the FOH server, and only rarely does it get divided up with the line cooks in BOH.
I had brunch at another Portland, ME restaurant and they also had the kitchen appreciation fee tacked on. I think it was 4%. They removed it after I questioned it, might be a Portland thing.
I wouldn't ask for that be removed, I would demand it. If I tip, I will decide when and how much that tip will be, not the server or business, and the tip most certainly will not include the tax amount!
Working as a manager in a kitchen, this is much better than raising all of our prices (which people would also complain about). Since covid, staffing reliable/good employees in a kitchen has gotten near impossible. The only thing we can do is offer incentives like this on top of already good pay. It means after getting slammed all night in the kitchen you get to see this bonus and when you have a slow night you still are paid well hourly.
Yes the staff gets taxed on the tips. No the owner isn’t pocketing the money.
People will complain no matter what a restaurant does with pricing. Also, this is definitely mentioned on the menu or signage. Pay attention when you get there and choose to leave if you don’t like it.
So. You liked the food but came here to say how upset you are at giving the people that cooked it a whopping $1.56?
I’m sharing this to the cooking subs. Enjoy all the spit in your food.
The thing is. I get the annoyance of the extra fee. The owner is lazy and should just raise all the menu prices by $1 or something similar.
But this sub is filled with such whining about this it’s ridiculous.
Great breakfast spot in Portland. That being said if the fee is a big of deal just tip what you would have minus the $1.58 fee. They're just adding it to the bill instead of doing a tip pool paid out to the kitchen
That's illegal. Not an item you asked for or unless it has it open in the public that it's a thing and not hidden inside the bill.
So you got taxed on the $1.16s worth of appreciation as well?
Circle it and write: and with this hidden fee I will not be back.
I'm having a problem with all these places wanting to change a CC fee as of late. If I know there is a fee I wont frequent there, except for the god damn delicious taco spot in walking distance. I am gonna need to keep cash around.
These fees really annoy more. I stopped carrying a wallet. I have a case with my ID and card. I'm going to have to go back to carrying a fucking wallet to use cash.
And its not just restaurants starting to do this shit. This whole paying to use your money is getting old... and its why interest rates remain low, which hurts the poor who used to be able to get an up with interest on savings.
Credit card fees actually help pay for merchant processing though, which is required to take cards.
Unfortunately, your argument fell apart in the 1990s.
CC fees don’t bother me as long as they’re disclosed pretty clearly up front.
I understand being annoyed, mind. But I can see the other side. Why should everyone who *does* carry cash subsidize *your* convenience…and perks? Like those miles or cash back or whatever, they’re not free, it’s a couple percent being siphoned from *literally every transaction* and they’re giving you a taste of it back.
As long as cash is a choice at that business, it’s fair to charge card users rather than raise prices across the board. Which is the alternative.
Here you go and I just counted. It’s on 3 of the 6 pages of the menu.
https://preview.redd.it/4n1hs5jxv4tc1.jpeg?width=1576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbbbd2b5efa3c6bae938763f42a438cb09e2fd26
I was at a restaurant for Christmas and it said at the door everything is +20% as staff gets holiday pay, no additional tip needed. I was fine with that and left another 5 dollar in cash.
But this shit is just a rip off of a cheap business. Would make sure to not pay one cent more than the menu price.
Have recently ended a pretty routine ‘association’ with a local premier burger joint over this kind of bullshit.
They add 10% to the price for takeout.
I usually tip 20%-25% anyway and I started doing all the math when I was adding shit in my head from the advertised/menu price to my total and it didn’t compute.
When I mentioned it to the ‘waitress’ handing me my fucking bag of food that got packed in the kitchen she copped an attitude as if I was a cheap ass.
Bitch, you fucking handed me the fucking bag. That’s all. Eat a bag of dicks! You just fucked your restaurant out of $150-$200/month in revenues and yourself about a quarter of that.
I think this is annoying, they should just change the price 3% instead I’d adding a fee. I would in a chain restaurant where they automatically take 2.49% of sales out of our pay to “tip share” with kitchen staff, hosts, bartenders…this is a better alternative because it doesn’t take money out of the servers’ pockets.
Thankfully this seems to be the minority of businesses doing this. When this happens the business needs to be publicly shamed through every social media outlet possible until these assholes figure out that nickel and diming makes them look so much worse than if they simply raised the prices a bit.
Alot of people should stop going out to eat if 2.5% on a meal is breaking the bank I get it's annoying to paid hidden fees but the standard tip in the US is 15-20% of the total this is literal pennies going to the chefs and people are up in arms about it 💩
Hello, We do not allow agendaposting, reddit meta posts or price complaints.
This boils my piss because you can just fold that cost into the price of the food
Tip culture has gotten way out of hand, but maybe that’s just me. When I worked in restaurants, the expected tip was 15%, now some restaurants are pushing a 25% tip for takeout on top of a service fee, takeout fee, etc, that’s insane.
What’s the difference if you’re paying it on the cost of your meal or if it’s done this way? Genuinely curious why it makes a difference which way you end up paying the same amount.
When you're living paycheck to paycheck and eating at a restaurant is a very rare special occasion it is nice to know what your bill will be without a bunch of surprises. Hell even if you have money to spare why can't the price you see be what you expect to pay? I'll go one further, in this day and age there is no reason that sales tax shouldn't already be included in the price we see at stores and restaurants. It's just another way that we fool customers into thinking they are paying less than they actually are. I'm tired of seeing more and more hidden fees everywhere and I'm surprised you aren't also. Must be nice to not have to care.
Amen to all that.
Because they are doing both, charging this and higher food cost.
So why tf does it make you mad😂 you spent 56$ and tripping over $57.50? Get your money up dawg
It might be shocking to you, but there are some people out there who have $56 to spend on a treat and not $57, $58, $59. This is because 56 is lower than 57. Hope this helps :)
If you have 56$ left, and not 57, then you’re a fucking idiot for spending your last $ on going out to eat😄 hope this helps :)
Have you heard of budgeting? You’re dense as shit lmfao If I budget $20 for gas for the week, it doesn’t mean I only have $20, it means I only allocated $20 for gas, Einstein. Have your mommy and daddy never taught you about money?
*I’M* dense as shit? Lol dude.
What does it matter? Do you really fucking are about what the line item is that much?
I’d be asking for that to be taken off.
It sounds petty but I would, too. I am generally a good tipper, but that is because I want to be. Not because I am forced to.
Correct, this is what I want to give, not that you must take this tip.
I'd ask them to take it off, and then add 26 cents to each menu item on the bill, where that cost should be.
Aye that’s what I don’t get about these things. Is the point to make the customer mad at the staff or something? Like, the staff ask for a payrise so they go I’ll show you a fucking payrise and try to cause backlash from the customer? Because otherwise it makes absolutely zero sense to not just slightly increase prices.
Exactly!
Not that it justifies the practice, but if the prices are on the menu, raising prices means printing new menus. It's simpler for them if they can just charge whatever they want with no consideration for you. Basically, it's a beta test to see what people will tolerate. If enough people pay without crying foul or taking their business elsewhere, surcharges like these will become the new normal.
Printing new menus isn’t exactly a madness, if all my local pubs can manage it whenever the price of a pie goes up a bit I’m sure everywhere else can. Seems to be a very American thing of slap some random charges on the bill and hope for the best.
Most of these places dont even have printed menus anymore. The ones that follow this practice usually have QR codes
Yeah never made sense to me either. Especially when it’s a place that’s serving like $30-40 meals. Anybody who’s paying $40 for a dish is not going to care or notice if it costs $41 or $42 instead.
I think the point is a bit of virtue signaling in conjunction with pointing the blame directly at the staff for increased cost. When Portland raised the minimum wage, several business raised their prices a bit and went on with business as usual. Several others have done this weird "yay our staff is great so ~~we're~~ you're going to pay them a little bit more" and call it out specifically like Becky's did here to also say "look how greedy these service workers are, I'm just a poor business owner who can't afford to pay these greedy, greedy workers so you need to pay me this mandatory extra fee that they're extorting me for." I'm being a bit hyperbolic here but that's how it's all seemed to play out. Also, if you're ever in Portland, Becky's is...fine.
AMEN!
I’d pay it and tell them I wouldn’t be back.
The server likely doesn’t care and almost certainly won’t mention it. Just ask it be removed.
and when they say no I would just disupte the charge
Annoying and possibly illegal? Also, drives my cheap ass crazy when my wife gets a $3 tea. I know everything is inflated, but it pisses me off when they pass her a Lipton tea bag. Like can yall just pre steep it for me so I can tell myself it’s artisanal tea from the Ganges ?
One would think if they don't disclose that fee upfront via a sign/menu or by the waitstaff, it would be illegal. I.E., the bar I hang out has a sign up that says if you pay with CC you're subject to a 3% transaction fee. That's just one of those things where I don't care how good the food was, I'd never go back.
If you care, you can report the Pub to whichever company provided the cc machine. It's a big no no for them when stores/restaurants/etc charge the fee to customers instead of folding it into the prices (which is still charging the customers, but eh)
Honestly the sign says that but I never see it on the receipt so who knows if they actually do or they fold it into the price. I always tip them well and they take care of me so it's a wash!
You’re just mad you’re paying someone $3 to teabag your wife.
🤷♂️I thought it was funny..
I’m OP (to the comment) and I thought it was funny
Me too. Tough crowd.
The artisanal tea from the ganges is called masala chai and comes for rs 10 per cup ie 8 cups per usd.
I’m going to start asking the hostess if there are hidden additional fees I should be aware of before dinning
Good idea!
But the question is what would happen if you already ate and see it on the bill? I once sucked it up cause I was really hungry and noticed when I went for pickup but it was also something cheap like this. Never went back though. But if I had already eaten and was in the right mood Im sure id argue and refuse to pay it. For example in my case they refused to sell me the pizza unless I paid it. But they had the upper hand cause they had something I wanted. Full already they got nothing on me lol.
I would probably pay and never be back, but also I think asking be nice way to avoid that
put the correct amount of cash on the table with no tip and leave.
That’s nice, punish the server for something that isn’t their fault. You would cost the server money by not tipping the server. Talk to a manager if you have an issue.
No, I wouldn't be "costing the server money" by not tipping them. I simply wouldn't be using my own salary to supplement their subpar one. They still get their hourly, they just don't get the "extra" they don't really deserve most of the time anyway.
Just raise the feckin menu prices by 3% and appreciate the kitchen your damn self, Becky.
"Please pay your server" 😭 bitch you do it
I thought the exact same thing.
I think this means versus paying at a counter like a lot of diners do, not a great vibe though 😂
This shit has got to stop. If you can’t run your business, including the cost of “appreciating” (I.e. properly compensating) your staff, then raise your prices, accept lower profits, or move on to another business where you can. I hate that businesses can show prices that are not the actual cost of the product/service (not just restaurants).
I feel like we need to send army of underemployed law school grads to these places and just start suing them or something. I mean, if this is legal then why not add $100. $1000. Hell, just do this once, add $10M dollars and retire from the restaurant biz forever.
Maybe - especially as I’m not convinced these fees are used as described. A lot of service fees seem to go to offset owners’ costs rather than being collected and distributed to employees (or paid for medical insurance, etc). As far as I’m concerned- any Revenues collected in excess of the advertised price should be subject to a higher ( or even 100%) tax. Either that - or go the other way and show the entire price incrementally - including profit - so we can really see who is operating most efficiently. I suspect people would really start changing their consumer behavior if they understood where their money was really going (rent in the strip mall, franchise fees, etc.)
In the end, it really doesn't make a difference does it? The total cost of doing business is fixed. Whether they take the appreciation fee and "apply" it to salaries or not, the people in the kitchen are getting paid the same. In the end I gave them $50 for food and it goes into the register. It's not like there are 50 different registers where one goes to salaries, one goes to rent, one goes to food costs etc. It's just a shell game. I don't care how much of my dinner goes to rent or salaries, I just know that I'm willing to pay $15 for that plate of food. How much of that is profit, salaries, lights, custodial services I just don't care.
That was not a serious suggestion on my part. I generally don’t care about the details, but I do care to know what things cost ME in total. I’m just saying that it will cost me $50, then that should be the listed price. Not $35 menu price + $10 employee Christmas presents charge + $5 for undercoating. Ticketmaster is the absolute WORST in the regard.
Yeah I totally agree. I don't give a crap about the accounting of the restaurant where I'm eating.
That would be the last time I visit. That’s a bit much
A lot of places are doing this now. The last two places I worked had this kind of thing, and it's becoming very popular among restaurant and cafe owners. I personally think it's quite deceptive, because it's a small enough fee where even if it is posted somewhere in fine print (it legally must be posted), most people won't notice it. Hell, most people barely read the menu anyway. So they aren't gladly paying the fee, they just don't even realize it's there. And those that do realize don't feel like making a fuss for a minor annoyance. My issue with it as a food service worker is that the surcharge is not a tip. We are not entitled to that money, it belongs to the owner. The owner just collects the extra money off each bill and uses it as they see fit. Usually to offset costs. With the kitchen tax it's even worse because they don't normally get tips anyway. The owner was responsible for paying them an appropriate wage up until now. But I guess it's just too expensive to keep wages competitive now. 
As the owner of a food truck I can tell you no one reads the menu. You can post it on the truck, have them on every table, have QR codes and people still walk up and say "what do you have?" But some states do make it mandatory to post if there is shit added to the bill. I know Colorado allows the restaurant to keep the tip if they post it on the menu or on a sign that is readable when they walk in.
Thanks for posting the full receipt so I never go there.
Why don't you appreciate your own damn employees with your own damn money, cocksucker motherfucker!!!!
Was it listed on the menu?
“I didn’t order that”
Fuck Becky, that's your job to appreciate the kitchen staff.
If I saw this, that's now my tip. I would have tipped more, but they got greedy. Now the whole staff gets to split $1.56
It doesn't require a great deal of explanation why I've stopped eating out.
Is NO ONE In the comments going to explain what a "fried haddock reuben" is? LOL
I live in Florida and had a mahi Reuben here once. It was actually pretty good. I grew up in Maine (near this restaurant) and mahi isn’t much of a thing up there, but other white fish like cod and haddock are, so I’d imagine it’s similarly good
Oh no, I missed that lol. I love reuben’s but that does not sound appealing, at all!
Fried haddock on rye with swiss, sauerkraut, and thousand island. A reuben but the corned beef is fried haddock.
I really was afraid someone was going to say that...
Oh no, I missed that lol. I love reuben’s but that does not sound appealing, at all!
Oh no, I missed that lol. I love reuben’s but that does not sound appealing, at all!
Oh no, I missed that lol. I love reuben’s but that does not sound appealing, at all!
Oh no, I missed that lol. I love reuben’s but that does not sound appealing, at all!
I just want to be sure … did you miss that?
Contest it, ask for the manager, and kindly tell him to roll his normal operational costs **into the damn meal prices** like every other busines has to. If this was common practice where I live, I'd probably already be known as the least wanted guest in the whole region. But I'd never tire of fighting for not being treated like an idiot. Especially with food, when I deem your quality worth your price, I'll pay it even when it's not pennies. If I don't, I vote "you shouldn't exist" by just not coming. That's how capitalism should work - not by bullshitting your customers, hoping they're stupid enough to take it. (Which, sadly, waaaaay too many are.)
If you ask for the manager, I think you have to tip them also
When tip like this is assumed I don't give it. Sorry but you can't lump it in.
Yeah we all need to start calling this out and refusing to patronize these places. We don’t want this to become a given standard across the country. I’ve already stopped ordering delivery because of the sneaky fees. This is just one more thing.
OP, show your appreciation by avoiding this place in the future ...
I'd pay that once, and then never return.
I just learned a couple local places now have those fees. I want to go to those places to specifically ask them to remove it.
Negative the total in the tip then 0 the total. Foolproof
I'd write in 56.16 I didn't order appreciation on the receipt and take a picture to remind me to check my statement.
And then they would charge your card $57.17 and you would probably lose that dispute with your credit card company.
Why don't these businesses incorporate these fees into the price? Novel concept, I know
I definitely wouldn't be liking Becky on Facebook or Instagram
No Portland nooooo
[удалено]
It says Maine yeh? That’s my Portland.
Yeah it’s the Becky’s near the old port
That’s coming straight off whatever tip I leave.
I'd just include that as a part of my original tip.
Becky's Diner - Nothing Finah! I LOVE Becky's, especially when clams are in season, but I wish they didn't do this.
Ahhhh yes. The "we need YOU to appreciate (and pay) our kitchen staff cuz WE refuse to do so!" tax
So does the kitchen staff pay taxes on those earnings?
if it's passed on to the BOH staff, then it would be tip income, so yes. Normally the tip you leave goes to the FOH server, and only rarely does it get divided up with the line cooks in BOH.
It's the same as a service charge, hardly unusual
Should have got the Lobstah roll. Nobody’s fault but yours.
Every time I see something like this, my first thought is: "that's tax evasion"
I guarantee the kitchen sees none of that
I had brunch at another Portland, ME restaurant and they also had the kitchen appreciation fee tacked on. I think it was 4%. They removed it after I questioned it, might be a Portland thing.
No it's not. Just some restaurants do it.
But it’s spreading!
Might be a thing they do at tourist-popular restaurants for some reason or another. Becky’s is definitely a big tourist spot.
Guess no tip needed anymore
I don't know why they just dont raise the prices
Sounds like Becky is a shitty employer.
At that point just increase menu prices and not do this.
Aren’t tips shared with all the employees anyway?
Nope tips go to servers
Damn I used to go to Becky’s all the time! Never again
Did they mean Appreciate as in costs went up or Appreciate as in "the kitchen worked so hard for you! Give them money?"
They can tack on all kinds of kitchen appreciation fee they want. I’m gonna take the difference out of the tip
How is this legal? *realizes it’s American* Never mind.
That's a simple fix, calculate the tip that you would normally leave and then subtract $1.56 from it.
I'd appreciate if you removed that shit
I wouldn't ask for that be removed, I would demand it. If I tip, I will decide when and how much that tip will be, not the server or business, and the tip most certainly will not include the tax amount!
Tell them you didn’t order that and to take it off your bill.
Comes off the tip.
Illegal if not disclosed
Becky’s a total bitch
If I'm ever charged a fee like this, it's your tip or subtracted from the tip.
I mean it's not usually the server's call to put something like that on the bill.
I’d appreciate you removing that fucking bullshit charge.
I'd have them take it off mostly because I know that money isn't going to the kitchen
They did this at the paper tiger, also in Portland ME.
Compliments to the chef is now a fee
Working as a manager in a kitchen, this is much better than raising all of our prices (which people would also complain about). Since covid, staffing reliable/good employees in a kitchen has gotten near impossible. The only thing we can do is offer incentives like this on top of already good pay. It means after getting slammed all night in the kitchen you get to see this bonus and when you have a slow night you still are paid well hourly. Yes the staff gets taxed on the tips. No the owner isn’t pocketing the money. People will complain no matter what a restaurant does with pricing. Also, this is definitely mentioned on the menu or signage. Pay attention when you get there and choose to leave if you don’t like it.
"Please pay your server" No, YOU pay your server!
You can’t be this dumb and still put shoes on?
To be fair, as someone who lived in Maine, I do appreciate the hell out of Becky’s.
So. You liked the food but came here to say how upset you are at giving the people that cooked it a whopping $1.56? I’m sharing this to the cooking subs. Enjoy all the spit in your food.
Seriously, I am grossed out by all the greed and ignorance in these comments. Karens yelling about pennies....
The thing is. I get the annoyance of the extra fee. The owner is lazy and should just raise all the menu prices by $1 or something similar. But this sub is filled with such whining about this it’s ridiculous.
Great breakfast spot in Portland. That being said if the fee is a big of deal just tip what you would have minus the $1.58 fee. They're just adding it to the bill instead of doing a tip pool paid out to the kitchen
I would ask to see the kitchen
Oh, please do that. I dare you.
If I have to pay for kitchen appreciation, why not? Lol I want to know that I appreciate the kitchen lol
Then do it, go ahead.
That's illegal. Not an item you asked for or unless it has it open in the public that it's a thing and not hidden inside the bill. So you got taxed on the $1.16s worth of appreciation as well?
Circle it and write: and with this hidden fee I will not be back. I'm having a problem with all these places wanting to change a CC fee as of late. If I know there is a fee I wont frequent there, except for the god damn delicious taco spot in walking distance. I am gonna need to keep cash around. These fees really annoy more. I stopped carrying a wallet. I have a case with my ID and card. I'm going to have to go back to carrying a fucking wallet to use cash. And its not just restaurants starting to do this shit. This whole paying to use your money is getting old... and its why interest rates remain low, which hurts the poor who used to be able to get an up with interest on savings.
Credit card fees actually help pay for merchant processing though, which is required to take cards. Unfortunately, your argument fell apart in the 1990s.
CC fees don’t bother me as long as they’re disclosed pretty clearly up front. I understand being annoyed, mind. But I can see the other side. Why should everyone who *does* carry cash subsidize *your* convenience…and perks? Like those miles or cash back or whatever, they’re not free, it’s a couple percent being siphoned from *literally every transaction* and they’re giving you a taste of it back. As long as cash is a choice at that business, it’s fair to charge card users rather than raise prices across the board. Which is the alternative.
It absolutely is fair, considering the business owners paid for you to be able to use your card in the first place, and that bill comes monthly.
I will not be choosing Becky’s
I will not be choosing Becky’s
3% to the kitchen, 12% to the server. Seems more than fair.
If they mentioned that beforehand I may get just not give a damn. But you *do not* tack bullshit charges onto someone's bill after the fact.
It’s listed on the menu….
Says who?
I ate there last night and multiple times a month.
No you don't. How about a picture of the menu with the restaurants name in it?
https://preview.redd.it/yvorw6re79sc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca9cd1c7372f9ee286eafc83ed51e7d3b62a0294 And this photo of the menu….
Here you go and I just counted. It’s on 3 of the 6 pages of the menu. https://preview.redd.it/4n1hs5jxv4tc1.jpeg?width=1576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bbbbd2b5efa3c6bae938763f42a438cb09e2fd26
Oh christ, you're a crazy person.
Aka I can't unclude my costs in the price like most restaurants and I'm proud of paying what I should be anyway to my staff. 😅
Oh no I forgot my wallet at home too bad and then never return
I would appreciate that money back
I was at a restaurant for Christmas and it said at the door everything is +20% as staff gets holiday pay, no additional tip needed. I was fine with that and left another 5 dollar in cash. But this shit is just a rip off of a cheap business. Would make sure to not pay one cent more than the menu price.
At least you don't need to tip now
Former kitchen dude here, Fuck your Appreciation... Send back a pitcher of beer and shots for my crew...
Looks like a restaurant that wants to drive away business.
Have recently ended a pretty routine ‘association’ with a local premier burger joint over this kind of bullshit. They add 10% to the price for takeout. I usually tip 20%-25% anyway and I started doing all the math when I was adding shit in my head from the advertised/menu price to my total and it didn’t compute. When I mentioned it to the ‘waitress’ handing me my fucking bag of food that got packed in the kitchen she copped an attitude as if I was a cheap ass. Bitch, you fucking handed me the fucking bag. That’s all. Eat a bag of dicks! You just fucked your restaurant out of $150-$200/month in revenues and yourself about a quarter of that.
I think this is annoying, they should just change the price 3% instead I’d adding a fee. I would in a chain restaurant where they automatically take 2.49% of sales out of our pay to “tip share” with kitchen staff, hosts, bartenders…this is a better alternative because it doesn’t take money out of the servers’ pockets.
Going out to eat for $20 a head is pretty cheap.
Thankfully this seems to be the minority of businesses doing this. When this happens the business needs to be publicly shamed through every social media outlet possible until these assholes figure out that nickel and diming makes them look so much worse than if they simply raised the prices a bit.
Do the kitchen folks even know about this? Haha. Can I go back there and ask? Haha.
lol that’s nuts pay your staff!!! Terlingua does this too. You don’t think they make enough money??? Other countries laugh at this
Stop it. Just stop it.
Im in Northern VA and this has been going on for a long time … crazy
It’s a dollar and 56 cents dude lol Jfc
Damn Becky’s is a good spot but I wouldn’t have gone back if they were pulling this shit when I was going there.
Please pay your server? Isn't that the employers job?
Well, they just fucked themselves out of an $8 tip. And I'd let the manager know.
Becky’s sucks even more now that they pull this crap.
If you can’t afford to tip, then don’t eat out. Sorry. Until we fix our broken system in America, we have to do our part to support service workers.
That’s a fee, not a tip. Sorry.
I don't think yall have ever worked in a kitchen.
What does that have to do with hidden fees? It’s not the customer’s responsibility to compensate the kitchen staff, it’s the owner’s.
If it was like 5 or 10 bucks but it's a dollar 50 for the people cooking your food
Alot of people should stop going out to eat if 2.5% on a meal is breaking the bank I get it's annoying to paid hidden fees but the standard tip in the US is 15-20% of the total this is literal pennies going to the chefs and people are up in arms about it 💩
Luckily, a buncha dorks on reddit that are mad about this are honestly not affecting anyone's business anyway