Would you stop going to your favorite restaurant if it charged 4% to “pay for employees health insurance “ ?

48 comments

1. Yes

2. I wouldn’t change my behavior at all. So they’ve chosen to itemize this on the bill rather than rolling it into higher menu costs, fine. If anything, now I know that they’re being offered health insurance…that’s not a guarantee at a restaurant.

3. No

4. Depends how their prices compared to similar restaurants. If they were underpriced, a 4% menu price increase might not be out of line. If they were already overpriced, it might be more of a turnoff.

5. They already do that they just don’t advertise it.

6. Eh probably not. But I’d be really curious what they were actually doing with the money. Just passing it on to employees to buy their own? Participating in some kind of group plan?

   If they are going with a group plan then I’d pass it on to my neighboring department and have them reach out to the owner because our group health plan is probably better for small businesses.

7. No, I’d probably eat there more often.

8. No. But I would rather they just increased menu prices slightly. They don’t itemize percentages for other operating expenses, so why this?

9. It’s already fairly common to do in my area and I don’t really pay that much attention to it. People *love* to complain about this on my local r/bayarea sub.

10. No, but for the love of god, just factor it into your pricing. We all have jobs. We know employers provide health insurance. It’s not a news bulletin.

11. They should just roll it into the price. I would not be upset by a 4% increase but I would be by surprise fees. Going to get food shouldn’t be like buying from Ticketmaster.

    Also if they were honest about it, that 4% would quickly rise as healthcare costs go up roughly 5% per year (from my employer’s experience).

12. Nah, it isn’t that much of a difference and its going towards helping the actual workers there.

13. No I actually appreciate the sentiment.

    Probably more likely to support them.

14. Very often they do this to say “this extra cost is because of government regulation, we disagree with it, and just want to make a point about the government making things expensive for you!”

    I would rather like them to incorporate those costs into the price of the items. So I don’t usually support businesses that make this a separate line item.

15. No. I only care about the final price.

16. Doesn’t bother me and even if it did, I can ask to remove it. Every restaurant I’ve been to that has this makes it clear that the charge is optional.

17. No, but I would rather they just raise the prices 4% and not make a dramatic display of how much they don’t care about the health of their employees!

18. Not necessarily. I do, however, happily pay more to dine at places that have done away with tipping and pay their staff a proper wage.

19. Yup. I know how to cook.

20. Yes that’s BS – when ever companies make an extra fee visible for a specific item it’s always a way of protesting the fact that they are required to provide that item. I do not want to spend my money at any establishment that resents being required to provide health insurance to the employees.

21. I’d be annoyed that they were deceitful in their pricing. I’d probably adjust my tip accordingly.

22. I don’t want to see that shit. I’m not an investor I don’t need to be privy to your expenses and it doesn’t impress me that you are doing what you should be doing anyways since employers are part of the group that keep lobbying against any effective healthcare reform.

    Do the same thing every other business does – work your expenses into the price.

    While you are at it, pay a normal wage so I’m not left paying both an increasing price and increasing percentage – again put it in the price of things.

23. No, but I don’t know why they would say that instead of just raising the prices.

24. I’d more likely not go if they were trying to make me very aware that they were charging that extra 4% to pay for health insurance. If I want extra story time with my meal, I’ll go to a dinner theater.

25. I would be put off by it because it sounds needlessly antagonistic. They aren’t going to add a surcharge for “building improvements” or “new cutlery”, so why specify this one? It seems either political or guilt-trippy, neither of which are things that appeal to me as a customer.

    Whether I stop going or not would depend on more factors than just that, but I can definitely see how it might sour me on the restaurant.

26. I wouldn’t even notice. If 4% is the difference between you going out to eat or not , then you can’t afford to go out .

27. No, I stopped going to my favorite restaurant because I’m poor.

28. No.

    But I have stopped shopping at stores that get tax funds to revamp their store fronts, and rebuild buildings. I don’t think store & building owners should get tax funds to improve private property.

29. No. But I’ll usually tip less. My budget is menu price + tax + 20%

30. Yes, I dont want to see an itemized list of the breakdown of their profit structure. Just charge what they need to charge for the food to appropriately pay their employees. Slapping on extra, unexpected charges is a great way to lose customers.

31. No, only a chud redneck would do that… just raise the menu prices

32. A lot of restaurants are already starting to add a few like that and just calling it increase price of whatever.

33. I don’t know. are they going to show what the percentage break down for executive pay and compensation is?

34. Yes and no.

    Raise the price to pay health insurance. That’s okay.

    Post it on my receipt to make a point of some sort? Fuck you I’ll not be back.

35. I should not see that on the bill. They should just add it to the cost of food items on the menu.

    The proportion of costs that go towards health insurance is none of my business, and has no place on the check. You might as well break out the general manager’s salary, the cost of food waste, and the rent on the building. Do you really want all that on your bill?

    Yes I would still go to my favorite restaurants if they cost 4% more.

36. No, but I don’t want these weird west coast receipts making their way over here.

37. No, if they told me beforehand

38. I would not stop going because it’s my favourite restaurant for a reason. Like, it’s not chick fil a for god’s sake. But I would acknowledge that it’s tacky. Just blend that cost into the price of the food. Why is it being dangled in front of me as a separate item?

39. Yeah, I would. What’s next, a 1% charge to “pay the electric bill” and a 5% charge to “pay the rent” and a 3% charge to “buy the owners a new yacht”?

40. – Surprise on the check – fuck that, not paying the fee + not going back.
    – Not mentioned anywhere on their site/version of the menu posted online, so you have no way of knowing until you go there and get seated – predatory, will stop recommending it, may stop going.

    – If the fees are then in tiny fine print at the bottom or back of the menu that many will miss – even worse – more likely to stop going entirely.

    – Clearly stated everywhere both on the menu and on their site – mildly annoying but that’s their choice to make, won’t affect my behavior at all.

    —–

    It’s not the price or % – there’s places with higher charges than that that I don’t get too upset about. It’s the quality of the disclosure and if customers have the ability to be appropriately informed before they’ve had to invest time/money/planning in going there.

41. Probably. That’s just a normal cost of doing business, and should be factored into the prices, not added on at the end.

    The big problem with it is that a lot of people will deduct that from their tips, and that means the employees are going to be paying for their own insurance anyway, but the restaurant will be getting a tax break for it.

42. Making things a separate charge just pisses people off. Include it in the price of food and no one would ever even notice, they would just complain about inflation like the rest of the world.

43. Yes, and I have

44. How about we look at cost cutting by providing smaller portions at smaller prices? I don’t need a meatball the size of my head for $50.

45. I don’t like those gimmicks in general.

    However, a lot of restaurants don’t pay for their employees’ health insurance or offer any meaningful benefits at all. So I’m happy to go to a restaurant that *does*. Even if they’re charging more or advertising it.

    For similar reasons, I rarely tip at Starbucks. They start at $15/hour and they have really good benefits — insurance, paid leave, tuition assistance. Most of the time they’re just filling my cup with coffee and handing it to me (literally the bare minimum of their job function). But if Starbucks had crap benefits or were paying $9/hour, I would absolutely tip.

46. No.

    But it would make more sense if they just advertised that they provide insurance to all of their employees in store and factored it into the price instead of as a separate line for an additional fee.

    Seeing it as a separate charge would make me think, sure, .3% for insurance, 3.7% for additional profit.

47. Yes. I’ve recently boycotted my favorite Mexican restaurant, because they now charge extra to pay with a card, they include gratuity for party’s of 4 and then to add insult to injury the last waitress tried pulling a fast one when she added a 40% tip for our party of 4, hopping we wouldn’t catch it.

48. I would probably stop going because of how obnoxious that sounds.