To sum up: none of the restaurants commented as to why, so 🤷🏻
Because they can, and people keep paying it.
Because they can
/thread
You can and in some instances should refuse to pay.
Doesn’t bother me *too* much if it goes to the staff. Boils my piss when the owner keeps it
I am a former service industry worker: don’t pay it. We don’t actually get the money. It goes in a “pot” shared “equally.” And I used to work at a mid-high end central London restaurant on bar. When minimum wage went up, they reduced the amount of money we got from the service charge pool so our wages stayed the same.
So yeah- if they still accept it tip directly but don’t pay this tax.
I don’t pay it.
Because the people keep accepting it, and keep paying it.
Have never and will never pay service charges. I will occasionally tip when the service is extraordinary, but forcing this upon me from the start makes me feel less inclined.
The response from managers when you ask to remove it is usually disgusting as well. Reinforces why I wouldnt in the first place.
Because they can. No-one’s stopped going to restaurants because of this and barely anyone refuses to pay it because it’s so awkward, so they may as well keep sticking it on the bill.
> Well, we asked a bunch of London restaurants why their service charge is now 15 percent, including the places mentioned above, and all of them declined to comment. Which doesn’t really help us to work out why the shift has happened.
But we still ran this “story” anyway.
Is it time to ban Time Out?
Absolutely not. 10% standard, 12.5% for really good.
For 15% they better include a lift home and a doggy bag of treats for later.
This is ridiculous. Tips have snuck up from 10% over the past few years. The thing with a % tip is that if the food prices rise due to inflation, so does the value of the tip, and boy have prices risen. Increasing the tip is greed. I don’t begrudge tipping waiting staff at all, but this isn’t the US, everyone should be on at least minimum wage.
because idiots keep paying for it
Because the service has got 20% better obviously!
Tell them to remove it from the bill. They have to
The reality is it’s to make the restaurant look 15% cheaper when you look at a menu.
It’s an easier place to hide price rises.
I’m sure most owners would be very happy if everyone across the board hiked prices on menus by 15% and got rid of service charges.
I have always found a % crazy – why does it matter if i buy a £50 bottle of wine vs a £30 one? Why should I tip more in that case?
I refused to pay it last year after getting very below par service and a dish missed off the order, place was pricey for what it was too. The server kicked up a massive grump before getting the manager to remove the charge.
I don’t mind paying it in some instances but it boils my piss pubs, coffee shops and the like have started to add it
It’s cos they do not have to pay VAT on “optional service charge” so they can try and keep their menu prices down.
Basically my belief is that it is partly due to the increase in legal minimum/national living wage (doubled in the last 10 years) now restaurants cannot pay their staff less than £12.50 an hour so on top of rent they need to find a way to pay more to get better staff. I guess customers are less aware of service charges and less sensitive to it, whereas they will remember if the cheapest bottle of wine was above £40 …
Also it is a bit a tax wheeze, as service charges don’t attract VAT which restaurants have to charge on the rest of the bill, and it benefits staff as they don’t pay NI on tronc, so there is an incentive to push up Service charge rather than list price for both parties, only customers suffer through paying more than expected …
The biggest factor is because they think they can get away with it, I have been around London long enough to remember when it was only for “tables of 6 or more”, then some restaurants moved to all tables and post COVID when dinning out was a privilege restaurants decided to try their luck …
Everyone is saying business greed but most are forgetting that the law changed last year with the allocation of tips act. Call me cynical but I wouldn’t have thought that employers have raised the service charge just to increase income for employees so there’s probably a loophole in this that they’re exploiting or they’re just counting on not being caught or having to change.
According to Unite
– any agreements with staff to accept lower wages in exchange for tips prior to the law change are still in place. Employers just can’t make new ones or alter existing wages
– Employees in head office or production sites can receive a share of tips generated at trading sites (might be something here with tips going to execs?)
– There’s no set criteria for tips to be distributed so could be related to salary, performance, length of service, position etc
– the law change is still ambiguous and may allow for loopholes
Also, some restaurants are now charging a fee rather than a service charge so the company rather than the staff get it. Avoid places who have done this
welcome to a fucked up society where one use his brain for financial gains and all the others just follow…
Is up to any of us to decide if we fall into their agenda or just ignore the stupidity of this society
Because almost noone ever complains and just pay it.
I don’t tip/pay a service charge anywhere. It’s the employers job to pay you, not me.
It went from 10% to 12.5% and people still paid it. They are taking the chance that it will be the same if they bump it up to 15%.
Its just a money grab is all. Enough people will pay it that it is worth their while to do it. In a few years it will go up again.
Tipping culture is toxic and we shouldn’t let it infiltrate the UK. Please decline the charge.
If the service was TRULY amazing, then tip individually with cash.
Just don’t pay it, I got 2 pints last week and the server put a 12.5 service charge on it. I got it refunded immediately. Taking the piss
There could be a simple law put in place. Add it to the bill and your meal is free, you can walk out without paying.
Same as stopping Ryanair’s unreasonable charges, if they attempt to add them, your flight is free, or better still, Ryanair lose the landing slot.
We need a modern Consumer Act to stop all the rip-offs.
THIS. I’m so fed up of this. And I’m always given looks when I ask for it to be taken off…
I don’t pay anyway so this doesn’t affect me. I just tell them to remove it and that’s that. Things are already expensive.
I can’t speak for high-end restaurants or chains. but currently working at a small family-run cafe, and having worked at an independent pub before, it seems to me that small businesses really can’t afford to not have a service charge right now, especially with the incoming rise to the minimum wage (which I do think is a good thing) and national insurance…
Also maybe I mind less because (at least in the cage I work at) the owners have been quite transparent about how service charge fees go to us.
Edit: In the cafe I work at its a 10% optional service charge. And stated clearly on the menu.
What astounds me is when the absolute fuckers hand you a machine asking if you’d like to tip another 20% on top of the entirely discretionary service charge!
And then maybe an extra little fuck-you convenience charge for paying the bill with their platform for paying the bill
Restaurants are one of the biggest house of cards out there. Most barely make any profit at all and many operate at a loss. So they hike up the prices, add service charges as well as tips. Pay staff less, reduce ingredient quality and quantity.
Most high end restaurants cater for people with lots of money to spend but the mid range are struggling and many go out of business each week. People are now to used to getting good value in chains like pizza express and Wagamama and they know what they are getting.
Independent restaurants that have been around a while that look tired and dated… who wants to go there these days with all the choice available.
Just came back from Paris where they wouldn’t do this to the diners. It felt like heaven.
If the menu mentions SC included – we still have to pay it right? Other than that only if it says discretionary then we could argue to take it off
Because they hope we are all too awkward to question it
It’s 15% because they can’t (yet) get away with 25%…
They can fuck all the way off. I will announce publicly that I will not pay.
39 comments
Greed and they know the majority won’t argue it
To sum up: none of the restaurants commented as to why, so 🤷🏻
Because they can, and people keep paying it.
Because they can
/thread
You can and in some instances should refuse to pay.
Doesn’t bother me *too* much if it goes to the staff. Boils my piss when the owner keeps it
I am a former service industry worker: don’t pay it. We don’t actually get the money. It goes in a “pot” shared “equally.” And I used to work at a mid-high end central London restaurant on bar. When minimum wage went up, they reduced the amount of money we got from the service charge pool so our wages stayed the same.
So yeah- if they still accept it tip directly but don’t pay this tax.
I don’t pay it.
Because the people keep accepting it, and keep paying it.
Have never and will never pay service charges. I will occasionally tip when the service is extraordinary, but forcing this upon me from the start makes me feel less inclined.
The response from managers when you ask to remove it is usually disgusting as well. Reinforces why I wouldnt in the first place.
Because they can. No-one’s stopped going to restaurants because of this and barely anyone refuses to pay it because it’s so awkward, so they may as well keep sticking it on the bill.
> Well, we asked a bunch of London restaurants why their service charge is now 15 percent, including the places mentioned above, and all of them declined to comment. Which doesn’t really help us to work out why the shift has happened.
But we still ran this “story” anyway.
Is it time to ban Time Out?
Absolutely not. 10% standard, 12.5% for really good.
For 15% they better include a lift home and a doggy bag of treats for later.
This is ridiculous. Tips have snuck up from 10% over the past few years. The thing with a % tip is that if the food prices rise due to inflation, so does the value of the tip, and boy have prices risen. Increasing the tip is greed. I don’t begrudge tipping waiting staff at all, but this isn’t the US, everyone should be on at least minimum wage.
because idiots keep paying for it
Because the service has got 20% better obviously!
Tell them to remove it from the bill. They have to
The reality is it’s to make the restaurant look 15% cheaper when you look at a menu.
It’s an easier place to hide price rises.
I’m sure most owners would be very happy if everyone across the board hiked prices on menus by 15% and got rid of service charges.
I have always found a % crazy – why does it matter if i buy a £50 bottle of wine vs a £30 one? Why should I tip more in that case?
I refused to pay it last year after getting very below par service and a dish missed off the order, place was pricey for what it was too. The server kicked up a massive grump before getting the manager to remove the charge.
I don’t mind paying it in some instances but it boils my piss pubs, coffee shops and the like have started to add it
It’s cos they do not have to pay VAT on “optional service charge” so they can try and keep their menu prices down.
Basically my belief is that it is partly due to the increase in legal minimum/national living wage (doubled in the last 10 years) now restaurants cannot pay their staff less than £12.50 an hour so on top of rent they need to find a way to pay more to get better staff. I guess customers are less aware of service charges and less sensitive to it, whereas they will remember if the cheapest bottle of wine was above £40 …
Also it is a bit a tax wheeze, as service charges don’t attract VAT which restaurants have to charge on the rest of the bill, and it benefits staff as they don’t pay NI on tronc, so there is an incentive to push up Service charge rather than list price for both parties, only customers suffer through paying more than expected …
The biggest factor is because they think they can get away with it, I have been around London long enough to remember when it was only for “tables of 6 or more”, then some restaurants moved to all tables and post COVID when dinning out was a privilege restaurants decided to try their luck …
Everyone is saying business greed but most are forgetting that the law changed last year with the allocation of tips act. Call me cynical but I wouldn’t have thought that employers have raised the service charge just to increase income for employees so there’s probably a loophole in this that they’re exploiting or they’re just counting on not being caught or having to change.
According to Unite
– any agreements with staff to accept lower wages in exchange for tips prior to the law change are still in place. Employers just can’t make new ones or alter existing wages
– Employees in head office or production sites can receive a share of tips generated at trading sites (might be something here with tips going to execs?)
– There’s no set criteria for tips to be distributed so could be related to salary, performance, length of service, position etc
– the law change is still ambiguous and may allow for loopholes
Also, some restaurants are now charging a fee rather than a service charge so the company rather than the staff get it. Avoid places who have done this
welcome to a fucked up society where one use his brain for financial gains and all the others just follow…
Is up to any of us to decide if we fall into their agenda or just ignore the stupidity of this society
Because almost noone ever complains and just pay it.
I don’t tip/pay a service charge anywhere. It’s the employers job to pay you, not me.
It went from 10% to 12.5% and people still paid it. They are taking the chance that it will be the same if they bump it up to 15%.
Its just a money grab is all. Enough people will pay it that it is worth their while to do it. In a few years it will go up again.
Tipping culture is toxic and we shouldn’t let it infiltrate the UK. Please decline the charge.
If the service was TRULY amazing, then tip individually with cash.
Just don’t pay it, I got 2 pints last week and the server put a 12.5 service charge on it. I got it refunded immediately. Taking the piss
There could be a simple law put in place. Add it to the bill and your meal is free, you can walk out without paying.
Same as stopping Ryanair’s unreasonable charges, if they attempt to add them, your flight is free, or better still, Ryanair lose the landing slot.
We need a modern Consumer Act to stop all the rip-offs.
THIS. I’m so fed up of this. And I’m always given looks when I ask for it to be taken off…
I don’t pay anyway so this doesn’t affect me. I just tell them to remove it and that’s that. Things are already expensive.
I can’t speak for high-end restaurants or chains. but currently working at a small family-run cafe, and having worked at an independent pub before, it seems to me that small businesses really can’t afford to not have a service charge right now, especially with the incoming rise to the minimum wage (which I do think is a good thing) and national insurance…
Also maybe I mind less because (at least in the cage I work at) the owners have been quite transparent about how service charge fees go to us.
Edit: In the cafe I work at its a 10% optional service charge. And stated clearly on the menu.
What astounds me is when the absolute fuckers hand you a machine asking if you’d like to tip another 20% on top of the entirely discretionary service charge!
And then maybe an extra little fuck-you convenience charge for paying the bill with their platform for paying the bill
Restaurants are one of the biggest house of cards out there. Most barely make any profit at all and many operate at a loss. So they hike up the prices, add service charges as well as tips. Pay staff less, reduce ingredient quality and quantity.
Most high end restaurants cater for people with lots of money to spend but the mid range are struggling and many go out of business each week. People are now to used to getting good value in chains like pizza express and Wagamama and they know what they are getting.
Independent restaurants that have been around a while that look tired and dated… who wants to go there these days with all the choice available.
Just came back from Paris where they wouldn’t do this to the diners. It felt like heaven.
If the menu mentions SC included – we still have to pay it right? Other than that only if it says discretionary then we could argue to take it off
Because they hope we are all too awkward to question it
It’s 15% because they can’t (yet) get away with 25%…
They can fuck all the way off. I will announce publicly that I will not pay.
Comments are closed.