This just feels slimy. I find it very revealing that the owner feels he can't raise prices but he can throw on a "surcharge" when you are at the table. This is very much bait and switch. I think he is making a bet here that fewer people will take offense to his questionable service fee then will accept an increase in his prices. Quite simply this make me feel like I am visiting a used car salesman when I see games like this. By doing items like this he is tapping into the rage that people feel with being "nickel and dimed".
Imagine you work in any other industry and the owner itemize a "living wage" surcharge for the client, justifying it by saying "my employees need to get paid." How silly would that be?
I can understand and tolerate price increases and gratuity due to the current economy, but a tip on top of in several other cases, shrinkflation, is a no go for me.
I've been going to Toulouse for years with my wife, and on average, we paid around $100-130 for brunch for two. This new 5% living wage surcharge might just be the end of the road for us. It's tough to see prices continually rising.
I feel that this is disingenuous. The owner said people find overinflated food prices off-putting, in answer to why not just increase price of food. This is the same effect, it just surprises people when they get the check rather than being upfront that the food is 5% more expensive than the menu says. Then it makes you feel guilty because you believe in things like a living-wage for workers.
Anthony Bordain wrote in his book Kitchen Confidential, "some restaurants just get the feel of death around them when they are about to go out of business" This owner is grasping and clearly delusional. I've been in the full service, class H dinnerhouse business since 06/06/1976. I'll bet anything all his vendors are requiring payment upon delivery. 👍
Labor is a legitimate expense for any business. It’s built into the cost of doing business like rent, utilities etc. The owner is insuring he makes an additional 5% on each check.
I haven't been to a fine dining restaurant in years, the last one I went out on a date I ended up spending $200 and this was in 2019. Seattle just seems to be on extremely pricy side, food was good though.
I'm tired of businesses being unwilling to pay livable wages and then blaming the customer for it and charging them. I won't be dining here again, but if I did that 5% gratuity charge just became your tip. I would give more, but this was the result of your incredibly cheap ownership
Why even mention it at all as a business owner? Why not spread out the extra funds needed across the board instead of pointing out something that can come off as something else. 🤷🏻
Is is unfortunate because you know who will be blamed for this surcharge, the wait staff. The wait staff will take the abuse from the customers not the owners
Tricking customers to come in and then get this added on top is poor business skills. If you say ~ “customers wouldn’t like the price if we raised it” so now you just trick people? If they don’t like the prices then let them make a choice based on the price if they want to visit you. Also, pay up cut your deliveries because it was paying drivers below minimum wage to deliver your food before.
This whole restaurant recession is self inflicted. They were the ones screaming about how their businesses were not coming back because everyone who could was working at home and they lost foot traffic. Many of us are barely making it. It is not our responsibility to prop them up . Especially since are expenses are skyrocketing and are wages are not. We don't get tips and no one feels sorry for us: the healthcare worker or the IT worker.
Imagine the next time you go to the restaurant, there is a "service fee" for RENT, then another for WASHING DISHES, then another charging you by the minute you sit at the table, because that is time that they could make more with another customer. What he has done is taken a 5% across the board menu price increase and called in a service charge. The reason is simple. When people go online to look at the menu and they see a price they say that is ok. This is classic bait and switch. What would happen if the grocery store did the same thing. At the end of your shopping trip there is a mysterious service fee added at WalMart that says "service fee to pay employees". How about when you go to the auto mechanic and they quote you $500 to fix your car, then AFTER you get it fixed they add 5%, because "well mechanics need to be paid". Then you go to pay your mortgage and the mortgage company says, well we did give you the rate you liked, but we have to pay our employees, so you need to pay 5% more for the loan, and they tell you that on the DAY of closing.
With tipping and a 5 buck surcharge, you get nothing in return. There is no value for that money spent. $130.00 bucks for food for 2 people, $26.00 for the $130..00 check for the tip. $5.00 for the surcharge. You are basically throwing $31.00 bucks down the toilet just to go out and eat and spend and hour of your time. What other industry is allowed to do this?
@orderfirst8907 I don't agree that it's throwing money down toilet - I do believe that the servers and staff deserve living wages. But i don't agree that customers should be expected to bridge that gap in their wages. The restaurant owner should look at the total expense for food, staff, rent, etc, and determine costs, then price food accordingly. Then customers get to determine if the food and experience is worth the price being asked. Instead of a bait and switch in which the owner gets to pretend the prices are a set amount, then essentially ask customers to pay an additional 25% to pay his employers more. It's disingenuous. And it's honestly not any different than any other employer trying to do it - can you imagine going to the grocery store and shopping, then being told an additional charge is being added to your food to cover employees at the register??
I bet this guy pays the back of the house staff, the cooks, the dishwashers, the bussers poorly forcing the servers to share their tips with the back of the house. We will see how much longer this place stays in business.
Then lower the prices of your food. That also means diners do not have enough money to tip. People are having a hard time making ends meet. This will cut back on customers. You can't expect to jack up your food prices, charge a surcharge, and for your staff to still get tipped. Studies show that when restaurant owners charge a surcharge for service, servers lose out on tips. Dump the surcharge so your people can get tips. I bet none of this surcharge money is going to the employees. They do the surcharge in Europe and Japan so customers don't have to tip, and they don't. Restaurant owners just don't get it. BY THE WAY this restaurant charges $30.00 to $50.00 per person. Their happy hour is a Joke.
Sounds fair. I don't think we should be eating out so much. We've kind of gotten spoilt, taking a lot for granted. Going out to eat should be a treat. If we do, pay the people well! The ones who are slogging in the kitchens, waiting on us hand and foot, the small business owner dealing with the administrative costs...
He is making a political statement by adding it onto his bill. So I wont be surprised if his sales go down another 30%. And of course if it does he seems like the type that will blame someone else for it too.
My daughter and mine favorite go to place. I love this restaurant and the people who work there. I am going to keep going because of the atmosphere and the amazing foods. I would highly recommend this restaurant!
Don't worry. You'll all be old and boring like me one day and lose the motivation to leave home where everything reminds you how old and boring you are.
I won't give any business to any food service facility that wants to help themselves to my money. The industry never did pay much to begin with and was considered a temporary job until you could finish school and then use your learned skills to get a higher paying job. Pay a waitress or waiter a high wage on MY money? Nope.
@@joshuacgeo Unskilled labor has always paid less because it's UNSKILLED labor. It has always been considered a job a person starts at in their young lives and then move on. If they want to do this for a living that's fine, but they shouldn't expect a high wage.
Sorry; that's a clear no-go for food service.
This just feels slimy. I find it very revealing that the owner feels he can't raise prices but he can throw on a "surcharge" when you are at the table. This is very much bait and switch. I think he is making a bet here that fewer people will take offense to his questionable service fee then will accept an increase in his prices. Quite simply this make me feel like I am visiting a used car salesman when I see games like this. By doing items like this he is tapping into the rage that people feel with being "nickel and dimed".
I would never pay it and if I found out about it after the fact, I would regurgitate my meal back onto the table and leave.
Imagine you work in any other industry and the owner itemize a "living wage" surcharge for the client, justifying it by saying "my employees need to get paid." How silly would that be?
Exactly. It is insane. The owner should raise the salary not asking your customers to pay your employees' wages.
I can understand and tolerate price increases and gratuity due to the current economy, but a tip on top of in several other cases, shrinkflation, is a no go for me.
This segment would get a C+ in a community college journalism course
Only if being graded on a curve; it would have been returned to its creator as, “unfinished / unusable” in my class.
Who does it go too? The busboys,hostesses,who?
so hes not paying them enough? just because you say its not a tip, doesnt mean its not a tip.
I've been going to Toulouse for years with my wife, and on average, we paid around $100-130 for brunch for two. This new 5% living wage surcharge might just be the end of the road for us. It's tough to see prices continually rising.
Lies detected. You can pay $100 to $130 for two yet not pay $5 to $6.50. Must be a Democrat lol
@lexxieb787 must feel good to think that everything is about politics and division. Haha, go outside and see the world
@@lexxieb787 Ever heard of the straw that broke the camel's back?
Thanks for letting me know where NOT to go for something to eat.
Stay home, learn how to feed yourselves, save your money.
You're welcome.
It would probably make more sense to simply raise the price of all menu items by 2.5% to 5%.
The charge accounted goes directly to the staff
@@johncatalano7101does it ?
Simple solution is to not eat there. Increase your prices and pay that living wage and drop tipping if you are paying a living wage!😅😅😅
he is a democrat they do not understand that
I feel that this is disingenuous. The owner said people find overinflated food prices off-putting, in answer to why not just increase price of food.
This is the same effect, it just surprises people when they get the check rather than being upfront that the food is 5% more expensive than the menu says.
Then it makes you feel guilty because you believe in things like a living-wage for workers.
This is a capitalist putting a de facto political advertisement on sales receipts. Shameful
Anthony Bordain wrote in his book Kitchen Confidential, "some restaurants just get the feel of death around them when they are about to go out of business" This owner is grasping and clearly delusional. I've been in the full service, class H dinnerhouse business since 06/06/1976. I'll bet anything all his vendors are requiring payment upon delivery. 👍
Labor is a legitimate expense for any business. It’s built into the cost of doing business like rent, utilities etc. The owner is insuring he makes an additional 5% on each check.
I haven't been to a fine dining restaurant in years, the last one I went out on a date I ended up spending $200 and this was in 2019. Seattle just seems to be on extremely pricy side, food was good though.
It’s deceiving guests. I won’t go there anymore that’s for sure.
The fact that people can afford a 100-dollar dinner in Bezostan says more about our country than a living wage BS.
I'm tired of businesses being unwilling to pay livable wages and then blaming the customer for it and charging them. I won't be dining here again, but if I did that 5% gratuity charge just became your tip. I would give more, but this was the result of your incredibly cheap ownership
have you tried idk paying your employees out of your pocket
Why even mention it at all as a business owner? Why not spread out the extra funds needed across the board instead of pointing out something that can come off as something else. 🤷🏻
Is is unfortunate because you know who will be blamed for this surcharge, the wait staff. The wait staff will take the abuse from the customers not the owners
Tricking customers to come in and then get this added on top is poor business skills. If you say ~ “customers wouldn’t like the price if we raised it” so now you just trick people? If they don’t like the prices then let them make a choice based on the price if they want to visit you. Also, pay up cut your deliveries because it was paying drivers below minimum wage to deliver your food before.
The market will decide if your food is worth that much.
just up the price on food lol not hard to do.
The owner needs to pay his staff properly. Why should the customer pay them?
This whole restaurant recession is self inflicted. They were the ones screaming about how their businesses were not coming back because everyone who could was working at home and they lost foot traffic. Many of us are barely making it. It is not our responsibility to prop them up . Especially since are expenses are skyrocketing and are wages are not. We don't get tips and no one feels sorry for us: the healthcare worker or the IT worker.
Imagine the next time you go to the restaurant, there is a "service fee" for RENT, then another for WASHING DISHES, then another charging you by the minute you sit at the table, because that is time that they could make more with another customer. What he has done is taken a 5% across the board menu price increase and called in a service charge. The reason is simple. When people go online to look at the menu and they see a price they say that is ok. This is classic bait and switch.
What would happen if the grocery store did the same thing. At the end of your shopping trip there is a mysterious service fee added at WalMart that says "service fee to pay employees". How about when you go to the auto mechanic and they quote you $500 to fix your car, then AFTER you get it fixed they add 5%, because "well mechanics need to be paid". Then you go to pay your mortgage and the mortgage company says, well we did give you the rate you liked, but we have to pay our employees, so you need to pay 5% more for the loan, and they tell you that on the DAY of closing.
With tipping and a 5 buck surcharge, you get nothing in return. There is no value for that money spent. $130.00 bucks for food for 2 people, $26.00 for the $130..00 check for the tip. $5.00 for the surcharge. You are basically throwing $31.00 bucks down the toilet just to go out and eat and spend and hour of your time. What other industry is allowed to do this?
@orderfirst8907 I don't agree that it's throwing money down toilet - I do believe that the servers and staff deserve living wages. But i don't agree that customers should be expected to bridge that gap in their wages. The restaurant owner should look at the total expense for food, staff, rent, etc, and determine costs, then price food accordingly. Then customers get to determine if the food and experience is worth the price being asked. Instead of a bait and switch in which the owner gets to pretend the prices are a set amount, then essentially ask customers to pay an additional 25% to pay his employers more. It's disingenuous. And it's honestly not any different than any other employer trying to do it - can you imagine going to the grocery store and shopping, then being told an additional charge is being added to your food to cover employees at the register??
I bet this guy pays the back of the house staff, the cooks, the dishwashers, the bussers poorly forcing the servers to share their tips with the back of the house. We will see how much longer this place stays in business.
Why not ad 5% to the menu (raise the price). Then you can pay your pincushions more yourself.
Then lower the prices of your food. That also means diners do not have enough money to tip. People are having a hard time making ends meet. This will cut back on customers. You can't expect to jack up your food prices, charge a surcharge, and for your staff to still get tipped. Studies show that when restaurant owners charge a surcharge for service, servers lose out on tips. Dump the surcharge so your people can get tips. I bet none of this surcharge money is going to the employees. They do the surcharge in Europe and Japan so customers don't have to tip, and they don't. Restaurant owners just don't get it. BY THE WAY this restaurant charges $30.00 to $50.00 per person. Their happy hour is a Joke.
If my server looked like that, I would choose to dine elsewhere.
There is nothing special about this place. I will not be playing along.
Sounds fair. I don't think we should be eating out so much. We've kind of gotten spoilt, taking a lot for granted. Going out to eat should be a treat. If we do, pay the people well! The ones who are slogging in the kitchens, waiting on us hand and foot, the small business owner dealing with the administrative costs...
He is making a political statement by adding it onto his bill. So I wont be surprised if his sales go down another 30%. And of course if it does he seems like the type that will blame someone else for it too.
I'm sick of Seattle and cringe whenever I hear the name Seattle. (cringes)
Exactly! I will only go there to see the best 'A' list comedians at the Paramount.
My daughter and mine favorite go to place. I love this restaurant and the people who work there. I am going to keep going because of the atmosphere and the amazing foods. I would highly recommend this restaurant!
@@KHallesy don't support this business. Shady practice.
Don't worry. You'll all be old and boring like me one day and lose the motivation to leave home where everything reminds you how old and boring you are.
you have way to many cooks there lol
Deleted demo golfers enjoy cart discounts
There’s none of this in my industry. Maybe there should be.
I won't give any business to any food service facility that wants to help themselves to my money. The industry never did pay much to begin with and was considered a temporary job until you could finish school and then use your learned skills to get a higher paying job. Pay a waitress or waiter a high wage on MY money? Nope.
Exactly this industry has treated employees badly. Don't push it to your customers
@@joshuacgeo Unskilled labor has always paid less because it's UNSKILLED labor. It has always been considered a job a person starts at in their young lives and then move on. If they want to do this for a living that's fine, but they shouldn't expect a high wage.
@@tonyf.8858 I was never, like many jobs, meant to provide a family supporting wage!
It's $5 on $100 bucks people, good lord could you whine any more?
That’s what I’m saying
😂😂😂 Cringe
Servers are overpayed imo and I owned restaurants for 30 years.
Was never meant to be a family supporting profession! 🤦♂️
@ThomasBarone The free market says it is one now, deal with it.