Olive Garden Operations

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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by Bagels »

veteran+ wrote: October 2nd, 2022, 7:15 am Service charge?

What is that?
4% fee added to your check to offset the higher cost of doing business in CA. Many restaurants are adding it these days. I’d understand if prices were universal, but they’re not - pricing at El Torito or Chevy’s (same owner/menu) in CA is much higher than in FL.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by veteran+ »

Wow.......................I would walk out and not pay!

Do they tell you up front before you order?
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

I was eating at a restaurant and they did put a service fee notice on the menu. People complained when they got the bill.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by Bagels »

They’ve been doing it for several years. A lot of other places are doing it as well, including many Pizza Huts. And again, prices and promotions are higher in CA to begin with. Some CA-only restaurants are doing it as well.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: October 2nd, 2022, 10:35 am Wow.......................I would walk out and not pay!

Do they tell you up front before you order?
This is a thing that has been seen in CA for a while. It seems to be an extension of those "health mandates." I typically do not see this fee assessed outside CA.

However, there is a chain called Ike's Love and Sandwiches that assesses a fee like this on top of every check at all locations even not ones in CA. However you can tell them and they will remove the fee from your order. What is funny is when they opened up here in Reno they did not assess the fee the first couple months they were open. They do not tell you about the fee, many people do not look at the receipt, some people feel good about paying the fee because they say they use the proceeds from the fee to pay employee benefits.

I think there this gets funny is these CA chains assess the fee and blame it on "higher CA costs" and this gets people going politically one way or the other to ignite conflict. Yet their menu prices are already higher in CA than elsewhere so why is there another fee? Yet other chains charge the exact SAME fee and say it is to "provide employee benefits" and that seems to be generally met with "oh that is so nice of them to do that I will pay that fee happily" sort of response.

My comment- build it into your menu prices. Period. If the sandwich is $10.99 but due to your higher costs in CA you need more profit, okay, raise that menu price to $11.59 and be done with it. Quit trying to use your business to make a political statement.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by veteran+ »

AGREED!
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by SamSpade »

Off Topic
A certain large steakhouse chain is charging 'service charges' of 3% on bills in Oregon.

A few local restaurants do disclose one on the menu and add it to bills.

The one local chain has in type on the menu that you can speak with your server and s/he will remove it. I don't think people often do. This restaurant is already not inexpensive (though not high-end either), so I find it an odd decision. I'm not sure if this particular chain is doing it to make a political statement about health and welfare costs.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by SamSpade »

Off Topic
One more has added it "for employee retention." Here is their statement:
Effective October 4, 2022. In response to rising costs, a 2.5% surcharge will be added to each transaction for staff recruitment and retention.
This surcharge is not a tax or gratuity.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by mjhale »

storewanderer wrote: October 2nd, 2022, 8:57 pm I think there this gets funny is these CA chains assess the fee and blame it on "higher CA costs" and this gets people going politically one way or the other to ignite conflict. Yet their menu prices are already higher in CA than elsewhere so why is there another fee? Yet other chains charge the exact SAME fee and say it is to "provide employee benefits" and that seems to be generally met with "oh that is so nice of them to do that I will pay that fee happily" sort of response.

My comment- build it into your menu prices. Period. If the sandwich is $10.99 but due to your higher costs in CA you need more profit, okay, raise that menu price to $11.59 and be done with it. Quit trying to use your business to make a political statement.
Explaining an extra fee by saying it is is due to the state a business operates in is a roundabout way of saying some policy of the state makes it more expensive to be in said state. In a sense it is also a veiled political statement if one wants to see it that way. As was discussed in the thread about Publix not getting involved with the Covid vaccine for under 5 years old the business runs the risk of loosing control of the narrative in a direction that may not be representative of the business or of people who would possibly patronize the business. As storewanderer suggests build your costs into the price of the product. But here is the problem, Americans have been so conditioned to the lowest price both from retailers like Walmart and the flow of cheap Chinese goods that it makes it hard to raise the price on anything these days. We've seen the uproar over price increases due to inflation that are various degrees of upset at the government, retailers and suppliers. That sandwich that goes from $10.99 to $11.59 to pay for extra expenses at whatever level gets a customer saying it isn't worth it anymore and not buying. Buy say an x percent charge is for employee benefits and we happily pay it from the emotional aspect of helping the otherwise lower paid employees. Or the x percent fee because we operate in x state generates the this state is too damn expensive because of some policy whether true or not arguments. These prices and fees are appealing to emotions to bypass upset of flat out price increases. It is the only way some of these smaller chains and business can generate enough income to survive and not loose all of their customers.
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Re: Olive Garden Operations

Post by veteran+ »

SamSpade wrote: October 4th, 2022, 9:49 pm
Off Topic
One more has added it "for employee retention." Here is their statement:
Effective October 4, 2022. In response to rising costs, a 2.5% surcharge will be added to each transaction for staff recruitment and retention.
This surcharge is not a tax or gratuity.
Outrageous!

Again, I would walk out.
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