restaurant server taking order

Don’t See Inflation in the Restaurant Menu? Look Carefully at the Bill

/Updated /18 Comments/in , /by Mary Hunt

Times are tough. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Restaurants continue to face budget-busting challenges from the pandemic and labor crisis. But that’s not all. As I write this sentence, food prices have increased by double-digits and may have risen even higher when you read it.

restaurant server taking order

Here’s the Weird Thing

Sure, restaurant menu prices have increased some, but none of that adds up to 18% across the board as restaurants attempt to cover the cost of the food. You may look at the menu for your favorite restaurant and see a few price hikes, but nothing that seems unreasonably out of line.

What’s Up?

Are restauranteurs morphing into benevolent philanthropists? Uh, that would be a negative, although according to OpenTable data, as a group, restaurateurs got into the business because they want to take care of people. They want their hospitality to be accessible no matter the economic climate.

That being said, the answer, my friends, is blowing through the bill—that check the server nonchalantly places next to your water glass at the end of the meal. While nothing that follows has become standardized, it helps paint a picture of what you can expect to see at restaurants near you.

Forget free refills

Enjoy them while you can because it may soon be something for our kids’ I-remember-when collection to tell their kids.

Soft drinks and coffee are not a massive expense for a restaurant, but not free either. Finding enough staff actually to perform beverage refills is making the practice on its way to becoming a relic. Instead, thirsty customers in some establishments need to request and then pay for each refill—a way the restaurant is covering increased costs.

Share the pain

Even though pasta, for example, costs the restaurant about the same as it did months ago, you may see big jumps for pasta dishes.

Example: Beef steak has gone through the roof, so a restauranteur may tack on some of that increase to the steak menu price to keep customers happy with only a tiny increase, offsetting the balance of the real cost by adding it to the price of say, Fettuccini Alfredo.

Charging for everything

We’re hearing about restaurants starting to charge for add-ons and extras such as condiments, coffee creams, ranch dip, and other add-ons. Don’t be surprised to see a slew of $.50 or $1.00 charges for items that have been previously complimentary.

Care to share?

More restaurants are adding a share fee or split charge, which should be disclosed on the menu, but don’t count on it. If you prefer to share a meal, entree, etc., you can ask for an extra plate but get ready to be charged $5 or more for the privilege.

 

Reminder

When sharing a meal, base your gratuity as if you’d not share but ordered two of that item. After all, the server still served you, possibly even split the meal for you, while you enjoyed other restaurant services.

 

Reservation deposit

It’s happened a couple of times for me: I make reservations at OpenTable.com, then discover the restaurant requires a credit card with clear instructions that if we don’t show up, there will be a significant fee to cover. It rubs me the wrong way but may indeed indicate what’s coming. I can see how this practice affects a restaurant negatively. Still, I am not a fan of reservation deposits because they come with conditions, i.e., if you cancel within 72 hours, you lose your deposit.

Gratuities no longer optional

This one really gets my goat. And again, with apologies to service persons everywhere, a gratuity is not a given. It is a reward for service rendered beyond what is expected. A gratuity should be optional, a customer’s decision. Get ready to kiss that concept goodbye as more and more restaurants are automatically adding 18% gratuity to the bill, with a nudge to “please add more if you like.”

In the face of this kind of thing, I console myself that the whole activity of eating out is still optional. It’s my choice, and if I choose to dine out, I’d better plan that it comes at a much higher cost than ever before in the history of civilization.

New fees

I first saw this on a restaurant bill in 2020: Covid Recovery Fee: 8%. What? Really? Another was somewhat gentler: Showing Love to Our Staff Fee: 7%. Another place calls it their Back-of-the-House Appreciation Fee: 6%. Or how about this one: Obamacare (ACA): $.20. See how a restaurant can pass inflation to the customer in small bits here and here, hoping to make it unnoticeable?

Get ready

Between April 2021 and April 2022, the total number of restaurants in the United States adding service fees to guest checks increased by 36.4%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Slash the High Cost of Dining Out

This is easy—cook at home. Instead of seeing restaurant meals as routine, save dining out for special occasions, fully aware that what you see on the menu is only part of what will show up on the bill.

 

example of restaurant menu

Graphic Courtesy of: OpenTable.com

 

 

 

 

 

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18 replies
  1. Sue says:

    this is soooo sad because not only does it affect the dinner in the beginning BUT it will effect the industry when people STOP going out to dinner!!!!

    Reply
  2. Paul Atreides says:

    It’s gotten Ridiculous. We have one rule if we are forced tipped 18%+ we get it removed but never go back. We’ve noticed over the past 3+ years, probably longer, that the quality is declining to where dine in restaurants taste like fast food and fast food….. Ha ha we wouldn’t feed it to farm livestock animals!! Stopped eating fast food more than 5 years ago. When we travel we take along a 12v cooler and bring as much from home that we can fit in it and buy from grocery for the rest. The old “greasy spoon” road cafes are just not up to their standards of years ago so we don’t play intestinal roulette any longer, just drive on by. When we do go out it is generally high end restaurants like Flemings and we save up for it and treat ourselves. I pick up pointeres from my wife and she is the cook and she’ll often say “I hate it when I cook like this because it is so good that I don’t want to go out and eat bad [cheap tasting, microvaced, canned, low quality, tasteless, & etc] food any longer”

    Reply
  3. Kathy C says:

    Just after Covid reopening of restaurants, we went to El Torito. I was shocked to see a Covid fee with no warning prior to dining. I said something about it and was pretty much dismissed. I will never return to that chain. I have noticed higher prices, and just pay them. But if it got too ridiculous and/or I see the fees in the example above, I’d stop going to that establishment or dining out at other places. So far, it’s not a burden, but I notice we can’t go out to lunch with tip for under $50 anymore and that’s just for a sandwich. We like to go out on Fridays for date night and sometimes Sunday for lunch after church. We usually tip 20% for most of our outings unless service is sub-par.

    Reply
  4. SueMN says:

    I very seldom go out to eat. As a very frugal person (most of the time) it makes me cringe when I think of how many groceries I could buy with that final restaurant bill. I love going out for breakfast with a couple friends every few months and breakfast is usually fairly reasonable.
    In all fairness to restaurants in regard to charging card fees. they really have to pass the fee that they’re getting charged, to their customers. Bring cash people! I do! They can’t be expected to eat that fee.
    The rest of the fees, obamacare, Covid, etc. are nothing more than price gouging.

    Reply
  5. Mrs. Meredith says:

    I respectfully disagree that gratuity should be optional. Servers in the U.S. do not get paid minimum wage and, many times, have to split their tips with other staff. Their paycheck basically covers taxes (Fed, SS, etc.), so they only take home the gratuity. It’s a dumb system, but that’s what we’ve got.
    Both our daughter’s have been in food service, and once we learned this fact, we ALWAYS tip 20%. Then, if the service was great or we stay and visit longer than it takes to just enjoy a meal, we tip more than 20%.
    When choosing to dine out, plan for the expense. It’s part of the experience, and most servers work hard to earn their money.

    Reply
    • Mary Hunt says:

      It’s great that you are so generous. But your statement is not true. Waiters in the U.S. DO get paid minimum wage IF their tips do not equal or exceed minimum wage. And during these times when restaurants are having a lot of trouble getting wait staff, many have improved and increased the base wage. I think we can dry our tears that waiters, services, kitchen staff are working for poverty wages.

      Reply
  6. Cedric says:

    Glad someone’s noticed inflation! Just because the rate of inflation is slowing, doesn’t mean food — and everything else — isn’t already expensive! Thanks for the blog. We started using an air fryer during CoVid, and haven’t looked back. Seems like we’re going to need it instead of eating out!

    Reply
  7. Vickie Duran says:

    I realize some costs have gone up, but some is also just plain ole gouging. This year when we make our annual trek back to see my aged Mother, we are going to skip the motel. It feels good to fight back when you can.

    Reply
  8. Cally Ross says:

    Have you compared fast food prices recently? I always get the same thing at Taco Bell and recently paid $8.95 (even with the “Sr discount”). what used to be a cheap lunch, around $5, is now as much as some sit-down restaurants. Yep, packing my lunch and not eating out except for special occasions, and, even then i’m checking the bill!

    Reply
  9. Cathy down on the farm... says:

    Just cannot bear to eat out! Thankfully, I am a decent cook and when I have my family over it is a pleasure to cook and clean up knowing I am not paying over the top prices in restaurants. When we travel, I take a cooler and an instant pot. I use the cooler for premade food in hotel rooms that I can refrigerate and microwave, and an instant pot for any Air BNB we may stay at. No purchasing snacks on the road, either …we take our own. The receipt you showed, Mary, just blew my mind!!! :0 Every thing has just gotten outrageous!

    Reply
  10. Julie Klotz says:

    Great article! I have been noticing more and more restaurants, and even some retail stores, that are adding up to 3% if you use a credit card to pay the bill. I was at a Pet Supply store and when I checked out, they asked if I was paying by card or cash. When I asked why, they said there was a fee if I used a credit card.

    Reply
  11. Red says:

    I long ago quit buying non alcoholic beverages at $3, I now order water. And yes, getting refills can still be tough.

    Some years back I belonged to a group that regularly met at a restaurant. Since we stayed a bit longer we always were over 20% in gratuities. Then the restaurant started putting the 15% on the bill. We had it removed several times and one server knew to not put it on at all. We finally gave up when we found it taking longer and longer to get the charge removed and decided to settle for the amount they were requesting instead. A few figured it out. Eventually we just quit going. Was it disrespectful? Probably, on both sides. But all of us had worked in food service of some time in our younger years which is why there was a nice tip for treating us like adults!!!

    Reply
  13. Anita says:

    We recently paid an extra fee at a restaurant for paying by credit card. If only I’d have had enough cash with me to avoid that charge…

    Reply
    • Red says:

      You used to be able to report those charges to the credit company. They used to have in their contracts they could do that.

      I do pay by cash or check to local vendors that have given me nice break, bigger than the card amount. That was my shop local contribution to let them know they were appreciated!

      Reply
  14. SuzieQutes says:

    Yes, I know!!! My favorite Asian restaurant that by the way is quite excellent, made all of their menu items Vegetarian and then charges “extra for the meat” with of course more for seafood and beef after they also increased all of the prices for those Vegetarian meals by $5.00+…can you imagine Broccoli Beef without Beef?! Then they added a “Surcharge” of 3% for allowing me the privilege of using my credit card to pay the bill, I was shocked!!!

    Reply
  15. Becky says:

    My husband and I have eaten out once a week with a group of friends for over 30 years. Mostly we eat at 2 types of restaurants: locally-owned diners, the kind with meat-and-vegetable plates, and national chains like Olive Garden, Applebee’s and TGI Friday’s. We have noticed that prices have gone up much more at the national chains than at the diners.

    Reply

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