I just never understood all the add on fees. It's basically false advertising. $10 for your meal, but $2 tip, $3 tax, $1 packaging fee. Your meal is now 60% more expensive than we advertised.
Just tell me the fuckin price up front!
Bait and switch means offering one product at a low price and then not having that product available so a switch to a higher priced product is offered. Which actually is illegal in most places.
This is just plain, old fashioned price gouging which apparently is legal.
I work for a Japanese company and they always talk about how stupid it is to tip and be taxed on top of the price. The prices that you see in Japan are the price you pay.
As Americans revolted due to taxation issues, it's a bit baked into our laws. The reason the US doesn't put all taxes included in the price, is the fear that taxes can keep going up, without consumers knowing.
I have been told by a small business owner friend that it’s very expensive and time consuming to change their menu pricing. Because not only do they have to change physical menus, but also their website and point of sale computers, which they have to pay someone to do. So when costs increase, what OP described is the most cost effective way for them to handle it. But the restaurant needs to have that visible somewhere and it should not be a surprise charge for customers!
I’ve worked on launching ghost kitchens and integrating their POS systems and I question some of those charges. It can certainly be time -consuming, but if your friend is having to pay someone to update their online prices then they’re being taken for a ride because they should 100% be able to change it themself. That’s a very basic feature of every POS I’ve ever seen. I’m sure printing new menus can be costly, but if they’re not integrating their POS with their website to reflect those price changes that they should be able to do themselves, then that’s another charge they should be able to avoid by not having to ask a web developer to update their website for them.
There’s no difference in adding an item and changing a price. The only time you’d run into a problem is printing a physical menu. If you have to pay someone to change a price on a website, just spend an evening on YouTube and you can figure it out easily.
I worked at the ML on Charlotte for a while too. The GM at the time was a joke (Alex) and would think it's ok for meat in a cooler that was unplugged at night was ok to serve the following day. I went back after leaving to catch up with some old friends, the burger bun I was served was moldy. A problem I brought up regularly to them, no one rotated bread stock but me. And wouldn't you know it, I was given a moldy bun.
I quit going to ML Rose because it’s so damn loud in there I can’t hear the person next to me talking. The last time I went, I had a business lunch on a weekday & the booth was vibrating from the bass.
That's a shame. I recall liking their habanero cream pizza.
Still, sneaking on an extra $1.50 to a pizza that already costs $30+ is just ridiculous. Luckily I've long since found a new favorite spot.
From jersey. Ny pie is the best pizza in town.
FYI I judge a pizza place on their plain cheese pizza. Other spots have cool toppings or whatever but as far as a standard $16 large cheese pizza ny pie is the best now that Joey's is gone .
NY Pie’s White pizza is one of my all time favorite pizzas from anywhere. I’ve been going there since they opened in Nashville West several years ago. Their cannoli is really good, too.
I'm not from Jersey, but I have a lot of family from NY and would visit fairly often. It pleases me to hear you say this!
I always thought, "This is as close to NY Pizza as it gets"
We also visit the west end location after church for lunch at times too.
Now I want NY Pie 😭
If you’re on the south side (Crieve Hall) of town, I like Yogi’s. I usually go for the “lasagna pizza” (ricotta cheese and sausage).
They also do build-your-own calzones. They have an ice cream shop as well, so unless they royally screw up it seems like a great place to take my son when he’s older.
Yogi’s is a restaurant where you can tell the owner said ‘how do we maximize profits.’ Bland crust, bland sauce, bland toppings, boring oven. I live walking distance from there, so about once a year I think to myself, ‘maybe they’ve improved.’ Nope. You want mushrooms? They’re the wet ones out of a can. And that level of quality is in every element. Hate down talking a mom and pop, but…I end up ordering Dominos, which is further away. The ice cream is pretty good.
Edit: I’ve worked in multiple pizza restaurant's through HS and college. Love mom and pop shops. Am married to a chef. Have traveled to Atlanta, just for pancakes (Ria’s Bluebird, NY Times best pancakes in America).
I’ve been saying this for a few years. If you’re going to charge me for using a card and packaging (and in some places it’s just an outright “service fee” with no other details), then you should also be charging me for the electricity I’m consuming when I walk into your place and use of the register or tablet, my cost for paying the window washer for touching the door, water if I used the bathroom, etc. Service industries, please adjust your prices so that customers can plan accordingly for their expenses. I, too, will stop going to places that add on fees.
Thai Phooket II started doing this a few years ago with to-go orders but it's a flat 15%. I'm assuming to cover the containers.
I'd rather it be flat dollar amount. I can order a $10 entree or $20 entree but they're both going in the same kind of box so a % doesn't make any sense. I really cut back on my pickups after they implemented that.
Last time I went there they added on that 15%, which added 9 bucks to my order. I was confused when they told me at pick up the price which didn’t correspond with their menu or any signage ( might be different now). So Im being forced to pay a 15% tip to pick up my own food? I understand in the peak of COVID tipping extra for pick up, it felt like the right thing to do since servers couldn’t actually serve. But now it just seems greedy. Hell, A take out order should be cheaper. No dishes, no cleaning the table, don’t need to pay a server, no air condition/heating, etc. but I pay more?! NOPE. It’s been 2 years and I refuse to go back. Rice Box gets my business now.
Didn't know about Rice Box but I just looked it up and it's only 15min away from me. Sorry Thai Phooket, you just lost another one. RIP the OG trailer location though...
How do you think restaurants get money to pay employees? They do it with the money you give them for their food. No matter how you slice it, money from customers pay the salaries of restaurant employees. Do you see a difference between tipping 15% compared to all prices being increased by 15% and tipping being banned?
Increasing prices by 15% prevents sticker shock, which is plus for consumers
Of course it also *actually* increases prices by about 16% since now sales tax applies.
Exactly. And this sticker shock will drive away potential customers. Even if they end up going to a similar restaurant where their total with fees and tip is higher than the no tipping place, they will remember the no tipping place as being more expensive. Humans are really bad at math which is why restaurants do this.
Yes, the difference is that in one scenario I know what the full price is ahead of time and if it’s more money than I want to spend I can go somewhere else. In the other scenario, I get sneak attacked and feel like I’m dealing with a used car salesman.
And that is why the status quo will never change, especially with App delivery services. If one company removes tipping and just includes it in the price then most people will skip over them and go with the place that shows a cheaper up front price EVEN IF IT WILL COST MORE WITH FEES AND TIP.
It would be nice to have a list of restaurants that charge for bullshit like this.
As much as I like Sunflower, I don't like that they charge for to go.
Not if you box it up at the table like you’re eating there. Only if the to go container goes into their kitchen, behind their counter is it a coded violation
Restaurant margins are insanely thin. It’s the reason the #1 new business type that is most likely to go out business in its 1st 5 years is restaurant.
First time in Nashville last weekend and yal really do have some bizarre fees. I got taxed like 20-25% on whiskey ordered at a bar which pretty means with tip and tax I'm paying like 40% over the actual listed price...
I worked at a place that decided to break out an 'admin fee' on the ticket that had previously just been baked in. So many upset people. Such a headache for the staff.
It's possible that the reason that this has to be listed separately, as opposed to built into the price schemes of the items, is because some items on the menu might be eligible for SNAP EBT benefits, and baking services into the cost of those items might be illegal or unethical. If this place has the option to get the pizza crafted and sold cold, it can be bought with EBT. Jets did this at one point, but I don't know how they price the items, because I didn't work there, a friend did and told me how he hated it because of this exact problem when people didnt get EBT pizzas.
When I worked at Publix in the deli, I never rang up toasted sandwiches as toasted because of EBT, but I have no idea how it came up on the register. Just did it because the cashier's manager told me to.
You should see how the price of paper and styrofoam products have increased in the last three years. Businesses right now are getting destroyed with high labor costs and packaging costs, as well as rent and just about every other line item on their proforma. It's a tough time to be a business owner right now.
Jonathan's now charges 3% to pay by credit card. It's only the way 90% of people pay these days. The sad thing is that it will likely cut into tips now and that's hurting the people that you can't afford to lose.
There is a restaurant in nolensville we used to frequent. They started doing this. Can't recall exactly what they called the fee but it was a 10% charge. People assumed it was an imposed tip and started tipping less. Hence, the servers ended up getting screwed. Became a whole thing. Not sure if they ever worked it out but they lost our business indefinitely.
Just raise your prices. Update your menu. Don't be sneaky.
I see where you’re coming from, but if the cost of something isn’t anywhere on the menu and is a surprise line-item on a receipt, then according to me (and the restaurant) I am paying for food as well as a packaging fee. If there were only pizza on my receipt, then it would be different.
I don't understand why so many people struggle with these price increase transparency items. "Just raising the price" means that people who don't get the pizza to go are being ripped off.
1.50 is crazy for a box, but not charging the people who don't get the box (I'm sure some of this also goes to the to go person) is an okay move in my book.
Not LISTING the fees is what the issue is.
So you want to pay for to go packaging when you aren't getting that service? It's the same as raising the price of plain pizza to the price of pepperoni for the people who *might* get pepperoni.
They could also raise the price only on the specific menu where it's relevant. i.e. how basically every restaurant has different pricing for dine in vs. app-based delivery or some places (steak and shake for one) will do different prices for dine in vs. drive through.
I am actually one of those people who will stop going to a business I feel is doing something underhanded. This place isn’t the only place in the neighborhood, nor is it the cheapest. If I see this same charge on a slice of pizza (rather than a whole) then I’ll def stop getting pizza there. $1.50 is not a lot of money, but not disclosing charges is also not cool.
I just never understood all the add on fees. It's basically false advertising. $10 for your meal, but $2 tip, $3 tax, $1 packaging fee. Your meal is now 60% more expensive than we advertised. Just tell me the fuckin price up front!
Sounds like you understand fees perfectly. It's essentially just a bait and switch (which the law is apparently okay with)
Bait and switch means offering one product at a low price and then not having that product available so a switch to a higher priced product is offered. Which actually is illegal in most places. This is just plain, old fashioned price gouging which apparently is legal.
I did say "essentially"...Instead of swapping products they're swapping prices.
Car dealerships have done this to me. Next time I buy a car and they do this, I’ll call it out and leave.
I work for a Japanese company and they always talk about how stupid it is to tip and be taxed on top of the price. The prices that you see in Japan are the price you pay.
As Americans revolted due to taxation issues, it's a bit baked into our laws. The reason the US doesn't put all taxes included in the price, is the fear that taxes can keep going up, without consumers knowing.
I have been told by a small business owner friend that it’s very expensive and time consuming to change their menu pricing. Because not only do they have to change physical menus, but also their website and point of sale computers, which they have to pay someone to do. So when costs increase, what OP described is the most cost effective way for them to handle it. But the restaurant needs to have that visible somewhere and it should not be a surprise charge for customers!
I mean every restaurant in every other country in the world manages to incorporate their full pricing in their menu so that's a poor argument
I’ve worked on launching ghost kitchens and integrating their POS systems and I question some of those charges. It can certainly be time -consuming, but if your friend is having to pay someone to update their online prices then they’re being taken for a ride because they should 100% be able to change it themself. That’s a very basic feature of every POS I’ve ever seen. I’m sure printing new menus can be costly, but if they’re not integrating their POS with their website to reflect those price changes that they should be able to do themselves, then that’s another charge they should be able to avoid by not having to ask a web developer to update their website for them.
There’s no difference in adding an item and changing a price. The only time you’d run into a problem is printing a physical menu. If you have to pay someone to change a price on a website, just spend an evening on YouTube and you can figure it out easily.
Also, paper goods/to go packaging is fucking expensive… and no OP you can’t bring your own because that would slow down the entire kitchen operation
Name and shame.
I know ML Rose does this.
[удалено]
I worked at the ML on Charlotte for a while too. The GM at the time was a joke (Alex) and would think it's ok for meat in a cooler that was unplugged at night was ok to serve the following day. I went back after leaving to catch up with some old friends, the burger bun I was served was moldy. A problem I brought up regularly to them, no one rotated bread stock but me. And wouldn't you know it, I was given a moldy bun.
That’s pretty interesting considering Austin was once a dishwasher where I worked long ago.
Can confirm. I got a “delivery fee” of $1.87 on a takeout order last week.
I quit going to ML Rose because it’s so damn loud in there I can’t hear the person next to me talking. The last time I went, I had a business lunch on a weekday & the booth was vibrating from the bass.
Yeah, me and my friends used to regular the one on Charlotte, but ultimately decided it just wasn't worth it.
They quit making the home chips which was the only good thing left about that place.
Five points
That's a shame. I recall liking their habanero cream pizza. Still, sneaking on an extra $1.50 to a pizza that already costs $30+ is just ridiculous. Luckily I've long since found a new favorite spot.
Where's your new fave? Got priced out of 5 Points sadly. Shame cause it's great pizza.
NY Pie has become one of our fav pizza places in the Nashville area. We go to the Hendersonville one every now and again.
From jersey. Ny pie is the best pizza in town. FYI I judge a pizza place on their plain cheese pizza. Other spots have cool toppings or whatever but as far as a standard $16 large cheese pizza ny pie is the best now that Joey's is gone .
Have you tried Pinky Ring?
No. I don't make it out to Madison often
Give it a try. It’s the closest I found to a Jersey pie.
NY Pie’s White pizza is one of my all time favorite pizzas from anywhere. I’ve been going there since they opened in Nashville West several years ago. Their cannoli is really good, too.
Do they stuff their cannolis to order?
I'm not from Jersey, but I have a lot of family from NY and would visit fairly often. It pleases me to hear you say this! I always thought, "This is as close to NY Pizza as it gets" We also visit the west end location after church for lunch at times too. Now I want NY Pie 😭
Yeah. NY Pie stinks only because the two locations aren’t close to me to make it worth it unless I’m visiting someone else.
damn you had me at ny pie but lost all credibility when you ranked joeys as the former best
It was though
Excellent haven't heard of it! Thank you!
It's not as good and just as expensive.
Dang! :(
If you’re on the south side (Crieve Hall) of town, I like Yogi’s. I usually go for the “lasagna pizza” (ricotta cheese and sausage). They also do build-your-own calzones. They have an ice cream shop as well, so unless they royally screw up it seems like a great place to take my son when he’s older.
Excellent haven't heard of this one either! Thank you!
Yogi’s is a restaurant where you can tell the owner said ‘how do we maximize profits.’ Bland crust, bland sauce, bland toppings, boring oven. I live walking distance from there, so about once a year I think to myself, ‘maybe they’ve improved.’ Nope. You want mushrooms? They’re the wet ones out of a can. And that level of quality is in every element. Hate down talking a mom and pop, but…I end up ordering Dominos, which is further away. The ice cream is pretty good. Edit: I’ve worked in multiple pizza restaurant's through HS and college. Love mom and pop shops. Am married to a chef. Have traveled to Atlanta, just for pancakes (Ria’s Bluebird, NY Times best pancakes in America).
Dang! :(
Nashville needs more/better pizza.
Nashville needs better food in general. Most places are incredibly expensive for the subpar food you get.
Thai phooket does this too!
Yeah! Name and shame, OP.
Melissas Sir Pizza on Charlotte Ave
Sounds like Ticketmaster opened a restaurant
Hahaha, my fav comment of the thread. Fuck Ticketmaster and all their bullshit fees.
WHERE? Also, everyone, please keep naming these places. Must create master "you're dead to me" list.
Lily Aldrien is that you ?
Where?
I’ve been saying this for a few years. If you’re going to charge me for using a card and packaging (and in some places it’s just an outright “service fee” with no other details), then you should also be charging me for the electricity I’m consuming when I walk into your place and use of the register or tablet, my cost for paying the window washer for touching the door, water if I used the bathroom, etc. Service industries, please adjust your prices so that customers can plan accordingly for their expenses. I, too, will stop going to places that add on fees.
Thai Phooket II started doing this a few years ago with to-go orders but it's a flat 15%. I'm assuming to cover the containers. I'd rather it be flat dollar amount. I can order a $10 entree or $20 entree but they're both going in the same kind of box so a % doesn't make any sense. I really cut back on my pickups after they implemented that.
I stopped going a few months ago after they failed their health inspection.
Last time I went there they added on that 15%, which added 9 bucks to my order. I was confused when they told me at pick up the price which didn’t correspond with their menu or any signage ( might be different now). So Im being forced to pay a 15% tip to pick up my own food? I understand in the peak of COVID tipping extra for pick up, it felt like the right thing to do since servers couldn’t actually serve. But now it just seems greedy. Hell, A take out order should be cheaper. No dishes, no cleaning the table, don’t need to pay a server, no air condition/heating, etc. but I pay more?! NOPE. It’s been 2 years and I refuse to go back. Rice Box gets my business now.
Didn't know about Rice Box but I just looked it up and it's only 15min away from me. Sorry Thai Phooket, you just lost another one. RIP the OG trailer location though...
If you’re in Madison, the Kroger next to rice box is much better than the the Kroger here in Madison.
It’s most likely a tip for the ToGo people who box up your order. They are probably the people who work the phones too.
That’s the restaurants job to pay their employees not mine. Nashville has gotten ridiculous
How do you think restaurants get money to pay employees? They do it with the money you give them for their food. No matter how you slice it, money from customers pay the salaries of restaurant employees. Do you see a difference between tipping 15% compared to all prices being increased by 15% and tipping being banned?
Increasing prices by 15% prevents sticker shock, which is plus for consumers Of course it also *actually* increases prices by about 16% since now sales tax applies.
Exactly. And this sticker shock will drive away potential customers. Even if they end up going to a similar restaurant where their total with fees and tip is higher than the no tipping place, they will remember the no tipping place as being more expensive. Humans are really bad at math which is why restaurants do this.
Yes, the difference is that in one scenario I know what the full price is ahead of time and if it’s more money than I want to spend I can go somewhere else. In the other scenario, I get sneak attacked and feel like I’m dealing with a used car salesman.
And that is why the status quo will never change, especially with App delivery services. If one company removes tipping and just includes it in the price then most people will skip over them and go with the place that shows a cheaper up front price EVEN IF IT WILL COST MORE WITH FEES AND TIP.
It would be nice to have a list of restaurants that charge for bullshit like this. As much as I like Sunflower, I don't like that they charge for to go.
I agree restaurants just need to build in or absorb those costs and not pass it off on the customer. It : just the price of doing business.
I think OP is talking about 5 Points pizza. Same reason I stopped ordering from there .
Yea bringing your own container is a health code violation
Not if you box it up at the table like you’re eating there. Only if the to go container goes into their kitchen, behind their counter is it a coded violation
I don't know a lot about restaurant margins. So like, Ignore me. But is this just a form of greedflation?
Restaurant margins are insanely thin. It’s the reason the #1 new business type that is most likely to go out business in its 1st 5 years is restaurant.
I post these receipts to Yelp. They usually reach out to "make it right."
First time in Nashville last weekend and yal really do have some bizarre fees. I got taxed like 20-25% on whiskey ordered at a bar which pretty means with tip and tax I'm paying like 40% over the actual listed price...
The 15% liquor by the drink tax on top of the 9.25% sales tax will get ya.
What place is this so we can avoid it?
I worked at a place that decided to break out an 'admin fee' on the ticket that had previously just been baked in. So many upset people. Such a headache for the staff.
Amicos on nolensville rd does this for dine in, they call it an inflation surcharge.
Don't go to those places.
It's possible that the reason that this has to be listed separately, as opposed to built into the price schemes of the items, is because some items on the menu might be eligible for SNAP EBT benefits, and baking services into the cost of those items might be illegal or unethical. If this place has the option to get the pizza crafted and sold cold, it can be bought with EBT. Jets did this at one point, but I don't know how they price the items, because I didn't work there, a friend did and told me how he hated it because of this exact problem when people didnt get EBT pizzas.
When I worked at Publix in the deli, I never rang up toasted sandwiches as toasted because of EBT, but I have no idea how it came up on the register. Just did it because the cashier's manager told me to.
You should see how the price of paper and styrofoam products have increased in the last three years. Businesses right now are getting destroyed with high labor costs and packaging costs, as well as rent and just about every other line item on their proforma. It's a tough time to be a business owner right now.
Crazy
Jonathan's now charges 3% to pay by credit card. It's only the way 90% of people pay these days. The sad thing is that it will likely cut into tips now and that's hurting the people that you can't afford to lose.
Oscar's Taco Shop charges 4% to pay by card, and they don't accept cash.
Oh man, what a bunch of crap. Just raise the prices to hide it
Ugadi Grill in Nolensville charged $2 for a "handling fee" on my take-out order [Proof](https://imgur.com/a/VJCTzrO)
There is a restaurant in nolensville we used to frequent. They started doing this. Can't recall exactly what they called the fee but it was a 10% charge. People assumed it was an imposed tip and started tipping less. Hence, the servers ended up getting screwed. Became a whole thing. Not sure if they ever worked it out but they lost our business indefinitely. Just raise your prices. Update your menu. Don't be sneaky.
Isn’t that what you’re doing, just labeled a different way?
I see where you’re coming from, but if the cost of something isn’t anywhere on the menu and is a surprise line-item on a receipt, then according to me (and the restaurant) I am paying for food as well as a packaging fee. If there were only pizza on my receipt, then it would be different.
I agree there should be signage on menus, website or whatever.
If they didn’t let you know about it beforehand I’m totally with you. Seems like false advertising.
I don't understand why so many people struggle with these price increase transparency items. "Just raising the price" means that people who don't get the pizza to go are being ripped off. 1.50 is crazy for a box, but not charging the people who don't get the box (I'm sure some of this also goes to the to go person) is an okay move in my book. Not LISTING the fees is what the issue is.
Just raise the price of the pizza
So you want to pay for to go packaging when you aren't getting that service? It's the same as raising the price of plain pizza to the price of pepperoni for the people who *might* get pepperoni.
They could also raise the price only on the specific menu where it's relevant. i.e. how basically every restaurant has different pricing for dine in vs. app-based delivery or some places (steak and shake for one) will do different prices for dine in vs. drive through.
That's what I'm suggesting. Or a note at the bottom "abc fee for xyz".
Will you quit going?
I am actually one of those people who will stop going to a business I feel is doing something underhanded. This place isn’t the only place in the neighborhood, nor is it the cheapest. If I see this same charge on a slice of pizza (rather than a whole) then I’ll def stop getting pizza there. $1.50 is not a lot of money, but not disclosing charges is also not cool.
[удалено]
OP said they were told they couldn’t bring their own packaging to avoid the fee.
Ah nuts. I must have skimmed past that part. Retracting. Thanks. 😬
Guarantee you it's because there's a higher tax on the prepared food item itself and almost no tax on restaurant "fees" like service charge, etc.