'Fee-flation' is here, as restaurants tack on airline-style fees to avoid raising prices


Olde Hornet

Well-Known Member

John Savage and his wife don't go out to eat much anymore. The cost of a meal in the San Francisco area has soared, he says — even if prices haven’t.

“When you go out to a restaurant, you start doing mental math, you go, ‘Well, we spent $60 or $70 on food,” Savage says. “And all of a sudden the bill comes out, you know, 30% to 40% higher sometimes.”

It’s not that Savage is bad at math. A few months ago he took to Twitter to vent his frustration about escalating fees tacked on to the bill:

“Looking to [take] my wife out to dinner in SF. 20% mandatory tip (they call it an equity fee, whatever that means). 5% San Francisco health care tax. 8.625% sales tax. That's an extra 33% on top of your bill. Looks like I am cooking at home.”

Savage acknowledges that restaurants and other businesses have gone through tough times since the beginning of the pandemic. But rather than raise prices to account for inflation, or reduce portions through "shrink-flation," it seems like their pain is being passed on to customers in a new, sneakier way.

Welcome to the “fee-flation” economy.
 
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