As COVID-19 becomes a routine, more and more restaurants are charging COVID-19 surcharges, usually as a percent, “in order to keep up with rising costs” that are stemming from COVID-19, such as cleaning supplies.
Some customers are furious (and rightfully so) and are refusing to go to restaurants that charge this fee because they are felt like they are being taken advantage of. Restaurants claim this is temporary and do not want to increase the prices on a menu (as that requires new menus, new signs, etc.)
I for one refuse to go to a restaurant that charges a COVID-19 fee. If cleaning supplies are such an expense that you need to charge extra all of a sudden, how were you keeping your restaurant clean before COVID-19?
It should be noted that these fees are not meant for servers but are meant to go directly to the restaurant operations so please, continue to tip your server as usual, if you decide to eat out at one of these places. It’s a pure money grab by restaurant owners.
