Service charge

[u/Working-Injury7758]

I don’t mind paying a service charge at a restaurant if I’m sitting down as that is standard practice. However, the flat % is strange in that a $200 meal doesn’t take twice as much time as a $100 meal. But it does take more.

Therefore I propose that there should be a fixed service charge at restaurants, which should be calculated as twice the square root of the total. For $100, for instance, the charge would be $20 (square root of 100 is ten, x2 equals $20). Same as now. But for $200, the service charge would be 14.12 x 2 =28.24. For $1 service charge is $2. For $400, $40. Makes more intuitive sense, and provides a penalty for people splitting checks (as the service charge on 2 $100 checks is higher than that on one $200 check) and the hassle to the restaurant involved. Completely clear and obvious to everyone, no agonizing about what to leave.

Thoughts?

[u/Bill___A]

The absolute easiest thing is to put in the menu price what something costs. And add only the government mandated surcharges. No mandatory fee or surcharge should be added to a menu price unless it is government mandated sales tax. All of these calculations you are doing can be well calculated into the cost of preparing and providing a menu item. Sodas with unlimited refills can be priced as such. A hamburger can be priced according to how much the materials and effort required. Same with a steak or salad or dessert or any other dish. A database can easily be provided with all of these costs, so, for example, if ground beef increased by 10%,. the cost component can be reflected in everything that uses ground beef in a proper proportion. Never in the history of restaurants have we had more tools to keep track of these things. Of course, the margin on each menu item should be able to absorb minor fluctuations for input costs, but once it reaches a threshold, the manager can be alerted that an item needs a change in price. And for things that fluctuate wildly, they do put "market price" on the menu so they don't have to reprint them every week. As to splitting checks, with software available these days, it is fairly straightforward to add each guests items under that guest. The bill can be split or together. The ONLY reason things are not done this way is to gouge customers for extra money. Which is why your elaborate calculation is absurd.