Restaurant now requiring 18% service charge for ‘parties of 1 or larger’

A restaurant in California made headlines this week for its controversial decision to include an 18% service charge for parties of “one or larger.”

The story gained traction after a customer shared a now-viral photo of a receipt from the Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Ha Noi, that appeared to include the automatic service charge.

“I’ve seen restaurants include gratuity when it’s a large party but never for parties of 1,” Reddit user TRTL2k captioned the photo.

Fox Business reports that the post garnered more than 4,000 comments from users who were equally shocked by the fee.

According to Fox Business Reporter Lawrence Richard, the receipt showed a $49.50 subtotal. “After $4.52 in sales tax and the 18% surcharge of $8.91, the customer was required to pay a whopping $62.93,” Richard adds. Read more from Fox Business here.

The New York Post’s Alex Mitchell points out that many on Reddit “also took exception to the protocol amid growing backlash to similar phenomena — including ‘guilt tipping’ on tablet screens.” Mitchell says one user wrote, “That’s the tip as far as I’m concerned.” Read more from The Post here.

Experts point to inflation and the rising cost of everyday goods as reasons for what some are calling “tipping fatigue” across the U.S.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the second time in its past three meetings.

“New economic projections laid out after the meeting show that a majority of Fed officials who participated in the meeting expect rates to rise to 5.6% by the end of 2023, suggesting one more quarter-point increase this year,” Fox Business Reporter Megan Henney writes.

The Fed is scheduled to meet two more times this year, in November and December. Read more here.

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