Surcharges! Chex Mix!

Raclette!

Hello! Something I forgot to mention when I talked about the reader media poll: someone listed Tere Diaz as their favorite podcaster. She’s my aunt! What a tiny world.

Three questions for you: one administrative, two about food and restaurants. (I’d love to have the comments here be a fun discussion spot.)

1) I had some life events that pulled me away from work the last couple weeks. If the newsletter doesn’t show up for a week or two, do you notice and/or care? I don’t plan to make a habit of it, but I’ve noticed that other newsletter writers will apologize for disrupted publication schedules — and every time, I hadn’t noticed at all, or wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t sent a note saying they’ll be out of office. But I can be daffy! Please do let me know if a heads up is important to you.

2) Restaurant surcharges! Everyone’s talking about them. That’s where you’re dining out and you get the bill and at the bottom it says you’re getting charged on top of the bill, anywhere from 3 to 18%. Often it says it’s for employee health insurance, or for the kitchen staff. It often doesn’t clarify that it is not a tip. (But it isn’t. It’s not a tip.) The amount may or may not be included in the taxable total. A couple restaurant groups are being sued by former employees for not disbursing the surcharges. I personally had my first experience becoming deeply annoyed about a surcharge only last week. I think it’s because the food was not good, and quite expensive. What a terrible combo to pay 18% on.

In California, a new law goes into effect later this year banning these kinds of charges. Not just for restaurants, but for hotels and ticket sellers, too. Restaurants will have to incorporate the fees into their prices; they say they’re afraid the increased prices will turn away customers.

“At this point, we are going to have to raise our prices a big chunk,” said James Beard Award-winning restaurateur Caroline Styne.

But, madam … haven’t you, functionally, already?

Having said that, the new law isn’t very well written, in the sense that it ignores the infinite if/then scenarios possible in pricing. I’m sure court cases will be in motion by the end of the year. In the meantime, here’s an ongoing list of Los Angeles restaurants that charge fees. Interesting range of numbers and reasons.

3) And here’s another consumer-generated list of prices! Specifically for Chex Mix at airports. It made me wonder ,what food items do people bring on planes? Do you have a regular airport or airplane snack? Once I brought a banh mi on a plane but never unwrapped it, because I didn’t want to make people jealous. That’s a true story and a little insight into me.

4) Adding this link because I served raclette on NYE and now the SF Chron says it’s cool.

---

If you liked the newsletter today, please forward it to someone who’d enjoy it, and tap the heart icon above or below, which will help me reach more readers. I appreciate your help, y’all!

Please note: Smart Mouth is not accepting pitches at this time.

This newsletter is edited by Katherine Spiers, host of the podcast Smart Mouth.

A TableCakes Production.