Denver faces sharp decline in restaurants, 82% of statewide loss in last year
Denver faces sharp decline in restaurants, 82% of statewide loss in last year
In the past three years, the number of licensed retail food licenses issued in Denver has decreased by about 22%, according to the Department of Excise and Licenses in Denver.
If your business model requires you to pay your workers less than a livable wage, you do not have a viable business model.
Restaurants are getting killed by greedflation not higher wages. When everything is expensive people start cutting back on discretionary expenses like eating out.
And food costs are about to go up even more. And Netflix is increasing prices too. Say goodbye to your bread and circuses!
In Carnival Barker Voice: Step right up and get your Circuses here folks! Be the first to get your entirely free Circus!
*Bread not included
Yup, my SO is a tattoo artist who is about to have to close up shop because the economy is fucked, and isn't going to get better any time soon.
Luxuries are the first to go when people start tightening their belts.
Prices have skyrocketed along with tipping exploding beyond reason. The last place I sat down to eat had automatic options of 20, 25, and 30 percent.
I remember 15% being customary and anything above 20% being super generous.
I'd wager this isn't just Denver that restaurants are struggling in.
Before COVID restauranting was already a hard fucking business to stay afloat in the US.
It's been a fucking bloodbath in restaurants all over ever since COVID. I know chefs who just can't find a fucking job because half the places have shut down.
In Los Angeles restaurants are still closing regularly
Shari's in particular got hit hard in the last six months.
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article294356624.html
Lots of them shutting down all over the northwest, where they've been a staple as long as I can remember.
The restaurant has had to add a 23% service charge in lieu of gratuity to bridge the wage gap between front and back-of-house staff.
Is this a 23% charge on top of tipping the front-of-house staff? Isn't a "service charge" disingenuous? Why not raise prices by 23% instead?
Doesn't "in lieu of gratuity" mean "instead of tipping"?
And they don't increase prices 23% because customers would see the new prices and just leave
No, it is instead of tipping. That’s what they mean by “in lieu of”.
The question about prices is a good one, and the answer is that you can’t just raise prices when most other restaurants don’t include gratuity. It would just seem like your restaurant is much more expensive than everyone else.
It would just seem like your restaurant is much more expensive than everyone else.
Its a forced 23% gratuity, it IS more expensive than everyone else, except the restaurant isn't being honest about it and hiding it in fine print only to be discovered when the bill comes.
That seems to be a great way to alienate customers from ever returning because they won't know how much they're being charged until the bill comes.
So how much are they asking for in tips? I note that the article states a dramatic increase in tipped wages, is the restaurant still asking for traditional 15-20% on top of increased menu prices?
It's common in Denver metro restaurants to not only expect a 20% tip, they'll sometimes sneak a tip in and then not tell you so you tip twice. Others bake in random restaurant fees that they claim go to the kitchen staff, but even if that were true, why not just raise your prices instead of lying to the customer?
Best one, the state passed a law allowing businesses to charge a different price for using credit cards, (they called it a "fee") with the caveat that the restaurant/business has to post somewhere that they do it. Often, a tiny sign near their register you'll never walk up to or pass by because they take your card and whisk it away to the machine. I was at one place where they charge the credit card fee by default and you have to be aware of it to ask them to remove it, otherwise they'll charge you the credit card fee when paying cash by default. That particular "establishment" also whisked your cash into a back room to make change, as they figure everyone's going to pay with card, so why have a till at the register? Better be fast at counting change in your head to make sure they gave you the right amount of money back.
Unless you do your research, read reviews, and ask up front about how pricing works, chances are you will always be surprised and charged more. About the only restaurants safe from this nonsense is the big chain restaurants, which means people will either frequent them to not get fleeced, not notice or care, or, like myself, stop eating out almost entirely.
Other notables I've observed:
- One place did the reverse, if you paid cash, they rounded up your change to the nearest dollar and pocketed your owed coins.
- One place did the double-ghost-tip thing, and made a mistake on the order, and claimed they didn't have the ability to reprint the original transaction receipt. They actually wanted to take your phone to go take a picture of the register screen.
- Other side of the coin, one will frequently see posts on front range subs over on the alien site of restaurant employees having their tips stolen by the store owner, so they don't always even make it back to the employee, or the management takes a "cut" or any other contrived kind of money laundering idea one could conjure up.
- Some restaurants claim to be "cash only" to act hippie and stick it to the man...but what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a little tiny ATM, and eight tiny dollars in fees!
- Probably some I forgot. Good riddance if you're going to run your establishment like that. (There are still some honest ones, here and there.)
I used to live going out to eat. But prices are insane and they have time if given fees. No thank you.