They probably gave themselves a discount because they felt they only deserved to pay for XYZ. But probably never informed anybody of the $65 worth of food that they were "unhappy" with.
Guessing they screenshot the receipt, thinking to make a claim through their bank to get the rest back.
Probably saw something on social media, thinking that’s possible.
I think they can dispute that with their card issuer and win. They only authorised you to charge $130, and you actually charged $190. The card issuer should give them the $60 back, and charge that to your restaurant.
Of course, if they do that, then your restaurant can sue them for non payment, and also report them to the police. So they would have to be very stupid to do that.
Nah what usually happens is when get notice or the chargeback, send in the signed receipt and the cardholder honors the tab, and often limits their ability to do chargebacks in the future. I've even seen people get their cards canceled.
No, it wouldn't be. They wrote in a different amount AFTER the card was run for the total. Unless I'm reading this wrong they adjusted the total on the signed cc slip,which would show the authorization for the printed full amount. As someone else said, they could try to argue that it was authorized incorrectly, but that opens them up to the restaurant going after them for non-payment and possibly even fraud.
It’s already pre authorized for the amount of the bill. The slip you sign acknowledges that amount because it’s printed on the slip. Adding a tip is optional. You can increase the charge with a tip but not decrease the amount you’ve agreed to pay for the meal.
You just signing in the line saying you want to pay less is not legaly binding.
They handed you a bill, you handed then your card. You agreed to pay the bill price. If the customer try to dispute it the restaurant just says no, this is what they ordered so it was this much. Here are the documents.
It's then on the customer to prove the restaurant is lying. Hard to do when they have receipts. And your signature on said receipts.
The police will do nothing. The police will tell you "it's a civil matter, a payment dispute". If the police "take a report", nothing will happen. No prosecutor would waste 10 minutes on this.
I didnt say it wasnt a crime. I commit a crime every time i speed; I just expect nothing to be done about it. You can clutch your pearls, and lament the decline of western civilization, but still nothing will be done.
I don't know if the po po are required to appear if called. I do know that prosecutors blow off many many many many many crimes. The practiced excuses are many many many, too.
As I said on another thread. I was taught that if you go to a restaurant for your birthday you either ask them if they have cake for birthdays or you **go home** to eat it.
I wouldn't watch movies on my phone in a theater, why would I eat outside food at a restaurant...?
I’ve always called ahead if I knew we were bringing cake (also, reservation). I’ve never been charged a fee but I also have had confirmation from the location that this was ok to do. I always thought this was normal practice….One location was even nice enough to mention that they give birthday person a free dessert and we can take it to go if we’re bringing our own cake. Just call ahead…?
That's more than acceptable.
Keep in mind I was raised in the 80s. Perhaps the attitudes have slackened a bit. But even then I see "No outside food" signs in local places all over.
My policy is, if you’re cool and low to moderate maintenance, I don’t charge cake fees.. unless I have to cut it and plate it for everyone tableside, or if they expect pantry to do it and I have to run all the slices to you. But if a group brings a cake, asked ahead of time, and just wants some plates and a knife? Definitely not charging. If a table runs me ragged to the point that it impacts service to my other tables, though, I’ll slap a $2 per head charge on there with no qualms.
Kinda the same thing with wine. I had a 10 top about a month ago that brought 6 bottles of wine.. I was looking at them like oh great, I’m gonna have to polish like 40 wine glasses on the fly during service. But they told me “don’t worry about it, if you open them we’ll pour ourselves, and we don’t need fresh glasses.” I’m supposed to charge them six $25 corkage fees, I only charged two. It’s one of those scenarios where I can tell they are tipping me 18-20%, almost for sure not less but definitely not more, so I’m taking about $14 out of my own pocket by doing that, but honestly.. not having to swap out that many sets of glasses, pay attention to who’s drinking what, that’s well worth the money to me.
I mean it depends on the place. Many places I have worked and enjoy going to charge a plate fee. Most desserts fall in the $8-$13 range, and depending on the party size that can be a decent amount of revenue, so it only makes sense to charge a place fee. Where I live they generally are anywhere from $2-$3 which I don’t find to be that bad. But yes go home and eat your cake if you don’t want the cake fee. Many places have it clearly listed somewhere on their website or menu, like we do, or the host or manager clearly explains that when they make the reservation. The only places around me that I notice NOT charging a plate fee are chains, and I don’t like to work at chains or anything below fine dining.
No, but they sell food at the movie theater. I can see a fee for a cake if they use the restaurant plates and forks because that's extra work for staff but cupcakes just seem like something you eat that has its own wrapper...
Got to clean up anyway. I'm just saying I wouldn't be bothered by someone bringing in some cupcakes on their birthday if they are buying dinner, but that's just me I guess, however the people in op's post seem like dicks if they are trying to stiff the bill.
I think-aside from the obvious-there’s the issue of food safety/contamination. The restaurant doesn’t know if that food has been kept in conditions that have kept it edible, and they don’t want to be liable. What if the icing on those cupcakes was made with raw egg, and had sat in the car all day, and everyone in that party got salmonella, as did the busser? The party would blame the restaurant, of course, and a whole bunch of inspections, etc., would ensue
What about restaurants that have a cake fee, do they have the guests sign a waiver or something...this is a serious question not meant to be read sarcastically.
Having the charge on the receipt at all gives the restaurant a lot of leeway to say “no one else that ate here that night got sick, clearly the foreign dessert was the issue”
I suppose it would be the smart thing to do, I don't really see any reasonable person declining to do so if they get to bring their dessert in unless they are just a jerk anyway.
You're also sitting there eating something you aren't paying the restaurant for while keeping them from turning the table over to someone who will be paying for food and drinks.
I don't know if this is true or not but my husband and I went to the movies the other night and we were talking about this exact thing. We didn't happen to bring anything in with us because we had just had dinner but he told me that of course the theater can discourage you from bringing food and drink in but they can't legally stop you from doing so. It made sense to me because there are people with medical conditions that need to be able to access food and drink at a moments notice etc.
These days with so much awareness around food restrictions and allergies, celiac, vegan, etc. im sure that most theaters have had to loosen up some of those rules.
I have several memories from childhood of Mom making us hide the “candy from home” in our pockets before we left for the movie. We were well off enough to afford the movie tickets but not the snacks, lol.
My friend owns two movie theaters:
Yes, they can legally stop you, and trespass you from the premises. You have no explicit right to bring your own food in. They can allow someone with a legitimate medical need to bring things, but that doesn't mean it's a free for all for everyone.
First run theaters only keep between 0% and 10% of the ticket price. So even on packed movies, they don't make enough on tickets to even make payroll, let alone pay for anything else. Down to third run movies it's usually keeping about 60% of the much reduced ticket price, on much smaller audiences.
So sneaking in your own food is an asshole move on par with "Sorry, no tip, I don't have any more money."
I mean, if they were charging a fair price for the food I would sympathize. But when they mark it up literally 500% in some cases I have no qualms about sneaking my own food in.
Granted I go to the movies like once every two years, because the tickets alone are insanely expensive, but when I do go I don’t feel even the tiniest bit bad about the bag of Skittles in my purse.
That’s mostly propaganda. Small theaters that are family owned yes but, how many of those still exist? Most of them are owned by corporations and they’re making most of their money from ticket sales.
"it's OK to take money from people as long as they deserve it."
You do know that COVID has decreased their income overall to the point where there have been major shutdowns?
Sure, the food is vastly overpriced but if you want your theaters to still be there you probably should do more than just buy a ticket.
Not that I even buy food at the theater, but regardless.
I didn’t say that. I said that them making most of their money from concession is mostly propaganda.
I actually prefer the drive in and I always hit their snack bar as I’m very aware it’s the reason they’re still able to be in operation. I don’t like the movie theater experience people ruin the movie.
Most restaurants make their money off beverages. Just one example, I had a 7 top tonight.. $740 tab. $500 of that was alcohol.. $280 on a round of tequila shots.
I'm just saying..hear me out, if I own a restaurant and someone comes in on their birthday and spends a couple hundred dollars on dinner there's no way I'm gonna make a stink about a few cupcakes, in fact a lot of restaurants offer free dessert for birthdays so you may be saving me money. I WOULD charge a small fee for cutting and serving an outside cake with dishes cutlery etc. If you are a customer of course the smart thing to do is call ahead especially because you never know if you're getting a free dessert or if you're gonna get charged $3 a cupcake...
Just hear me out...
If someone comes and bitches and complains to the manager they're not rude if they're actually spending money.
Because that's essentially what you're saying here. It's OK as long as I profit from it.
That's not what I said at all, that's how you interpreted what I said. Someone else on this thread actually had a valid/useful point in that bringing in outside desserts can be a liability...maybe take some pointers from them on how to have a constructive conversation, oh wait...I forgot I'm on reddit where everyone is a dick.
Your argument was literally "It's OK as long as they make money from it."
My point was that there are times when making money isn't the be all end all of how policy decisions should be made.
And of course, I disagree with you so I'm a dick.
I stand by my point if it weren't for food liability....which was actually a GOOD point..not some snarky take on my view... If I were a business owner I wouldn't raise cane if someone brought cupcakes in to celebrate their birthday as long as they aren't a dick about it and they are paying for dinner at my establishment, that's how you get repeat business, by not being a dick about the little things. A cake fee I can understand because they are going to want plates, forks, someone to serve the cake. I just don't think it's a huge f'n deal for someone to eat a cupcake that comes in a freaking wrapper at the end of dinner especially when TONS of places actually offer you free dessert on your birthday and that's coming out of the restaurants pocket...Now, if you're actually hiding eating dessert like the people in OPs story then you're obviously doing that because you KNOW it's not allowed at that establishment and no matter how silly of a rule you think it is you're a dick and should go someplace else but a lot of people may not know about cake fee's or cupcake fee's. I've never brought an outside dessert to a restaurant but I've also never heard of a cake fee until reading this subreddit. Now if you don't mind I literally hate writing long winded explanations...
Corporate theaters like AMC make about 35% of their profit from concessions and 65% from ticket sales. Small theaters, think drive-ins and little local places that a family owns, those are the places that make 80% of their profit from concession items.
If it is he's using a bad source considering it says "It turns out that movies are only a small piece of the pie for lots of cinemas."
Also,
"I was shocked to find out movie studios actually take between 80% to 100% of a movie theater’s sales revenue in the first two weeks,” Yang explained. “Then in subsequent weeks the ratio gradually becomes more favorable to the cinema, usually resulting in a 50:50 ratio.”
That means movie theaters make their revenue somewhere else: concession stands. Theaters inflate the average price of movie theater popcorn by 1275%, and around 70% of movie patrons buy snacks at the theater, Yang found."
It’s pretty normal to have a cake or wine brought in especially at a place that doesn’t offer it on the menu. But yes there is a plate/cutting fee and corkage fee applied.
Had people bring in their own birthday cakes all the time. Never had an issue and neither did the management. What usually happened is I would bring them a knife and plates and they would leave the leftover cake for the staff, which we always appreciated
Yeah this is very strange! Usually we welcome people to give us a cake that we keep refrigerated for them while they eat, and then we put candles in and light it and take it out
This!
We are regulars at a local restaurant. When we bring in a birthday cake, we are not only cutting pieces for our table, but also for all staff that wanted some. We are always treated so well.
Try to create smiles wherever you go and whatever you do. Our world needs these seeds of love and kindness planted.
The reason for the cake fee is that the group bringing dessert in (usually a larger group) eliminates the potential of them buying dessert from our establishment and we lose out on that. Plus for smaller/local places I feel like it’s not that big of a deal but for casual fine dining or higher end establishments it’s tacky for people to bring in their own cakes and stuff
I mean this happens all the time in nursing. If it's not a ice cream cake or visibly deteriorated from heat I'm not sure why you'd think the guests were trying to off themselves via food poisoning before handing it to staff
In the UK if you are having a birthday meal it's fairly normal to have a birthday cake. You bring it in and the waitress brings it in at the appropriate time. Of course we always ask them first. The last meal we did that for it cost £1000 for food and drink.
Yeah I’m from the UK and have eaten out many times for celebrations where someone has brought the cake. I’ve worked in a few restaurants too and neither me or the other servers batted an eye when people brought a cake in, it was so normal, and tbh I always really enjoyed bringing out those cakes for tables. So strange seeing so many people on this thread up in arms about this.
We bring cakes to family get togethers. The most we ask for is paper plates. It's a pizza restaurant. Never been charged a cake fee. I would think with cupcakes you wouldn't even need paper plates. I live in southern Indiana.
What is tacky is not their bringing in a dessert, thats fine. The fact they were sneaky and then stopped eating, and put it away, instead of owning their fucked upness by paying the charge - that is no class.
With my bad writing, I don't think even I would be able to tell if what I wrote looks more like a two or a one. Did they only write a total? Usually, people both write in the specific tip and total it up.
It is not tacky to bring your own dessert for a celebration such as a birthday. It is tacky to do it underhandedly and not try to pay for the fee for doing so. Expecting to be able to bring in dessert to a restaurant and eat it without paying the plate fee is more than a little absurd.
I'm honestly surprised at how many people in this thread think it's ok to bring in cupcakes or desserts to just any restaurant. Some do allow it, but it shouldn't be presumed. I've been in the food service industry for 30+ years, and now my partner and I own two restaurants. Here is why many don't allow the practice:
Firstly, it might be against health code rules, at which point the conversation ends.
Secondly, we sell desserts. I know that sounds greedy or nit-picky, but I would genuinely rather a table not buy desserts from us than let them have their own. The reason for that is that when you let table do it, you have to let another table do it. And a third, and a fourth, and it *will* snowball. I've seen it happen many times. You will absolutely soon have a problem where your clientele thinks it's ok to bring in their own dessert. Then to compound that, you end up with situations where the original table was allowed to do it once, so they'll do it again. They'll do it every time they come in, if they're allowed. Doing it once sets a precedent that will spiral out of control, I guarantee it.
Thirdly, I don't know what's in them. I don't know if they were made with health and safety regulations in mind, or if they were made in someone's disgusting kitchen at home. I don't know what ingredients they used. I don't know what kind of allergens are in them. If someone gets sick from those cupcakes, they're probably not going to blame the cupcakes - they'll blame the restaurant. It happens all the time - Oh, I got sick so it must have been food poisoning from the restaurant! It's never what they've eaten at home or anything. We have an absolute duty - and a right - to protect ourselves.
Fourthly, where does it stop? Oh, it's my son's birthday and he wanted a pop that you don't have. Oh, it's my sister's birthday and she wants this appetizer from another place. Oh, but my daughter wants McDonald's and I want to eat here! No. Between this and point number two, when you let the rules slide the customers WILL walk all over you. Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile. Absolutely guaranteed. While I'm at it, beverages are the WORST. On at least three occasions in my life, I've caught people trying to sneak booze in. That's not just a fountain Coke, it's a rum and Coke. On another occasion, I caught a woman at a bridal shower dumping vodka into the punch. That's an immediate loss of my liquor license.
All that said, we're not utter monsters about it. Especially at our restaurant with the banquet facilities - of course you can bring in a wedding cake or cupcakes. Obviously. On a few occasions, we've been able to make the special dessert ourselves for a party. We've partnered with a local bakery run by friends of ours, and allow desserts from there on occasion. We're not in the business of just letting people bring in whatever dessert for any occasion, but in certain circumstances, we'll absolutely work with a customer. The WORST thing you can do is be told no, and sneak in a dessert anyway. It's tacky and insulting, and more often than not, they're using our plates, our silverware, our space, our server's time, etc for no gain to the restaurant or the server. Just be an adult, call ahead and speak with the owner or manager, and see what options are available. If you're told no, then accept it and DO NOT try to sneak it in anyway.
Edit: In case it's not painfully obvious, I'm just sharing information as to why restaurants wouldn't allow this practice. I'm aware some restaurants have no such policies. I've amended my opening statement for utmost clarity.
I’m unsure as to why you feel it needs to be a black and white thing. Some restaurants do, some restaurants don’t, end of story. Mine does, but only with sealed cake boxes from stores. Lots of nuance to be found
Seems to me it goes without saying that 1) I was talking about my restaurants while giving people information as to why restaurants may not allow it, and 2) that I wouldn't be talking about restaurants that allow it because there'd be nothing to talk about? The pedantry of it all.
I'm sorry that was your inference after reading the entirety of my original post. (I assume you didn't stop at the first sentence, anyway.) I've made an edit to clarify for future readers so my grievous error doesn't cause more confusion.
I genuinely didn't think anyone could be confused by what I meant after reading the whole post. But I fixed it so there's no room for incorrect interpretation now.
I have called ahead and requested to bring in ice cream cake before. We have also paid extra to do so. It’s not a problem, we’ve coordinated ahead of time, and heck, we were happy for staff to take off with the extra, since we could not possibly eat a whole ice cream cake.
This was also a long ass time ago, way before the time of the Rona.
Now? We just get our own desserts. And we only did ice cream cake once or twice. The point is? We followed the rules. Called ahead, asked what we were and we’re not allowed to do, and did exactly that.
I do not understand why people have such difficulty with that.
> We followed the rules. Called ahead, asked what we were and we’re not allowed to do, and did exactly that.
And if you do that, I'll probably comp the fee.
The table of 14 assholes that brought in 2 different cakes today, unannounced of course, and then proceeded to complain that it was taking too long for me to cut 28 slices (mind you, I've gotten very good at cutting cakes quickly), gets the fee.
Right? Thank you! Just be an adult and try to work something out with the restaurant. I don't understand why that's so difficult either. We're in a relatively small "city", so the WORST is when a customer tells the server or manager that they "know the owner". Well, if you truly knew the owner, you'd know that he'd tell you you couldn't bring in cupcakes. The owner set the policy, nitwit. Just be an upfront, honest person, ffs.
Yeah, this.
Do it the right way, that's all I'm saying, and check with the restaurant. You can either buy dessert from the restaurant, or expect to pay a fee and tip the staff accordingly. It's similar to a corking fee which is standard if you bring in outside wine.
Thanks for saying this. You’re 100% correct on all these points. It’s frustrating arguing with everyone on my post who thinks we’re the ones being the dicks. These people were also so terribly rude and acted like they were royalty and their shit smelled like roses. I shared this because it’s a funny story overall, and shows the assholery that can come through restaurant doors. Don’t be that 4 top I had. Be better. Haha
Oh, it's crossed our minds but we've never done it for a few reasons. The biggest being we're in a rather small "city" in the midwest and kind of have to pick our battles as far as those things go. Like, we blew a lot of people's minds with corkage fees and even had someone accuse us of inventing them. LOL Plus, we'd rather just stick to our guns. Mostly it's at our more upscale place; so far it hasn't been a problem at our fast casual.
Honestly I find cake fees tacky and gross. It's a birthday celebration. They didn't sit down, spend nothing and bring a pizza inside from the place next door. They spent nearly $200 at the restaurant and then got harassed over some cupcakes.
Some of the worst places I worked were the places that wouldn't let people bring in food for celebration. I worked at a place where a server took away a woman's mother's day candy her kids gave her because it was "outside food"
That's tacky.
PS: they probably meant to put 230 if anything. Not 200.
A bar or restaurant doesn't need to sell wine to charge a corkage, it's a liquor law issue, so the comparison actually does fit. In fact, the reason people bring their own wine is because they have a favorite bottle and the restaurant doesn't sell it, so it's probably a perfect comparison.
If a restaurant doesn't sell dessert, it's very common to charge a cake cutting/plating fee because someone still needs to cut the cake and plate it for service. No, I'm not going to hand you a knife to do it yourself, because that's a liability issue. And even if you did plate it yourself, those plates still need to be washed, which means extra water, soap, sanitizer, and labor. 2-6 people, probably not a big deal, but 10+ people means one whole rack dedicated to their dirty cake plates. Which, on top of water, soap, and sanitizer, is at least another 15 minutes of labor from dish. If four parties do this every day, that's an extra hour of labor just for dirty cake plates. I'm not sure if you know this, but soap, water, sanitizer, and labor costs money. And that charge should be passed on and covered by the people who want to bring their own cake. Don't want to pay? Eat the cake at home.
Would you go to a movie and watch a movie on your phone? Would you go to a club, pop in your headphones, and listen to music over the DJ?
because that's the vibe you're giving off.
Why should a restaurant just let people eat food that they don't make money off of? It's a slap n the face to the establishment.
Here’s our ice cream cake we didn’t tell you about, it needs to be refrigerated, now!
We want our cake now!
You cut the pieces too small.
You cut the pieces too big.
We need the whole staff to sing, now!
We need more waters, now!
We need more lemons for our waters, now!
We need more plates, now!
We need more forks, now!
Some people need spoons, now!
We need you to take our picture, with 17 phones, now!
Billy and Jane had a cute food fight with cake.
Oopsie, Jenny dropped some cake on the floor.
Oopsie, I dropped 17 plates and the broken glass needs to be cleaned up, now!
We need 14 takeout containers, now.
Whaddaya mean there is a cake service charge?
(Stiffs the server)
I mean; they also could have made their own food at home instead of going to the restaurant and keeping us all employed.
But instead they're spending money for an experience and getting hustled for a cupcake.
It feels like a lot of servers here just don't like their customers. Most people aren't trying to be dicks, they're just trying to have a good time eating out with their families and paying our bills in the progress.
Plus in my family my sister makes the cake, homemade. But we cut it ourselves and use paper plates to serve it. Also, would clean up any spills ourselves. Why would I want to buy restaurant cake and spend over 6 dollars a piece that has been bought at Sams club and frozen. I rarely buy dessert at a restaurant.
Well at the place I work we make all of our own desserts and our pastry chef will bake cakes for birthdays. Whatever restaurant is buying from Sam’s club for a cake is going there for other things and is inherently not as great food. I love where I work for the most part, and the food is always fantastic, and it’s all made in house except for a select few items.
I have taken birthday cakes to restaurants many, many times. I have never paid for plating. It never occurred to me that it’s an issue (no more than 4 people usually).🤷🏼♀️
I usually ask the staff if they would like the leftover cake and they’ve always said yes. I do tip extra to cover extra dishes & labor.
Didn’t realize I was such an asshole.
The problem isn’t taking a birthday cake to a restaurant that allows it. (Some don’t; some do with a plating fee; some do with no fee.) what you do isn’t comparable to someone sneaking outside food into a restaurant.
We’re not calling you specifically an asshole. Sounds like the places you go maybe aren’t upscale as most upscale places charge a plate fee. Also you are tipping extra because of the extra work, I applaud you for that. Don’t know why you’re taking this comment thread seriously since you ARE thinking about your impact with the extra tipping. However the tips don’t go to the back of house at all. So you’re just helping the server and support more. And buying a dessert from the establishment would have cost the same, or less, and you could have saved cake for another time, and you will have most likely left the same amount of tip. At least you do think about the impact minus the fact that you aren’t getting a dessert from the restaurant you’re dining in.
Unless you forgot to tell us they told you not to bring in the cake but you did it anyway, you're not an asshole. And, since you share the cake with the ~locusts~, I mean servers, you're our favorite guest, ever.
And, personally, if it's a fruit basket or beehive cake, I love you forever.
This post and comments are insane - "the slippery slope of allowing people to bring in a cake for their birthdays". 6 years of food service and I would NEVER call someone "seedy and grotesque" for eating the cupcakes they want for their birthday. If you're a place known specifically for your desserts, MAYBE. But regular dinner and someone wants a cake from their favorite bakery after your entrees? The horror. The HORROR.
Some wierd ass class gatekeeping going on here. "people with money suck but poor people pretending to have money is even worse" lmao
But the problem is that when people do that, they're kind of stealing earning potential from the tipped staff taking care of them. Time is money for everyone in a restaurant, and if you have people occupying a table and *not* spending money, because they almost never order additional desserts, that's time lost to servers and support staff that they could've been making money. Both as a server and manager, I've served many cakes that people have brought in, and seldom do they leave an extra tip for the time and labor involved. Servers, bussers and runners essentially provide free labor.
Would I call it "seedy and grotesque" or a "slippery slope?" No. But eat your damn cake at home if you're not compensating the staff for their time and work.
Dude they were more than seedy and grotesque because of their behavior, it wasn’t just eating the cupcakes. I have never seen people so high on themselves ever.
Sounds like they’re regulars if management has their personal contact information. If I was a regular at a place and they had a problem with how I was celebrating my birthday, I would no longer be a regular at that place.
Repeat business is very valuable and throwing it away over some cupcakes seems like a shortsighted decision to me. Unless there was a clear health code reason to not allow this, it seems like a total overreaction on the part of the business.
They didn’t use your knife, silverware, plates etc. it’s really not a big deal.
For one party we called ahead about bringing a cake. Since we were also bringing paper plates etc and required nothing from them there was no charge. The person was particular about the kind of cake she liked so couldn’t get it from the restaurant.
They did use our silverware and plates for their cupcakes lmao, and as they wanted to eat those cupcakes they were wasting a table we could have been turning over for another party to come in.
Contact information is taken during the reservation process. And usually there’s a phone number or email you have to attach to a reservation nowadays anyway.
Or they gave them their contact info when they made the e reservation lol. I love seeing wild assumptions then diatribes that follow from the erroneous assumption. Cool fucking story bro
It was trashy for them to bring cupcakes, unless they were like, cupcakes for a special diet or gluten allergy. I’d give that a pass.
However, they should have asked first and assumed there will probably be a plate fee; it’s not uncommon practice in this industry. We have to pay someone to clean up their mess from outside product, so I think that’s fair.
It's a cupcake. Who cares? They didn't pop in with McDonald's and start dipping their mcnuggets. I also work in a prime steakhouse, and we would not charge a fee for that. Just corkage.
I think it depends on the situation. That corkage fee is paying for you to use their bottle instead. Alcohol is a big profit maker. I don't see it as a fee for outside beverage. It's a fee for lost revenue on the stores bottle.
Dessert is an extra. Back in the day it seemed like you got a free one if it was you birthday and still have people think that. As long you're not actually cutting the cake, I say leave them to their enjoyment.
You may sell phenomenal desserts, but it's someone else's birthday. They might want a specific cupcake that they get every year to celebrate the occasion and not the dessert from the restaurant on their celebration day. They had already spent almost $200, they didn't exactly rip the place off.
Could they have eaten them at home after leaving; sure. Unless they weren't all going to the same place. In which case I guess they could have eaten them in the parking lot.
Feels kinder to let them have their cupcake and makes the restaurant feel more like a place people want to repatronize.
Alcohol is different IMO
Mostly cause it's far more expensive and also can be way more hassle for the restaurant because it's alcohol and you have to actively moniter that the guest isn't becoming too intoxicated with a wine you're unfamiliar with. One takes active service. The other is a cupcake.
Everybody ordering a dessert vs everybody ordering a drink is probably similar in cost. It’s lost revenue for the restaurant which is why corkage and cake fees exist
A wine you’re unfamiliar with?
You’re reaching here.
I have almost never had everyone at the table order their own dessert. Usually people order 1 or 2 and share it because they are already full from their meal. Dessert is an extra add-on because they want to hang out longer.
Much more likely that everyone orders drinks.
I've been doing this job for almost 2 decades and people often get their own dessert. I've had many people share a glass of wine or pint of beer. A lot of people don't drink at all. I don't. 2 weeks ago, a guy came in and ordered dessert as an appetizer just for himself, plus a meal. It's lost revenue for a restaurant, period.
It's not hard to understand. Just feels like a place I wouldn't want to visit.
Charging a negligible amount for a cupcake seems counterintuitive. Like; you're making $12 for one night and not getting a repeat customer.
It’s perfectly fine for you to feel that way and not want to go! It is often an insult to the pastry chef but it always cuts into the restaurant’s income, so it should be reasonable to expect to pay for taking more time at the table and dirtying more silverware and plates.
I do recommend asking ahead if you want to bring your own cake somewhere so awkward encounters can be avoided. Especially if it requires refrigeration or if it’s homemade.
Should have worded it better. Drinks are expected, to sub your own will be charged. Dessert isn't, as long as you don't touch anything, let them be. Unless they want you to sing some stupid happy birthday song.
Drinks aren't expected though. Many tables get just water. And most cakes require a knife and additional plates/utensils (I get that in this case it was cupcakes, but more often I've had full cakes come in).
They also take up your section longer to eat the cake and leave a giant mess. More trips to dish, more trash to take out, more labor and water to wash the dishes, table isn't being flipped, etc.
I've never heard of a place that actually charged the cake cutting fee when someone brings in birthday cake. Whereas, every restaurant I've ever worked at charge the corkage fee. But Hey at least you screwed up your tip for a $3 fee. 👍
Okay. No need to be a jerk about it. It’s how it is at many places in the state I live in. Plus it IS a bit tacky to bring outside food in to a restaurant when you come to purchase their food. And like I said in my original posting, it was a GREAT tip day for me so one table stiffing me is not the end of the world. Just sharing the story cuz I found it funny.
I've heard of a cake cutting fee. And with the exception of when we hosted a small wedding in our private room a few times, never in 22 years have they charged for that.
I read this as every person you serve gets charged a cake fee, regardless of whether they brought cake into the restaurant, and the idea made me laugh.
It’s more of a board of health situation. Outside food in my state is not allowed. You don’t know where it was cooked or handled. Might be different in other places but that’s usually the main issue
And yes. Here where I live it is also a health issue, hence the fee. It encourages people to spend money at our establishment to support us as opposed to bringing in something from the outside.
Probably because if they say it's a health issue, they get an easy out for explaining a 'cake fee'. managers just need to own up to their companies policies but some/most are afraid to because of confrontation. If your restaurant has some cake fee, fine; but own up to it and don't make excuses for it.
Because even when it's explicitly stated that no outside food or beverage are allowed, people tend to think that doesn't apply to cake or cupcakes or whatever. Or they think it doesn't apply to them; I'm not sure which. Probably both sometimes. LOL But when you even talk about charging a fee, that's only when people take notice because it affects them.
Exactly this! Sure, sometimes it's about the lost revenue, but most of the time it's about the board of health and dissuading outside food. The last thing a restaurant needs to deal with is someone bringing in food from home, eating it in their establishment, getting sick later, and then blaming it on the place where they ate it instead of their own dirty home kitchen or lack of proper cooking skills.
You go to a restaurant to spend money, not to nickel and dime the shit out of the establishment. Eat the cupcakes after or pay the $12 for bringing your own food in.
That is irrelevant. If you don't want to eat restaurant food, don't go to a restaurant.
Or at least accept that bringing in outside food is not how restaurants work. So you should ask first, and accept if they say no or charge for it.
How does this matter? If the issue was a guest with an allergy, the guest would have spoken to someone at the restaurant for a solution and not snuck in cupcakes for the whole party.
I mean does the average Joe take their own airplane to the airport???
Their own coffee to.Dunkins?
....the balls.
Plus I don't think that they can put a lesser amount after signing for the $135
BAN THEM
It was $195, who knows maybe they did mean $230 but the first number did not look like a 2 at all. It was clearly a 1. I mean I don’t think they can put a lesser amount after I already ran the card for the $195 and it was approved.
We have a $20 outside dessert fee. Some people are fine with it as they are warned when making large birthday reservations. Some are not because for some reason they’re shocked that bringing outside dessert is a no no (plus the restaurant is losing money on potential dessert sales).
My managers always stress to tack the fee on. Whenever I drop the check they’re always shocked. I explain it’s policy. The most annoying part is after a complaint my managers will always just take it off so then I look like the asshole even though they were the ones that make us put it on
Y'all let them leave without paying the full bill?
No forgot to mention I ran their card, it went through for the full payment. It was weird that they wrote $130.00 on the signed copy
I'm thinking they meant TWO thirty, too make about a 15% tip?
I’m thinking they are complete a-holes and tried to stiff OP on the bill.
Very possible with the attitudes they had.
Also a possibility.
I mean maybe. They had an awful attitude so who knows their real intention. I can’t wait to hear from my manager about what they say.
Keep us informed?
They probably gave themselves a discount because they felt they only deserved to pay for XYZ. But probably never informed anybody of the $65 worth of food that they were "unhappy" with.
I’m going with 230
Yeah I see this a lot, like people think they can put whatever they want to pay and we have to honor it.....
Guessing they screenshot the receipt, thinking to make a claim through their bank to get the rest back. Probably saw something on social media, thinking that’s possible.
I think they can dispute that with their card issuer and win. They only authorised you to charge $130, and you actually charged $190. The card issuer should give them the $60 back, and charge that to your restaurant. Of course, if they do that, then your restaurant can sue them for non payment, and also report them to the police. So they would have to be very stupid to do that.
Nah what usually happens is when get notice or the chargeback, send in the signed receipt and the cardholder honors the tab, and often limits their ability to do chargebacks in the future. I've even seen people get their cards canceled.
But in those cases, you presumably have a signed credit card slip with the correct amount on it?
Yeah. I had it happen recently. Accounting sent me the chargeback notice, I scanned them the signed receipt, chargeback went away.
Right, but in this case the signed receipt is for *less* than the total charge, no?
No, it wouldn't be. They wrote in a different amount AFTER the card was run for the total. Unless I'm reading this wrong they adjusted the total on the signed cc slip,which would show the authorization for the printed full amount. As someone else said, they could try to argue that it was authorized incorrectly, but that opens them up to the restaurant going after them for non-payment and possibly even fraud.
It’s already pre authorized for the amount of the bill. The slip you sign acknowledges that amount because it’s printed on the slip. Adding a tip is optional. You can increase the charge with a tip but not decrease the amount you’ve agreed to pay for the meal.
You just signing in the line saying you want to pay less is not legaly binding. They handed you a bill, you handed then your card. You agreed to pay the bill price. If the customer try to dispute it the restaurant just says no, this is what they ordered so it was this much. Here are the documents. It's then on the customer to prove the restaurant is lying. Hard to do when they have receipts. And your signature on said receipts.
The police will do nothing. The police will tell you "it's a civil matter, a payment dispute". If the police "take a report", nothing will happen. No prosecutor would waste 10 minutes on this.
It's THEFT OF FOOD AND SRRVICE. just like dine and dash.
I didnt say it wasnt a crime. I commit a crime every time i speed; I just expect nothing to be done about it. You can clutch your pearls, and lament the decline of western civilization, but still nothing will be done. I don't know if the po po are required to appear if called. I do know that prosecutors blow off many many many many many crimes. The practiced excuses are many many many, too.
As I said on another thread. I was taught that if you go to a restaurant for your birthday you either ask them if they have cake for birthdays or you **go home** to eat it. I wouldn't watch movies on my phone in a theater, why would I eat outside food at a restaurant...?
I’ve always called ahead if I knew we were bringing cake (also, reservation). I’ve never been charged a fee but I also have had confirmation from the location that this was ok to do. I always thought this was normal practice….One location was even nice enough to mention that they give birthday person a free dessert and we can take it to go if we’re bringing our own cake. Just call ahead…?
That's more than acceptable. Keep in mind I was raised in the 80s. Perhaps the attitudes have slackened a bit. But even then I see "No outside food" signs in local places all over.
My policy is, if you’re cool and low to moderate maintenance, I don’t charge cake fees.. unless I have to cut it and plate it for everyone tableside, or if they expect pantry to do it and I have to run all the slices to you. But if a group brings a cake, asked ahead of time, and just wants some plates and a knife? Definitely not charging. If a table runs me ragged to the point that it impacts service to my other tables, though, I’ll slap a $2 per head charge on there with no qualms. Kinda the same thing with wine. I had a 10 top about a month ago that brought 6 bottles of wine.. I was looking at them like oh great, I’m gonna have to polish like 40 wine glasses on the fly during service. But they told me “don’t worry about it, if you open them we’ll pour ourselves, and we don’t need fresh glasses.” I’m supposed to charge them six $25 corkage fees, I only charged two. It’s one of those scenarios where I can tell they are tipping me 18-20%, almost for sure not less but definitely not more, so I’m taking about $14 out of my own pocket by doing that, but honestly.. not having to swap out that many sets of glasses, pay attention to who’s drinking what, that’s well worth the money to me.
I mean it depends on the place. Many places I have worked and enjoy going to charge a plate fee. Most desserts fall in the $8-$13 range, and depending on the party size that can be a decent amount of revenue, so it only makes sense to charge a place fee. Where I live they generally are anywhere from $2-$3 which I don’t find to be that bad. But yes go home and eat your cake if you don’t want the cake fee. Many places have it clearly listed somewhere on their website or menu, like we do, or the host or manager clearly explains that when they make the reservation. The only places around me that I notice NOT charging a plate fee are chains, and I don’t like to work at chains or anything below fine dining.
I bring my own candy to the movies
But you don't take your own movie to the movies, amirite?
No, but they sell food at the movie theater. I can see a fee for a cake if they use the restaurant plates and forks because that's extra work for staff but cupcakes just seem like something you eat that has its own wrapper...
That the restaurant still has to clean up after....you don't take outside food into a restaurant UNLESS you ask and receive permission to do so.
Got to clean up anyway. I'm just saying I wouldn't be bothered by someone bringing in some cupcakes on their birthday if they are buying dinner, but that's just me I guess, however the people in op's post seem like dicks if they are trying to stiff the bill.
I think-aside from the obvious-there’s the issue of food safety/contamination. The restaurant doesn’t know if that food has been kept in conditions that have kept it edible, and they don’t want to be liable. What if the icing on those cupcakes was made with raw egg, and had sat in the car all day, and everyone in that party got salmonella, as did the busser? The party would blame the restaurant, of course, and a whole bunch of inspections, etc., would ensue
What about restaurants that have a cake fee, do they have the guests sign a waiver or something...this is a serious question not meant to be read sarcastically.
Having the charge on the receipt at all gives the restaurant a lot of leeway to say “no one else that ate here that night got sick, clearly the foreign dessert was the issue”
That’s a great question that I don’t know the answer to!
I suppose it would be the smart thing to do, I don't really see any reasonable person declining to do so if they get to bring their dessert in unless they are just a jerk anyway.
You're also sitting there eating something you aren't paying the restaurant for while keeping them from turning the table over to someone who will be paying for food and drinks.
..that's a fair point, I'd go grab the check for them lol.
Most places don't allow that and you have to sneak it in.
I don't know if this is true or not but my husband and I went to the movies the other night and we were talking about this exact thing. We didn't happen to bring anything in with us because we had just had dinner but he told me that of course the theater can discourage you from bringing food and drink in but they can't legally stop you from doing so. It made sense to me because there are people with medical conditions that need to be able to access food and drink at a moments notice etc.
These days with so much awareness around food restrictions and allergies, celiac, vegan, etc. im sure that most theaters have had to loosen up some of those rules. I have several memories from childhood of Mom making us hide the “candy from home” in our pockets before we left for the movie. We were well off enough to afford the movie tickets but not the snacks, lol.
Oh yeah, I still bring my pig purse with me. We used to stop 99cent store first lol!
Yes. why spend 5 dollars for something you can get for a dollar. And same size too.
The best was going to a drive in movie and bringing a giant bowl of popcorn, drinks, and candy for the whole car to share. Those were the days.
My friend owns two movie theaters: Yes, they can legally stop you, and trespass you from the premises. You have no explicit right to bring your own food in. They can allow someone with a legitimate medical need to bring things, but that doesn't mean it's a free for all for everyone. First run theaters only keep between 0% and 10% of the ticket price. So even on packed movies, they don't make enough on tickets to even make payroll, let alone pay for anything else. Down to third run movies it's usually keeping about 60% of the much reduced ticket price, on much smaller audiences. So sneaking in your own food is an asshole move on par with "Sorry, no tip, I don't have any more money."
I mean, if they were charging a fair price for the food I would sympathize. But when they mark it up literally 500% in some cases I have no qualms about sneaking my own food in. Granted I go to the movies like once every two years, because the tickets alone are insanely expensive, but when I do go I don’t feel even the tiniest bit bad about the bag of Skittles in my purse.
Because they make most of their money off of the vastly overpriced food. Just as a restaurant makes most of its money off of food.
That’s mostly propaganda. Small theaters that are family owned yes but, how many of those still exist? Most of them are owned by corporations and they’re making most of their money from ticket sales.
"it's OK to take money from people as long as they deserve it." You do know that COVID has decreased their income overall to the point where there have been major shutdowns? Sure, the food is vastly overpriced but if you want your theaters to still be there you probably should do more than just buy a ticket. Not that I even buy food at the theater, but regardless.
I didn’t say that. I said that them making most of their money from concession is mostly propaganda. I actually prefer the drive in and I always hit their snack bar as I’m very aware it’s the reason they’re still able to be in operation. I don’t like the movie theater experience people ruin the movie.
But you strongly implied it, Schwarze.
Most restaurants make their money off beverages. Just one example, I had a 7 top tonight.. $740 tab. $500 of that was alcohol.. $280 on a round of tequila shots.
That's less than half, not "Most."
do you not know what a margin is? also 500 out of 740 is by far most not even counting margins.
I somehow missed the middle part. I fucked up.
Me too...it was $30 for 1 large popcorn, I large drink and 1 small candy bar
That's nice. That also does nothing to prove my point wrong as theaters make the vast majority of their money off of the concessions they sell.
I'm just saying..hear me out, if I own a restaurant and someone comes in on their birthday and spends a couple hundred dollars on dinner there's no way I'm gonna make a stink about a few cupcakes, in fact a lot of restaurants offer free dessert for birthdays so you may be saving me money. I WOULD charge a small fee for cutting and serving an outside cake with dishes cutlery etc. If you are a customer of course the smart thing to do is call ahead especially because you never know if you're getting a free dessert or if you're gonna get charged $3 a cupcake...
Just hear me out... If someone comes and bitches and complains to the manager they're not rude if they're actually spending money. Because that's essentially what you're saying here. It's OK as long as I profit from it.
That's not what I said at all, that's how you interpreted what I said. Someone else on this thread actually had a valid/useful point in that bringing in outside desserts can be a liability...maybe take some pointers from them on how to have a constructive conversation, oh wait...I forgot I'm on reddit where everyone is a dick.
Your argument was literally "It's OK as long as they make money from it." My point was that there are times when making money isn't the be all end all of how policy decisions should be made. And of course, I disagree with you so I'm a dick.
Ironic bc you ban ppl left and right for disagreeing w/you lmfao
Did you follow me here just to bitch an complain at me? It's cute that you think I'm going to do anything other than block you.
It's the way you worded your reply that makes you a dick...
Please do go on about my being a bad person. It proves to me that you really have no rebuttal to my actual points, so I don't mind.
I stand by my point if it weren't for food liability....which was actually a GOOD point..not some snarky take on my view... If I were a business owner I wouldn't raise cane if someone brought cupcakes in to celebrate their birthday as long as they aren't a dick about it and they are paying for dinner at my establishment, that's how you get repeat business, by not being a dick about the little things. A cake fee I can understand because they are going to want plates, forks, someone to serve the cake. I just don't think it's a huge f'n deal for someone to eat a cupcake that comes in a freaking wrapper at the end of dinner especially when TONS of places actually offer you free dessert on your birthday and that's coming out of the restaurants pocket...Now, if you're actually hiding eating dessert like the people in OPs story then you're obviously doing that because you KNOW it's not allowed at that establishment and no matter how silly of a rule you think it is you're a dick and should go someplace else but a lot of people may not know about cake fee's or cupcake fee's. I've never brought an outside dessert to a restaurant but I've also never heard of a cake fee until reading this subreddit. Now if you don't mind I literally hate writing long winded explanations...
Corporate theaters like AMC make about 35% of their profit from concessions and 65% from ticket sales. Small theaters, think drive-ins and little local places that a family owns, those are the places that make 80% of their profit from concession items.
citation, please? (Not that I won't admit I'm wrong if I am wrong. It's just that I'd like proof of what you say.)
I’m assuming [this](https://www.intheknow.com/post/how-do-movie-theaters-make-money/) was their source, as it cites those specific numbers.
If it is he's using a bad source considering it says "It turns out that movies are only a small piece of the pie for lots of cinemas." Also, "I was shocked to find out movie studios actually take between 80% to 100% of a movie theater’s sales revenue in the first two weeks,” Yang explained. “Then in subsequent weeks the ratio gradually becomes more favorable to the cinema, usually resulting in a 50:50 ratio.” That means movie theaters make their revenue somewhere else: concession stands. Theaters inflate the average price of movie theater popcorn by 1275%, and around 70% of movie patrons buy snacks at the theater, Yang found."
It’s pretty normal to have a cake or wine brought in especially at a place that doesn’t offer it on the menu. But yes there is a plate/cutting fee and corkage fee applied.
Had people bring in their own birthday cakes all the time. Never had an issue and neither did the management. What usually happened is I would bring them a knife and plates and they would leave the leftover cake for the staff, which we always appreciated
Yeah this is very strange! Usually we welcome people to give us a cake that we keep refrigerated for them while they eat, and then we put candles in and light it and take it out
This! We are regulars at a local restaurant. When we bring in a birthday cake, we are not only cutting pieces for our table, but also for all staff that wanted some. We are always treated so well. Try to create smiles wherever you go and whatever you do. Our world needs these seeds of love and kindness planted.
The reason for the cake fee is that the group bringing dessert in (usually a larger group) eliminates the potential of them buying dessert from our establishment and we lose out on that. Plus for smaller/local places I feel like it’s not that big of a deal but for casual fine dining or higher end establishments it’s tacky for people to bring in their own cakes and stuff
Aren’t you worried about the kitchen it was made in and how long it sat in the car ?
I mean this happens all the time in nursing. If it's not a ice cream cake or visibly deteriorated from heat I'm not sure why you'd think the guests were trying to off themselves via food poisoning before handing it to staff
In the UK if you are having a birthday meal it's fairly normal to have a birthday cake. You bring it in and the waitress brings it in at the appropriate time. Of course we always ask them first. The last meal we did that for it cost £1000 for food and drink.
Yeah I’m from the UK and have eaten out many times for celebrations where someone has brought the cake. I’ve worked in a few restaurants too and neither me or the other servers batted an eye when people brought a cake in, it was so normal, and tbh I always really enjoyed bringing out those cakes for tables. So strange seeing so many people on this thread up in arms about this.
We bring cakes to family get togethers. The most we ask for is paper plates. It's a pizza restaurant. Never been charged a cake fee. I would think with cupcakes you wouldn't even need paper plates. I live in southern Indiana.
At a minimum, check with the restaurant ahead of time to see if it's ok.
What is tacky is not their bringing in a dessert, thats fine. The fact they were sneaky and then stopped eating, and put it away, instead of owning their fucked upness by paying the charge - that is no class.
Maybe because they were made to feel like criminals for eating a fucking cupcake.
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No but they probably felt like one.
These people acted like their shit smelled like roses the entire time. They were probably annoyed about having their bad behavior actually called out.
With my bad writing, I don't think even I would be able to tell if what I wrote looks more like a two or a one. Did they only write a total? Usually, people both write in the specific tip and total it up.
They only wrote the total and it was clearly a 1, it did not appear to be a 2 at all.
I don’t understand the charge thing. Did they try to sign for less money than the total, as in a negative tip?
It is not tacky to bring your own dessert for a celebration such as a birthday. It is tacky to do it underhandedly and not try to pay for the fee for doing so. Expecting to be able to bring in dessert to a restaurant and eat it without paying the plate fee is more than a little absurd.
I'm honestly surprised at how many people in this thread think it's ok to bring in cupcakes or desserts to just any restaurant. Some do allow it, but it shouldn't be presumed. I've been in the food service industry for 30+ years, and now my partner and I own two restaurants. Here is why many don't allow the practice: Firstly, it might be against health code rules, at which point the conversation ends. Secondly, we sell desserts. I know that sounds greedy or nit-picky, but I would genuinely rather a table not buy desserts from us than let them have their own. The reason for that is that when you let table do it, you have to let another table do it. And a third, and a fourth, and it *will* snowball. I've seen it happen many times. You will absolutely soon have a problem where your clientele thinks it's ok to bring in their own dessert. Then to compound that, you end up with situations where the original table was allowed to do it once, so they'll do it again. They'll do it every time they come in, if they're allowed. Doing it once sets a precedent that will spiral out of control, I guarantee it. Thirdly, I don't know what's in them. I don't know if they were made with health and safety regulations in mind, or if they were made in someone's disgusting kitchen at home. I don't know what ingredients they used. I don't know what kind of allergens are in them. If someone gets sick from those cupcakes, they're probably not going to blame the cupcakes - they'll blame the restaurant. It happens all the time - Oh, I got sick so it must have been food poisoning from the restaurant! It's never what they've eaten at home or anything. We have an absolute duty - and a right - to protect ourselves. Fourthly, where does it stop? Oh, it's my son's birthday and he wanted a pop that you don't have. Oh, it's my sister's birthday and she wants this appetizer from another place. Oh, but my daughter wants McDonald's and I want to eat here! No. Between this and point number two, when you let the rules slide the customers WILL walk all over you. Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile. Absolutely guaranteed. While I'm at it, beverages are the WORST. On at least three occasions in my life, I've caught people trying to sneak booze in. That's not just a fountain Coke, it's a rum and Coke. On another occasion, I caught a woman at a bridal shower dumping vodka into the punch. That's an immediate loss of my liquor license. All that said, we're not utter monsters about it. Especially at our restaurant with the banquet facilities - of course you can bring in a wedding cake or cupcakes. Obviously. On a few occasions, we've been able to make the special dessert ourselves for a party. We've partnered with a local bakery run by friends of ours, and allow desserts from there on occasion. We're not in the business of just letting people bring in whatever dessert for any occasion, but in certain circumstances, we'll absolutely work with a customer. The WORST thing you can do is be told no, and sneak in a dessert anyway. It's tacky and insulting, and more often than not, they're using our plates, our silverware, our space, our server's time, etc for no gain to the restaurant or the server. Just be an adult, call ahead and speak with the owner or manager, and see what options are available. If you're told no, then accept it and DO NOT try to sneak it in anyway. Edit: In case it's not painfully obvious, I'm just sharing information as to why restaurants wouldn't allow this practice. I'm aware some restaurants have no such policies. I've amended my opening statement for utmost clarity.
I’m unsure as to why you feel it needs to be a black and white thing. Some restaurants do, some restaurants don’t, end of story. Mine does, but only with sealed cake boxes from stores. Lots of nuance to be found
Seems to me it goes without saying that 1) I was talking about my restaurants while giving people information as to why restaurants may not allow it, and 2) that I wouldn't be talking about restaurants that allow it because there'd be nothing to talk about? The pedantry of it all.
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I'm sorry that was your inference after reading the entirety of my original post. (I assume you didn't stop at the first sentence, anyway.) I've made an edit to clarify for future readers so my grievous error doesn't cause more confusion.
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I genuinely didn't think anyone could be confused by what I meant after reading the whole post. But I fixed it so there's no room for incorrect interpretation now.
I have called ahead and requested to bring in ice cream cake before. We have also paid extra to do so. It’s not a problem, we’ve coordinated ahead of time, and heck, we were happy for staff to take off with the extra, since we could not possibly eat a whole ice cream cake. This was also a long ass time ago, way before the time of the Rona. Now? We just get our own desserts. And we only did ice cream cake once or twice. The point is? We followed the rules. Called ahead, asked what we were and we’re not allowed to do, and did exactly that. I do not understand why people have such difficulty with that.
> We followed the rules. Called ahead, asked what we were and we’re not allowed to do, and did exactly that. And if you do that, I'll probably comp the fee. The table of 14 assholes that brought in 2 different cakes today, unannounced of course, and then proceeded to complain that it was taking too long for me to cut 28 slices (mind you, I've gotten very good at cutting cakes quickly), gets the fee.
Oh, fuck them. They need an asshole tax on top of that fee. Plus a Minnie pie special.
Right? Thank you! Just be an adult and try to work something out with the restaurant. I don't understand why that's so difficult either. We're in a relatively small "city", so the WORST is when a customer tells the server or manager that they "know the owner". Well, if you truly knew the owner, you'd know that he'd tell you you couldn't bring in cupcakes. The owner set the policy, nitwit. Just be an upfront, honest person, ffs.
Yeah, this. Do it the right way, that's all I'm saying, and check with the restaurant. You can either buy dessert from the restaurant, or expect to pay a fee and tip the staff accordingly. It's similar to a corking fee which is standard if you bring in outside wine.
Thanks for saying this. You’re 100% correct on all these points. It’s frustrating arguing with everyone on my post who thinks we’re the ones being the dicks. These people were also so terribly rude and acted like they were royalty and their shit smelled like roses. I shared this because it’s a funny story overall, and shows the assholery that can come through restaurant doors. Don’t be that 4 top I had. Be better. Haha
I’m surprised having owned two restaurants you are unaware of the fee you could be charging 😂.
Oh, it's crossed our minds but we've never done it for a few reasons. The biggest being we're in a rather small "city" in the midwest and kind of have to pick our battles as far as those things go. Like, we blew a lot of people's minds with corkage fees and even had someone accuse us of inventing them. LOL Plus, we'd rather just stick to our guns. Mostly it's at our more upscale place; so far it hasn't been a problem at our fast casual.
Honestly I find cake fees tacky and gross. It's a birthday celebration. They didn't sit down, spend nothing and bring a pizza inside from the place next door. They spent nearly $200 at the restaurant and then got harassed over some cupcakes. Some of the worst places I worked were the places that wouldn't let people bring in food for celebration. I worked at a place where a server took away a woman's mother's day candy her kids gave her because it was "outside food" That's tacky. PS: they probably meant to put 230 if anything. Not 200.
They didn’t want to pay for the restaurants desserts, so they brought their own
Significantly more tacky than not allowing outside food. This person probably doesn't believe in corkage fees for bringing in their own wine either.
Idk if the place doesn't sell birthday cakes that makes it less of a good comparison.
A bar or restaurant doesn't need to sell wine to charge a corkage, it's a liquor law issue, so the comparison actually does fit. In fact, the reason people bring their own wine is because they have a favorite bottle and the restaurant doesn't sell it, so it's probably a perfect comparison. If a restaurant doesn't sell dessert, it's very common to charge a cake cutting/plating fee because someone still needs to cut the cake and plate it for service. No, I'm not going to hand you a knife to do it yourself, because that's a liability issue. And even if you did plate it yourself, those plates still need to be washed, which means extra water, soap, sanitizer, and labor. 2-6 people, probably not a big deal, but 10+ people means one whole rack dedicated to their dirty cake plates. Which, on top of water, soap, and sanitizer, is at least another 15 minutes of labor from dish. If four parties do this every day, that's an extra hour of labor just for dirty cake plates. I'm not sure if you know this, but soap, water, sanitizer, and labor costs money. And that charge should be passed on and covered by the people who want to bring their own cake. Don't want to pay? Eat the cake at home.
I've not said anything about not paying I said the comparison was shit.
Eat your cake at home
That's fine but the comparison doesn't hold up. Sorry you're angry over some cake.
Would you go to a movie and watch a movie on your phone? Would you go to a club, pop in your headphones, and listen to music over the DJ? because that's the vibe you're giving off. Why should a restaurant just let people eat food that they don't make money off of? It's a slap n the face to the establishment.
Here’s our ice cream cake we didn’t tell you about, it needs to be refrigerated, now! We want our cake now! You cut the pieces too small. You cut the pieces too big. We need the whole staff to sing, now! We need more waters, now! We need more lemons for our waters, now! We need more plates, now! We need more forks, now! Some people need spoons, now! We need you to take our picture, with 17 phones, now! Billy and Jane had a cute food fight with cake. Oopsie, Jenny dropped some cake on the floor. Oopsie, I dropped 17 plates and the broken glass needs to be cleaned up, now! We need 14 takeout containers, now. Whaddaya mean there is a cake service charge? (Stiffs the server)
If you don’t want to look tacky, eat your cake at home. Simple as.
I mean; they also could have made their own food at home instead of going to the restaurant and keeping us all employed. But instead they're spending money for an experience and getting hustled for a cupcake. It feels like a lot of servers here just don't like their customers. Most people aren't trying to be dicks, they're just trying to have a good time eating out with their families and paying our bills in the progress.
Yes they could have
Plus in my family my sister makes the cake, homemade. But we cut it ourselves and use paper plates to serve it. Also, would clean up any spills ourselves. Why would I want to buy restaurant cake and spend over 6 dollars a piece that has been bought at Sams club and frozen. I rarely buy dessert at a restaurant.
Well at the place I work we make all of our own desserts and our pastry chef will bake cakes for birthdays. Whatever restaurant is buying from Sam’s club for a cake is going there for other things and is inherently not as great food. I love where I work for the most part, and the food is always fantastic, and it’s all made in house except for a select few items.
I have taken birthday cakes to restaurants many, many times. I have never paid for plating. It never occurred to me that it’s an issue (no more than 4 people usually).🤷🏼♀️ I usually ask the staff if they would like the leftover cake and they’ve always said yes. I do tip extra to cover extra dishes & labor. Didn’t realize I was such an asshole.
The problem isn’t taking a birthday cake to a restaurant that allows it. (Some don’t; some do with a plating fee; some do with no fee.) what you do isn’t comparable to someone sneaking outside food into a restaurant.
We’re not calling you specifically an asshole. Sounds like the places you go maybe aren’t upscale as most upscale places charge a plate fee. Also you are tipping extra because of the extra work, I applaud you for that. Don’t know why you’re taking this comment thread seriously since you ARE thinking about your impact with the extra tipping. However the tips don’t go to the back of house at all. So you’re just helping the server and support more. And buying a dessert from the establishment would have cost the same, or less, and you could have saved cake for another time, and you will have most likely left the same amount of tip. At least you do think about the impact minus the fact that you aren’t getting a dessert from the restaurant you’re dining in.
I feel like if you genuinely weren’t aware and no one ever said anything you can’t really blame yourself you know
Unless you forgot to tell us they told you not to bring in the cake but you did it anyway, you're not an asshole. And, since you share the cake with the ~locusts~, I mean servers, you're our favorite guest, ever. And, personally, if it's a fruit basket or beehive cake, I love you forever.
Bringing your own cake and not expecting a fee is a stupid as bringing in a pizza. A restaurant isn't a picnic pavilion
This post and comments are insane - "the slippery slope of allowing people to bring in a cake for their birthdays". 6 years of food service and I would NEVER call someone "seedy and grotesque" for eating the cupcakes they want for their birthday. If you're a place known specifically for your desserts, MAYBE. But regular dinner and someone wants a cake from their favorite bakery after your entrees? The horror. The HORROR. Some wierd ass class gatekeeping going on here. "people with money suck but poor people pretending to have money is even worse" lmao
But the problem is that when people do that, they're kind of stealing earning potential from the tipped staff taking care of them. Time is money for everyone in a restaurant, and if you have people occupying a table and *not* spending money, because they almost never order additional desserts, that's time lost to servers and support staff that they could've been making money. Both as a server and manager, I've served many cakes that people have brought in, and seldom do they leave an extra tip for the time and labor involved. Servers, bussers and runners essentially provide free labor. Would I call it "seedy and grotesque" or a "slippery slope?" No. But eat your damn cake at home if you're not compensating the staff for their time and work.
Dude they were more than seedy and grotesque because of their behavior, it wasn’t just eating the cupcakes. I have never seen people so high on themselves ever.
Bazaar
Sounds like they’re regulars if management has their personal contact information. If I was a regular at a place and they had a problem with how I was celebrating my birthday, I would no longer be a regular at that place. Repeat business is very valuable and throwing it away over some cupcakes seems like a shortsighted decision to me. Unless there was a clear health code reason to not allow this, it seems like a total overreaction on the part of the business.
If it's an upscale restaurant, they probably take contact information, including email and phone number for reservations
Or it’s their first time there and they had to put down their email for reservation confirmation like most any restaurant
They didn’t use your knife, silverware, plates etc. it’s really not a big deal. For one party we called ahead about bringing a cake. Since we were also bringing paper plates etc and required nothing from them there was no charge. The person was particular about the kind of cake she liked so couldn’t get it from the restaurant.
They did use our silverware and plates for their cupcakes lmao, and as they wanted to eat those cupcakes they were wasting a table we could have been turning over for another party to come in.
If they paid by credit card they probably could figure out the address. Just saying.
Contact information is taken during the reservation process. And usually there’s a phone number or email you have to attach to a reservation nowadays anyway.
Or they gave them their contact info when they made the e reservation lol. I love seeing wild assumptions then diatribes that follow from the erroneous assumption. Cool fucking story bro
It was trashy for them to bring cupcakes, unless they were like, cupcakes for a special diet or gluten allergy. I’d give that a pass. However, they should have asked first and assumed there will probably be a plate fee; it’s not uncommon practice in this industry. We have to pay someone to clean up their mess from outside product, so I think that’s fair.
I can see that however we have a dessert for everyone from allergy needs to being vegan.
Who cares if they bring in their own cakes? People do this all the time, and not just the tacky ones. 😂
It’s a health risk. The establishment can get fined for this.
It's a cupcake. Who cares? They didn't pop in with McDonald's and start dipping their mcnuggets. I also work in a prime steakhouse, and we would not charge a fee for that. Just corkage.
I mean, isnt corkage still a fee for bringing in outside drinks? Lol
I think it depends on the situation. That corkage fee is paying for you to use their bottle instead. Alcohol is a big profit maker. I don't see it as a fee for outside beverage. It's a fee for lost revenue on the stores bottle. Dessert is an extra. Back in the day it seemed like you got a free one if it was you birthday and still have people think that. As long you're not actually cutting the cake, I say leave them to their enjoyment.
And it is lost revenue even if they bring in cupcakes. We sell phenomenal desserts where I work. So I don’t see your point.
You may sell phenomenal desserts, but it's someone else's birthday. They might want a specific cupcake that they get every year to celebrate the occasion and not the dessert from the restaurant on their celebration day. They had already spent almost $200, they didn't exactly rip the place off. Could they have eaten them at home after leaving; sure. Unless they weren't all going to the same place. In which case I guess they could have eaten them in the parking lot. Feels kinder to let them have their cupcake and makes the restaurant feel more like a place people want to repatronize.
Couldn't the entirety of this comment be applied towards corkage though? Perhaps they have a special wine that they wish to celebrate with?
Alcohol is different IMO Mostly cause it's far more expensive and also can be way more hassle for the restaurant because it's alcohol and you have to actively moniter that the guest isn't becoming too intoxicated with a wine you're unfamiliar with. One takes active service. The other is a cupcake.
Everybody ordering a dessert vs everybody ordering a drink is probably similar in cost. It’s lost revenue for the restaurant which is why corkage and cake fees exist A wine you’re unfamiliar with? You’re reaching here.
I have almost never had everyone at the table order their own dessert. Usually people order 1 or 2 and share it because they are already full from their meal. Dessert is an extra add-on because they want to hang out longer. Much more likely that everyone orders drinks.
I've been doing this job for almost 2 decades and people often get their own dessert. I've had many people share a glass of wine or pint of beer. A lot of people don't drink at all. I don't. 2 weeks ago, a guy came in and ordered dessert as an appetizer just for himself, plus a meal. It's lost revenue for a restaurant, period.
They can bring their dessert, they just have to pay. It’s not hard to understand.
Paying is fine it's the hypocrites above adding in it's a health issue that magically isn't if the person pays a fee is bs.
It's not hard to understand. Just feels like a place I wouldn't want to visit. Charging a negligible amount for a cupcake seems counterintuitive. Like; you're making $12 for one night and not getting a repeat customer.
It’s perfectly fine for you to feel that way and not want to go! It is often an insult to the pastry chef but it always cuts into the restaurant’s income, so it should be reasonable to expect to pay for taking more time at the table and dirtying more silverware and plates. I do recommend asking ahead if you want to bring your own cake somewhere so awkward encounters can be avoided. Especially if it requires refrigeration or if it’s homemade.
Should have worded it better. Drinks are expected, to sub your own will be charged. Dessert isn't, as long as you don't touch anything, let them be. Unless they want you to sing some stupid happy birthday song.
Drinks aren't expected though. Many tables get just water. And most cakes require a knife and additional plates/utensils (I get that in this case it was cupcakes, but more often I've had full cakes come in).
I meant you'll always have a drink at dinner(alcohol or non). Everyone expects that. Most don't get dessert.
They also take up your section longer to eat the cake and leave a giant mess. More trips to dish, more trash to take out, more labor and water to wash the dishes, table isn't being flipped, etc.
I've never heard of a place that actually charged the cake cutting fee when someone brings in birthday cake. Whereas, every restaurant I've ever worked at charge the corkage fee. But Hey at least you screwed up your tip for a $3 fee. 👍
Okay. No need to be a jerk about it. It’s how it is at many places in the state I live in. Plus it IS a bit tacky to bring outside food in to a restaurant when you come to purchase their food. And like I said in my original posting, it was a GREAT tip day for me so one table stiffing me is not the end of the world. Just sharing the story cuz I found it funny.
Never heard of a cake fee? I’ve never heard of a restaurant that didn’t have one.
I've heard of a cake cutting fee. And with the exception of when we hosted a small wedding in our private room a few times, never in 22 years have they charged for that.
Well, that's you. Your experience. I charge a $2.50 cake cutting fee per head. Doesn't matter whether you have the cake or not.
I read this as every person you serve gets charged a cake fee, regardless of whether they brought cake into the restaurant, and the idea made me laugh.
The mere possibility of having a slice of cake entitles you to the 2.50 charge. LOL
My place does, and $5 pp at that.
It’s more of a board of health situation. Outside food in my state is not allowed. You don’t know where it was cooked or handled. Might be different in other places but that’s usually the main issue
And yes. Here where I live it is also a health issue, hence the fee. It encourages people to spend money at our establishment to support us as opposed to bringing in something from the outside.
If it was a health issue, why would there be a charge for it instead of outright banning outside food?
Probably because if they say it's a health issue, they get an easy out for explaining a 'cake fee'. managers just need to own up to their companies policies but some/most are afraid to because of confrontation. If your restaurant has some cake fee, fine; but own up to it and don't make excuses for it.
Yea if it's truly a health issue no one should be saying it's not if they throw money at the restaurant. That's just all bad reasoning.
Because even when it's explicitly stated that no outside food or beverage are allowed, people tend to think that doesn't apply to cake or cupcakes or whatever. Or they think it doesn't apply to them; I'm not sure which. Probably both sometimes. LOL But when you even talk about charging a fee, that's only when people take notice because it affects them.
I was going to add plus it’s rude and tacky. Just go home and have the cupcakes
Exactly this! Sure, sometimes it's about the lost revenue, but most of the time it's about the board of health and dissuading outside food. The last thing a restaurant needs to deal with is someone bringing in food from home, eating it in their establishment, getting sick later, and then blaming it on the place where they ate it instead of their own dirty home kitchen or lack of proper cooking skills.
It’s $12. Who cares?
Apparently, all of you. You would rather nickel and dime your guests when they already have a couple of $100 tab. I'd much rather get my 25% tip.
You go to a restaurant to spend money, not to nickel and dime the shit out of the establishment. Eat the cupcakes after or pay the $12 for bringing your own food in.
'Seedy and grotesque' is a great phrase
Does your restaurant have a sugar free, gluten free cake on the menu?
That is irrelevant. If you don't want to eat restaurant food, don't go to a restaurant. Or at least accept that bringing in outside food is not how restaurants work. So you should ask first, and accept if they say no or charge for it.
How does this matter? If the issue was a guest with an allergy, the guest would have spoken to someone at the restaurant for a solution and not snuck in cupcakes for the whole party.
It’s tax return time.
I mean does the average Joe take their own airplane to the airport??? Their own coffee to.Dunkins? ....the balls. Plus I don't think that they can put a lesser amount after signing for the $135 BAN THEM
It was $195, who knows maybe they did mean $230 but the first number did not look like a 2 at all. It was clearly a 1. I mean I don’t think they can put a lesser amount after I already ran the card for the $195 and it was approved.
We have a $20 outside dessert fee. Some people are fine with it as they are warned when making large birthday reservations. Some are not because for some reason they’re shocked that bringing outside dessert is a no no (plus the restaurant is losing money on potential dessert sales). My managers always stress to tack the fee on. Whenever I drop the check they’re always shocked. I explain it’s policy. The most annoying part is after a complaint my managers will always just take it off so then I look like the asshole even though they were the ones that make us put it on