It needs to start operating a fair, clear and transparent policy to show how it distributes its service charge or risk alienating staff and customers alike.
I say the public, though of course hardly anyone can afford to eat at Le Gavroche, which is now raising its menu prices because it's removing its service charge.
After a public backlash, the restaurant chain Giraffe announced this month that it would remove its service charge and allow all tips to go to staff.
* Ping Pong, a London chain of dim sum restaurants, confirmed, after a tip-off to The Independent, that it uses service charges to top up to or above the minimum wage.
According to the minimum wage ordinance passed last year in Los Angeles, which established a $15 wage floor for large hotels in the city, any such fee belongs to the workforce, regardless of what management chooses to call it -- be it a "service charge," a "delivery charge" or a "porterage" fee, to name a few examples.
Mr Rich called it a service charge.
"It's a scam, the service charges and the fees," Mr. Milos said.
If you are researching hotels on the Internet, for example, check the rate carefully to determine if it includes breakfast, taxes and service charges.
"In this country, though it'll differ from state to state, if it's called a service charge, the management is generally allowed to keep it," Mr. Lynn said.
They hate service charges.
Prices may not reflect ticketing service charges.
