Bengaluru Cafe Says Banned Service Charge Pays for Staff's Children's Education

Indiranagar Social in Bengaluru, which happens to be a very popular cafe, has put up a notice on every table about the service charge. A picture of the same was uploaded on Reddit and it led to a debate. The restaurant has claimed that the service charge is added to people dining at the place and not on takeouts and home deliveries.

“What is it? It is a fee charged by the restaurant over and above the price of food and drink for the additional convenience of serving the menu items to you for consumption inside the restaurant. Service charge is not charged on takeouts and home deliveries, for instance," the notice read. It further stated that service charges ensure that “all customers are treated fairly and equally" and are “equitable" for the staff. They further claimed that this service charge pays for their “children’s education."

Take a look:

They also tried to convey that a service charge is not a “tip" or “illegal". “It is not a tip. The service charge looks after our team members well and no tips are expected. However, you are welcome to tip directly to an individual member of our team, if you should so choose," the board read.

Many people, in the comment section, wrote as to how such places should pay their staff better. Some people called the restaurant out for “guilt-tripping." “Namma Bengalooru businesses.. Never serve the customer with American standard of service, But always charge the customer with American cost of service," commented a Reddit user. Another person wrote, “Similar scene happened where we had to wait for 30 mins to get bottled beer and we didn’t want to pay for service charge.. told this to waiter and then to manager.. finally he agreed to reduce the bill amount. but during billing, waiter threw the card back on the table after swiping! till then, we were thinking it was one bad day for them and us .. after that gesture, we decided not to go back to that place anymore."

This comes after Central Consumer Protection Authority announced that restaurants and hotels are barred from charging service charges on bills. But on Wednesday, the National Restaurant Association of India announced that levying service charge at restaurants isn’t “illegal."

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