A Texas diner who had saved up to treat herself to breakfast with others was upset after the restaurant added a “deceptive” fee to her bill without her knowledge.
The 30-year-old woman addressed Reddit on Tuesday to share a photo of her receipt from Paperboy in Austin, Texas, where her bill for three meals came to $72.03.
When she looked at her August receipt, she was shocked to see that an additional three percent charge (for a total of $1.94) had been added to her bill for a “kitchen surcharge.”
“I feel like the fee is just a way to hide the real price of each item,” the woman said. Newsweek Magazine‘Kitchen work for a fair wage should be included in the $20 price of chicken and biscuits.’
She told the outlet that if she had known about the three percent, she would have ordered something else, since $20 was her limit.
“It’s misleading. The price of the dish should have been $20.60 on the menu,” he said. “If we had seen it, we would have chosen somewhere else, but I guess we were fooled by that trick.”
The 30-year-old took to Reddit on Tuesday to share a photo of her receipt from Paperboy in Austin, Texas. When she looked at the receipt, she was stunned to see that an additional three percent charge had been added to her bill for “kitchen recognition.”
“I think the fee is just a way to hide the real price of each item,” the woman said. “It’s misleading – the item should have been listed as $20.60 on the menu. If we had seen that, we would have chosen somewhere else, but I guess we were fooled by that trick.”
The woman and her group also purchased a Texas Hash for $17, Paperboy Pancakes for $12 and their Chicken and Biscuit meal for $20, as well as beverage purchases ranging from $3.75 for drip coffee to $6 for orange juice.
The restaurant defended its decision, saying the kitchen recognition fee has been part of its business for two years. The fee is added because kitchen staff cannot receive tips in the front of the house, like waiters, and they wanted to “bridge the gap” between the two.
“We are proud to pay our kitchen staff above-competitive wages. However, there remains an industry-wide disparity between front-of-house and kitchen staff,” a Paperboy spokesperson told Newsweek.
‘Due to labor laws, back-of-house positions cannot be included in the tip pool; 100 percent of the kitchen recognition fee goes to the hourly kitchen staff working that day.’
The entire three percent fee goes to the kitchen staff on the day and Paperboy sees it as “a way to stabilize our operations and avoid the continued menu price increases necessary to support our team.”
The restaurant’s menu warns customers that a three percent charge will be added, and a spokesperson said the fee can be removed from the bill.
The spokesperson also said the fee “is clearly indicated on the printed menu” and that “guests can request its removal at any time.”
“We will do this without questions or hesitation,” the spokesman said.
Despite the kind nature behind the fee, Redditors weren’t happy.
“You’d think a place that charges $5 for a cup of tea could afford to pay their employees without having to do this,” one user wrote.
Another wrote: ‘Everything on the menu is super expensive and they add an unsolicited tip?’
A different user agreed, writing: “Those prices seem crazy to me.”
Many people agreed with her, saying the prices were extremely high for the southern state and that it is not her job to pay the back-office staff.
“Sorry… but if I’m paying $6 for a glass of ORANGE JUICE… You ‘cuisine appreciators’ can kindly appreciate my middle finger,” wrote another.
“Bro… you paid $26 for a chicken biscuit and orange juice,” one wrote.
One user said he wouldn’t even pay $6 for a McDonald’s McMuffin, let alone $72 at Paperboy.
Another said he would pay the fee “once, but never go back.”
One user said: “You can criticize me all you want, but if the restaurant charges me a fee, that’s my tip. I make sure to leave a note for the waiter so they know exactly who to talk to about it.”