"Health Fee" Added to Some Checks in the SF Area | CookingDistrict.com

"Health Fee" Added to Some Checks in the SF Area

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that some restaurants in San Francisco are adding a "Health Fee" when presenting the check to their diners. There is a mandatory fee that employers must cover to help pay for the city's Healthy San Francisco coverage system, and now the cost is being directly passed to the consumers at certain restaurants. Many argue that the health care cost is just another bill for employers to manage, like electricity and rent. Ed Perkins, who authored the Chicago Times article, makes no bones about his contempt for the new practice: "It’s sheer nonsense. Employees’ health insurance is no less of a cost of doing business than rent, property taxes, food costs, security services and all the other inputs businesses require to operate. To single out health care for a separate surcharge is unwarranted."
What do you think? Appropriate way to let diners know where the cost of their meal is going? Or shallow practice to make the bills easier to pay?

Source: Chicago Tribune via Neatorama

Comments

mythchef • 03/08/2010
Althoufgh I think health cost are ridiculous, this Is not the forum for this. ashallow practice at best
lbrefere001 • 03/08/2010
If you start adding health cost to a bill, what will stop restaurants from adding on a recycle cost or MTA tax which is new in NYC. Most profit margins are at an all time low due to increase procurement, labor and operating cost yet maintaining value driven pricing for your clients. It■s a balancing act to stay afloat in this economy.
c00kerb0y • 03/09/2010
How do you "manage" a mandatory charge? Eliminate staff positions. If this makes it easier for an already heaped upon industry to survive so be it. The dining public only sees that cost that they pay for food in the supermarket, and assumes that all of the rest is pure profit for the owner.
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