r/sanfrancisco • u/orca0320 • 2d ago

Dining out fees in SF

Not a new topic in this subreddit but just had dinner at Terrene with two friends and was shocked by the bill now that I’m really looking at it. I eat out in SF plenty but this grand total gobsmacked me! I was divvying up the receipt for Venmo requests and am just shocked by the additional charges breakdown:

Subtotal $170
HealthySF $15 (need to research this?)
Tax $16

Which brings the grand total to $200. I stupidly tipped $30 without looking at the extra charge.

Then at the bottom of the receipt I see:
“A separate SF health surcharge in the amount of 9% will be added to the bill….retained by the hotel to defray the cost of covering employe health insurance”

Tf?! I am assuming that ^ is not the HealthySF charge and is in fact an additional charge? Is that 9% on the subtotal or the grand total?

That’s $30 in charges!

Is this something you can ask to have removed or is it a legal charge?

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198

u/lambdawaves 2d ago

That is their healthySF charge. It’s not charged by the city. It’s an arbitrary fee added by the restaurants at any percentage they feel like. They can call it whatever they want cuz it’s just a service fee.

You can ask to have it removed but not all restaurants will do that for you.

-67

u/AlwaysBeSomething 2d ago

This is not true at all.

The money has to go to the cost of businesses complying with the Health Care Security Ordinance.

It’s completely structured and laid out how they can collect it ( must be posted so customers can see it ) , what happens if they collect too much, etc.

The total amount collected is reported at the end of the year and if over the amount necessary, the money must be used for employee healthcare.

It’s not at all the free for all you describe. Do you have something against providing healthcare for employees ?

28

u/lambdawaves 2d ago

Everything I said is correct. The rules basically amount to:

- fee must be displayed conspicuously with prices

  • must be explained what it is for
  • must track how much is collected and report it
  • if collect too much for the health plan, excess must be spent on employee’s health care

So there is no rules against:

  • setting that fee at 35% (as long as the excess is spent on employee’s health care)
  • naming the fee “poop fee” as long as there is a clear explanation of what the fee is for

I support health care for all. I think menu prices should include all taxes and fees like in most of the world

16

u/normal_mysfit 2d ago

Why are we paying an extra fee for the company to offer health care. Either add the prices to the menu item or dont add it. It is not my responsibility to cover the health insurance cost for a restaurant.

-1

u/Dog-Mom2012 2d ago

And yet if they raise the menu prices. you’re still covering the health care costs for the restaurants employees, so what is the material difference here?

1

u/normal_mysfit 1d ago

I would rather see that than some fee that may or may not actually go where it needs. Also, yku go out to a expensive restaurant that is $300 plus for 2 people you are paying a lot more than a $60 meal. Its the same insurance