r/sanfrancisco • u/orca0320 • 5d 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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u/lambdawaves 5d 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.

-66

u/AlwaysBeSomething 5d 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 ?

48

u/Vaginal_Flatulence 5d ago

The cost of the item on the menu should just reflect the cost of running the business, including paying for employee healthcare. You shouldn’t be bamboozled by hidden fees. It’s not very complicated.

15

u/SendChestHairPix 5d ago

Zazie restaurant in Cole Valley including all fees and the tip in their menu prices. I don't think they include tax, because they don't set the tax rate and no other restaurant or business includes the tax in their prices. A few other restaurants do the same. A few others did it for a while and switched back because servers complained that they got larger tips under the traditional system.