Restaurants Ponder How To Charge Patrons For Obamacare

The Federalist ^ | 12-4-15 | Ellie Bufkin

[markomalley]

Have you recently thought your restaurant checks seem a little higher than you expected? Some of us throw down our cards without so much as a second glance, expecting to have only been charged for what we consumed, but you may want to start looking a little more closely.

By now most people have heard that many popular restaurants in New York City have abolished tipping, and raised their menu prices by up to 40 percent, which now gives them the ability to pay everyone on staff more and provide full-time health coverage.

Some restaurants tried a different tactic, including Brooklyn pizzeria Franny's. They announced that checks would soon include a line item that reads "3% surcharge for Obamacare," then quickly reversed that decision after complaints. Now they will raise all their prices, despite their concerns this means "putting $22 pizza on the menu."

A manager at Franny's compared the line-item to a fuel surcharge. When gas prices go up, delivery companies will often charge their clients a percentage of their order to offset the extra expenditure. Citing Obamacare's inflated health-insurance premiums and requirement that eateries like Franny's insure their full-time staff, restaurants have asked their guests to pay.

[uncitizen]

Do that and The Health Department just might show up and put your pizzeria out of commission until you rethink that “obamacare line item” idea.

[G Larry]

So, we’ll just knuckle under to these fascists?

We can’t one at a time it!
We gotta do some maaaass communicatin’!