Rochester, MN Reacts to New Fee on Local Restaurant’s Receipt

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It wasn't long ago Five West was on blast and raising some eyebrows over a new fee. Well, now another local restaurant has added a fee to bills and customers want to know what it's all about.

ICYMI: What Exactly is Five West's New Fee? Owner Responds. 

A customer recently shared their receipt on Facebook and are distraught over Fat Willy's new fee that they're calling a "facilities fee."

On the bottom of the receipt, there's a fee to add 3% on the check. On this specific check that was a total of $1.26. Some people speculated that it's a credit card charge, but it says "will be added to ALL checks." .

There were nearly 400 comments on the post last I checked. Lots of people jumped to the defense of the business, some were quite annoyed, while others were unbothered by the "small fee."

Here are some of the comments from the page. Most fell in line with one of these opinions:

"Like $1.26 is gonna break the bank"

 

"Just as the restaurant is going to pass this on to me, I am going to pass it on to the server. I usually leave between 18-20% now I will leave 15-18%" -- please don't be that person. The server has nothing to do with that fee... 

 

Others saying Fat Willy's isn't the only place charging the fees: "Literally almost everywhere does now"

 

The owner actually responded on the post saying:

"Thank your new policies that were put into effect on Jan 1st! We didn’t want to do this but new rules went into effect that cost small businesses a lot of money. We had no choice just like 90% of all restaurants." - Matt

I asked Fat Willy's for further clarification as to what the fee actually is for and heard back almost immediately.

Their response:

"It is for the up charge in credit card fees, the fact that small businesses have to pay vaca to part time workers, rising food costs that are out of control, and energy bills that have doubled in the last 4 years.

We can’t speak for other restaurants but a high percentage of restaurants have been forced to do this to stay open. We didn’t feel like charging $20 for a burger is the right way to go so something had to be done."

My opinion: We all love having fantastic restaurant options near home right? What's a dollar or two to support a small business and keep them in town?