DC Council caps restaurant fees at 20%
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A big point of frustration for people eating out in D.C. are the service fees, sometimes hidden on the menu.
On Tuesday the D.C. Council voted to cap restaurant service fees at 20%.
Some diners think it’s too high while others say it is what it is and they’ll pay whatever they have to.
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Even the council was divided with the particular amendment passing in a 7-6 vote.
There’s been a lot of confusion since the implementation of Initiative 82 which raised the tipped minimum wage for workers.
“A lot of people, when they voted for the minimum wage, they thought they were actually helping us out, but they really weren’t,” Ralf Tolentino said.
Talentino, a bartender, has seen the impacts.
“Any fee popping up now, it just just sucks because now that people are dining out, they feel like you already you have to tip and then they’re like, ‘where is this going to?'” Talentino said.
To deal with some of these problems, the D.C. Council passed the Restaurant Revitalization bill on Tuesday.
It caps service fees at 20%, requiring it be clearly labeled on all menus and websites and be visible on signage before entering the restaurant.
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“I think that this bill helps us get to a place where we’ll start to see some consistency,” said Shawn Townsend, President and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.
The disclosure has to specifically explain how the fee will be used or distributed to employees, including the proportion of the fee distributed to employees.
The bill also has a safe harbor provision so restaurants in compliance will be protected from private lawsuits, like the one filed against Clyde’s Restaurant Group which was later dropped.
“I visit and I eat, which is what I come here for, and I pay whatever it is,” said David Stopp, visiting D.C. from North Carolina.
Another part of the bill changes language around liquor liability when dealing with drunk customers.
Townsend said bars and restaurants in D.C. have some of the highest insurance rates in the country.
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“What we suspect, as we’ve seen in other states when they’ve done similar reforms, is that our assurance insurance premiums, as it relates to liquor liability will drop significantly,” Townsend said.
He said it could potentially save business owners hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The bill goes to the mayor for her signature before being approved by Congress and becoming law.
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