Fury as restaurant encourages diners to pay via app – then charges £2.99 extra
An Italian restaurant in east London is encouraging customers to pay via an app on their mobile phone – and charging them £2.99 to do so.
Gloria in Shoreditch has prompted anger among some diners who noticed a so-called checkout fee had been added to their bill on top of a 13.5 per cent service charge.
One customer posted a photo of their digital bill with the £2.99 charge to online forum Reddit, asking: “Is Gloria in Shoreditch the only restaurant that charges you for the privilege of paying your bill?”
The fee applies to customers who pay using the Sunday app, whereby people can scan a QR code at their table and settle the bill on their phone, with the aim of saving them time at the end of their meal. It is optional as customers can choose to pay their bill with a contactless card instead.
The app is used by several UK restaurants including Maison Francois, Angelina, Bancone, Dishoom, Bocca di Lupo, and Japes.
Sunday, which was set up by the founders of Big Mamma Group who own Gloria, previously confirmed to restaurant-industry specialists MCA that “in some cases a small fee between 0.5 per cent and 2 per cent fees, capped for big checks, is applied to customers who wish to pay quickly with QR codes, not wait for the bill and get their digital receipt instantly.”
‘This needs stamping out fast’
The additional fees, however, have angered customers, with one saying it “ruins the whole experience” of eating out.
“People are sick to the back teeth of booking places, bonkers service charges and still expecting tips, and now stupid things like this. It’s for their own good they know about this!” they said in response to the post on Reddit.
Another wrote: “This needs stamping out fast before it spreads. I hope the restaurant gets boycotted until they see sense.”
It comes after a Chinese restaurant in London replaced tips with a so-called brand charge that rewards bosses instead of staff.
Ping Pong, which runs a chain of restaurants across London, has removed the option to pay a 12.5pc service charge as customers face an optional 15pc brand fee instead.
In a statement, the restaurant chain said: “The brand charge covers additional costs related to operating a franchised brand and imposed by the Ping Pong brand-holder, including franchise fees and other brand related expenditure.”
The company also said it had increased employees’ wages to offset the removal of the service charge.
A spokesperson for Big Mamma Group said: “Big Mamma does propose Sunday as a payment option for clients who wish to pay faster, and the fee is part of this software which allows customers to pay via their phone, split the bill and instantly receive their receipt.”
“Sunday is 100 per cent optional. Of course the traditional ways to pay (cash and credit card) are free of charge and are used by more than 60 per cent of our guests.”
