No one disputes that the businesses of restaurants and other dining establishments suffered substantially as a result of the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic — to the point where they temporarily closed and had to rely on creative options to keep the trickle of money coming in; and some had permanently closed altogether — but are some of those creative options designed to deceive and cheat you out of your money?
Are Restaurants Saving Money by Withholding Items From Your Order — and Other Potentially Shady Business Practices?
An increasing number of restaurants across the United States have started to engage in adding a mandatory surcharge to the bills of dining patrons — with a markup by as much as 26 percent — in an attempt to recoup their financial losses due to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic. Rather than raise menu prices, these establishments keep their menu prices artificially low to remain competitive and fool customers into thinking that their total bill will be a lower cost — until the surcharge is added; and unexpectedly in some cases.
The practice of adding a surcharge of an arbitrary amount to the final bill may be perceived and considered as a deceptive business practice — but are restaurants purposely engaging in another type of fraudulent activity by purposely leaving an item or two out of the orders of their customers?
I can only go by my experiences, as I have been patronizing restaurants during the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic and giving service people more in terms of gratuities than usual in order to show my support…
…but in every single experience when I picked up food to take it out from different restaurants, a part of my order was missing — and each example listed below was from a different dining establishment:
- The beans were left out of my side dish of rice and beans which accompanied three fish tacos
- A beverage was missing from the order
- No one put the salad that was supposed to come with my meal in the bag
- Bacon was never included on my hamburger
- A side order of broccoli was nowhere to be found
Food Substituted With That of Lower Quality?
Another possible bait-and-switch tactic with which restaurants could be engaging is substituting food which is normally served as per the menu with food of a lower quality.
I ordered a steak from a restaurant in which the steaks have generally been very good — lean, flavorful, and satisfying…
…but during the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, the quality of the beef used for the steaks was stringy, fatty, and gristly — so much so that I had to return to the restaurant to have it replaced, as it was not inexpensive.
The replacement steak was significantly better to the point of being acceptable — but it was still not as good as the steaks I usually have been served over the years at this particular restaurant.
The practice of offering food of lower quality — or substituting what is advertised on the menu with something different — is unfortunately a practice in which some restaurants have engaged to improve their profits at the behest of customers long before the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, according to this detailed article which was written on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 and posted here at The Gate.
Summary
A side of beans may not amount to a hill of beans; and the people who fulfilled the order may have vegged out on not including the broccoli — so they all may have all have been mere accidents of coincidence or mistakes which were not purposely committed…
…but what if the items were not included in each order intentionally — even if the customer had paid for it — and what if this practice was multiplied by the number of dining patrons in a day? A dollar here, two dollars there, 50 cents — it all adds up to potential savings for the restaurant.
Admittedly, I am simply imparting my personal experiences — this article is not based on any scientific data or statistics — and want to know if you have experienced an increase of questionable activities from the restaurants and dining establishments which you patronize.
If you plan on picking up your order at a restaurant and taking it out, ensure that you scrutinize the contents inside of the bag which is handed to you by the employee of the restaurant so that you may inform him or her of the discrepancy — if one exists…
…and this is a practice which should become a habit to you anyway — 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic or not.
All photographs ©2014, ©2015, ©2017, and ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
