The Outdated Menu Pricing Trap
One of the craftiest tricks restaurants use involves showing you one price online but charging you another when you show up. One of the most used and clever tricks is outdated pricing with lower costs. You may observe this when you check out the restaurant’s menu on the internet beforehand and see old prices. This practice could be deceptive, especially if the price difference is small enough to go unnoticed.
The scam works because customers rarely double-check their bills against what they expected to pay. Restaurant industry insiders know that most diners trust the prices they see displayed and won’t question small increases. Those who won’t look at their receipt will fall victim to this scam. In 2022, 53 percent of polled operators reported raising menu prices in the past six months. That leapt to 67 percent last year, suggesting the prior year’s hike wasn’t sufficient to cover the rising cost of expenses.
The Hidden Auto-Gratuity Deception
The “Auto Gratuity Abuse” scam involves employees taking advantage of service charges and other automatic fees to steal from guests. This scheme is particularly common in resort hotels and busy restaurants where customers are less likely to scrutinize every detail of their bill. The bartender goes into the POS system and adds an additional $1 tip to the check before closing it out to her room charge.
Restaurants and hotel room service are notorious for tricking customers by automatically adding a tip and then suggesting more. A professional photographer recently posted on social media, “the check seems to show a 20% service charge added. But then when the credit card comes back it says gratuity not included and suggests gratuities.” Industry data reveals this practice has exploded in recent years. Recent regulatory changes have led to stricter disclosure requirements for automatic gratuity charges.
Many restaurants now include an Automatic Gratuity, but some restaurants manipulate them by calculating through the post-tax total rather than the pre-tax amount to inflate the tip. Another is by adding gratuity to large parties without informing the customer.
The Upselling Add-On Trick
This is one of the most common tactics by restaurants. When ordering a specific menu item, your server might suggest a dip without saying it’s an add-on, so you would have to pay for it. This comes as a hidden charge that you will see on your bill. Servers are specifically trained to make these add-ons sound like they’re part of your meal or just friendly recommendations.
The psychology behind this scam is brilliant – they ask you about extras when you’re hungry and focused on your main order. By the time you see the bill, you’ve already consumed the food and can’t really argue about it. You might see that your server charged you two for one meal you bought, or they may add a meal you didn’t order if you avail a lot from the menu. Industry insiders report that restaurants using this tactic can increase their average check size by nearly fifteen to twenty percent without customers realizing they’ve been deliberately upsold.
Recent data from the National Restaurant Association shows that The National Restaurant Association puts restaurant losses due to fraud as much as 4% of sales annually. However, when these deceptive practices are turned around to extract money from customers rather than lose it, the profit margins can be substantial.
