US Restaurant Faces Flak For Levying 4% Surcharge For Staff Health Insurance

Eating out has become an expensive affair and the reasons are manifold. Food prices and costs are rising, and along with this, rentals are also getting costlier. The restaurants try to stretch their staff to a maximum without compromising on food quality and portions. Sometimes, eateries also levy certain charges to compensate for their costs without affecting overall pricing. Recently, a restaurant in Los Angeles, USA faced flak for levying a 4% health insurance surcharge to be paid by their customers. The surcharge, they claimed, would cover health insurance for their employees. Take a look:

Lotta bullshit going on here, including charging for tap water (illegal) pic.twitter.com/AtutJk02t1— Mr Dave Anthony (Lord) (@daveanthony) July 3, 2023

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The restaurant which came under the lens is named Alimento and is located in the Silver Lake Boulevard area in Los Angeles, California. As per their invoice that surfaced online, they charged Twitter user Dave Anthony a 4% surcharge for staff health insurance which amounted to $4.56. The bill stated that the surcharge could be removed at the request of the customer. Further, they even added a $3 water donation for the drinking water they were serving.

The surcharge for health insurance sent shockwaves across the internet. Questions were raised about whether it was ethical on the restaurant’s part to charge this amount for the health insurance of their staff members. Many others questioned what would happen to the insurance in slow days or slow months.

Meanwhile, the chef and owner of the restaurant took to Instagram to respond to the flak. As per his statement, the surcharge was not unique to his restaurant and it was a common feature across menus in Los Angeles eateries. “As most LA diners will know, Alimento’s 4% healthcare surcharge is hardly unique. There are dozens if not hundreds of other restaurants in Los Angeles that implemented similar surcharges when the ACA mandated that companies with 25 or more employees offer health insurance to full-time employees more than a decade ago,” he said in his post. Take a look:

Do you think the 4% surcharge for employee health insurance by restaurants is justified? Tell us in the comments.