Tipping culture appears to have jumped back on the table as some Australian restaurants appear to be adding service fees to bills after a Redditor posted their receipt from a recent visit to an Italian restaurant in Sydney
When the bill arrived, they found a 7% service charge in much smaller writing than the rest of the outlined charges:
Picture: Receipt from an Italian Restaurant at Circular Quay in Sydney – Reddit
The restaurant has spoken out and said that both their website and their in-house menus explicitly state there is an optional surcharge that would only be removed upon request.
The online response was resoundingly negative, with some saying Australia doesn’t need tipping, others saying putting the pressure on customers to tell their staff they won’t get extra money is inappropriate, and some even questioning if the staff member that served them would even see the tip.
This isn’t the first instance of restaurants quietly adding a service fee either.
In Australia it is perfectly legal for hospitality businesses to add a service fee without verbally informing you, as long as you are presented with the service fee in some manner, like the receipt above, and this is shown to you before you pay.
