Foodie blogger Leslie Tay of ieatishootipost published a post on Facebook on December 9, explaining how the pizza joint where he and others were celebrating a birthday charged a $15 fee to cut a cake the party had brought from outside. The birthday girl decided to cut her cake at home instead, and their festive spirits were dampened considerably.
The post read as follows:
“So surprised that the pizza restaurant we just had dinner at just told us that they charge $15 if we wish to cut our birthday cake! Since when did this “anti-celebratory” practice start? I really hope this is not the new norm.
What do you all think? Should restaurants start charging if you wish to cut you cake at their premises after spending $XXX at the restaurant? Very sad if every restaurant will start doing this. It’s quite a Singaporean thing to hear people singing Happy Birthday and cutting a cake after a dinner to celebrate someone’s birthday.”
Tay added this postscript:
“I was a guest at the celebration, so I only found out about the $15 charge when it was time to cut the cake. My hosts did not ask at the time of the reservation because we did cut a birthday cake there earlier in the year. They were informed when they handed the cake to the restaurant. Apparently, they started to imposed it in Sep. In the end, we took the cake home to cut, because the birthday girl just did not feel it’s worth $15 to cut a 600g cake. It did burst the bubble on an otherwise joyous occasion. I hope other restaurants can see the marketing opportunity in this and go the other direction and signal that they welcome birthday parties by even offering a free cake! After all, isn’t a restaurant’s real mission to create a positive dining experience for the customer? Isn’t that the reason why we chose to return to the same restaurant for another birthday celebration?”
Imposing corkage fees for outside food or drinks is a standard practice that customers are familiar with. But what about this new “cakeage” fee? Tan called it an “anti-celebratory” practice, resulting in the group leaving the pizza restaurant and bringing the cake home instead.
The food blogger made a point of saying that the $15 cakeage fee “burst the bubble on an otherwise joyous occasion” as the birthday girl “did not feel it’s worth $15 to cut a 600g cake”. He said that restaurants should aim “to create a positive dining experience for the customer”.
Some netizens seemed to take the imposition of the cakeage fee quite hard. It’s a birthday, after all!
Maybe $1-$2 instead of $15?
What’s the point of getting $15 when the restaurant could earn way more?
Boycott the restaurant, they say:
This user seems to think charging a cakeage fee is perfectly reasonable:
If you don’t like it, go elsewhere:
it’s all about letting the customers know in advance if any cakeage fee exists:
This netizen thinks that $15 is not a big deal and said he would happily pay the cakeage fee.
You know what they say. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.