Customer: Why restaurants charge 10% service charge if it’s ‘self-service which you have to collect the food yourself?’

A customer posted a screenshot of a bill for soup at a noodle house recently, which included a 10 per cent service charge.

As she had bought the soup at a “self-service” eatery where each customer picks up their order from the counter and brings it to their table, she wondered about the reason for the additional charge.

“I am not sure if it is a norm now but it seems to be getting more common more eateries and small restaurants are charging 10% service charge. 

Best of all, they are all self-service which you have to collect the food yourself! The only ‘service’ I see is the staffs taking order and clearing the tables,” wrote Ms Felicity Lim on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Saturday (Sept 24).

The eatery in question is Jiang’s Noodle House at Dhoby Ghaut, but Ms Lim stated in her post that she had no wish to shame the eatery or cause it to lose business, but her purpose was “for similar establishments to reflect and not to charge diners unnecessarily.”

And while the higher cost of food items may require F & B establishments to raise their prices as well, Ms Lim wrote that this is “not the right way to pass on costs to diners. 

You might want to be transparent and charge 40-50c more to your food perhaps and let diners decide if they want to eat.”

She also asked if eateries “especially the smaller ones which barely offer any service suka suka charge” an additional 10 per cent to diners’ bills.

“Are there any requirements like GST they need to meet before they are allowed to charge this?”

In restaurants that provide table service where “they serve food on your table, keep pouring tea and replacing plates” a service charge is justifiable, she added.

“Some might feel it is not a big sum but for a family of few dining it can add up to quite a bit to the bill.”

Some commenters agreed with Ms Lim.

One netizen pointed out that the price Ms Lim paid for the dish already seemed pricey.

Another gave examples of additional costs they felt that F & B establishments impose on customers.

One commenter provided a quote they said was from the website of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), the government agency responsible for the administration of taxes.

IRAS’ website may be found here. /TISG

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