Eat Out to Help Out - pubs and restaurants taking the piss

[nudelipstick]

Is this common?

We went to a pub last night, nothing special, just a local watering hole.

There was no drinks menu but we ordered sparkling water and Pepsi.

When we got the bill they were £5 each!

They also added a compulsory 15% service charge and the meals were more expensive than they were on the menu - staff said they were slightly more expensive during the deal and we had been given the wrong menus.

I realise this has been a hard time for the hospitality industry but surely this will just piss off customers?

Been to three places doing this so far. Prices don't seem to be any different where I am.

They can call a service charge compulsory but it isn't.

YABU. That suggests that they normally charge £10 for a soft drink, which obviously they don't. You probably wouldn't pay that in a high end hotel.

I would have thought that, for a 'local pub, nothing special' you'd easily be able to get a starter, main and soft drink for no more than £10 each under the deal, unless you went for the most expensive food options, because that would cover £10-12 for your main, £3 for a drink and a fiver for a starter, which seem to be typical prices to me in a wide range of places.

DP and I paid £23 for two pizzas (his was massive, mine normal size, we both took half home for lunch the next day) and two pints of lager, which obviously weren't included in the deal and we got the food half price as expected. Independent craft beer and wood fired pizza bar in a large city. We go there a lot, however much they charge.

I’ve seen a place trying to claim their kids’ menu was always £12 so with the discount is £6 🙄🙄🙄 Conversely a local pub has the kids menu for £1.98!

Goodness I've not had this yet but that would make me leave. Outrageous con!!

We're on hols too. Large mains, 2 alcoholic drinks each for DH and I. Kids had huge puddings too. Should have come to 64, came to 42. Very happy with that and left a generous tip.

We went out on Tuesday (would have been going out anyway as son went to respite) and checked out some local chain menus before booking. One restaurant in the JWLees chain had massively reduced their menu offerings over the weekend (i.e. not since the start of re-opening, only at the start of the deal). One Harvester seemed to have increased prices, not sure if since re-opening or just for the deal. So we went back to an old favourite, a member of the Greene King family, who were still offering their full menu at standard prices; the App then happily half-priced everything. One good evening, under £20 total.

Nomore79
^ If they have put it up especially for the duration of the offer then I don't think that's right.
But we put ours up for reopening to cover the extra cost of the PPE we have to wear and the extra staff needed to do the table service and the other little extras attached.
Without covering those costs we'd be sunk if not now then definitely by the quiet winter months.
At the moment we're bearing the cost of the 50% off, to be reclaimed (and we are keeping receipts as proof of discount given) and although yes, it will be reclaimed, our physical takings are halved for those days (and demand and therefore orders higher) that doesn't pay wages or suppliers, especially when businesses have already taken a big hit and funds are low.
I'm not saying it's right at all, but it's a possible reasoning behind it. ^

I think this is a really valid point, that’s the whole thing behind this, it’s to help businesses get some cash back to keep jobs going and that ripples through the whole supply chain- it’s not Really meant to be about everyone having a lovely discount.

Not how it's supposed to work, is it? I wonder if HMRC have some way of checking up on this sort of fraud.

We've used it twice and it worked exactly as it should have. Menu prices unaltered, discount clearly shown on the bill.

We've been to local pub restaurant. 5 adults, 1 child. 4 soft drinks, 1 starter and 2 dessert for 50. One of the adult meals was a steak.
Went to local cafe though haven't been before. Think prices maybe went up as was 9 for toastie and chips before the deduction. And 8.75 for goujons and chips (meant to be adults but quite small portion).

Blimey!!

Me and DH ate out at an Indian the other day and we had:

2 large beers and a Lemonade
2 starters
2 naan breads
2 curries
2 portions of rice

And it came to £21

Bargain!!!!

I went to a chain pub for lunch on Monday, two meals and two drinks - £7!

Not been to any independent restaurants yet though but hopefully will be doing in the next week or so, so we'll see.

Also smaller businesses who are abusing this and ripping off customers are incredibly shortsighted. Because I certainly wouldn't be going back.

Where I work we have a smaller menu now and customers paid half price up to the value of ten pounds off.We were very busy including the last week end.
If places have put prices up surely this is because of reduced capacity? I guess the combination of all the summer business lost which is massive and reduced capacity inside due to social distancing means they need to raise the prices.
In my opinion hospitality is supply and demand.If you don't like it don't go back.They will lose customers and ultimately miss out.Just bear in mind hospitality has been hit hard.

Not everywhere is doing this. We went for Tapas on Tuesday and the place was still doing their usual Happy Hour deal too.

We had Nine Adult Tapas Dishes, Three Children's Tapas Dishes, 4 Refillable Soft Drinks and a Cheese Garlic Bread - £26 Total (three adults, one pre teen and one toddler)

There’s a village pub near me which is overly expensive anyway and they have put out a very reduced menu the the scheme only applies and have put the prices up on it compared to the normal menu! Locals won’t forget

Sorry, I meant to say YANBU of course. I know that restaurants, pubs, cafes etc have suffered and will continue to suffer.

But that's no excuse for taking the piss like this. They're getting the cost of the discount paid from the government, they shouldn't expect to get it from the customer as well. It's probably reasonable to put their prices up a little, but not doubling them.

I went on Tuesday, I had 4 drinks and a main meal with a side dish. Bill was £16, really good.

Yorkshire - two of us went out to local pizzeria - under £15 in total including drinks, pizza each and a garlic bread starter.

Wetherspoons was under £11 in total for three of us.

Out with the family on tuesday to indy Italian close to us, kids are all teens so adult menu. 1 risotto, 1 pasta, 3 pizzas, 4 desserts, four soft drinks, bottle of beer and a double espresso. Should have been £106, bill was £56. We've booked to go back next week!

@SockYarn

Also smaller businesses who are abusing this and ripping off customers are incredibly shortsighted. Because I certainly wouldn't be going back.

Exactly. People won't go back if they think the "full prices" are the normal prices, or that tiny portions are normal. The eat out scheme only lasts through August - this is the time for restaurants and cafes to advertise themselves so that people want to come back from September when they're charging full price. Nobody will be going back to a standard pub serving tiny portions at high prices.

I’d be leaving a negative review or at least email if this happened. I can completely understand some independent places panicking about lost revenue and putting prices up and then thinking if they reduce portion sizes etc it will help out but it will certainly not help out in the long run. If they have poor feedback they might realise they’re pissing off the very customers who are supporting them.

I haven't taken advantage of this yet - but I think it's a pity it doesn't also apply to takeaways.

Surely this would bring in a huge amount of takeaway trade (which is what the govt presumably wants) and would be safer as people aren't mingling?

I'm going out Friday lunch to a favourite independent restaurant that's just re-opened. It would take a lot for me to stay away. Always had lovely food and service there.