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?

We went to our local chain pub for lunch yesterday. Same menu as usual and they still had their 2 main meals (from a set list) for £10.99.

The final bill was £18 something for 4 meals and 4 soft drinks.
I know someone else who used meerkat meals in conjunction with EOTHO at Pizza Hut too.

We will definitely be taking advantage of this deal while we can.

i think its bad putting drinks up by that much op knowing you werent eating its not going to get people through the door

i understand they have to cover costs and lost revenue but 5 quid for a water is ridiculous

went to a brewers fayre 50% automatically came off the bill they have taken off the 10 pound limit so you can order anything and get half off still

"It's catch 22 ... there are less people eating out, less tables available for diners and I bet the business rates, food an staff costs are the same."
The Govt have given businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England a business rates holiday for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

Eligibility
You’re eligible if your property is a:

shop
restaurant, café, bar or pub
cinema or live music venue
assembly or leisure property - for example, a sports club, a gym or a spa
hospitality property - for example, a hotel, a guest house or self-catering accommodation.

Went out for lunch yesterday to aplace we have been before. Only changes were the drastically reduced number of tables and the extra covid hygiene measures by the waiting staff which included cleaning tables and chairs between customers. The 50% offer was just that. I was surprised how many people seemed unaware of it, telling staff they had been undercharged when they got the bill.

It’s only available Monday to Wednesday. So either they put up their prices for the whole week or run the risk of someone shopping them for inflating the prices for 3 days.
It would be dead easy to prove if the Op went back today and had the same meal and it wasn’t 50% off.

I think there is confusion over the discount. It isn't 50% off. It's an allowance of £10 per person. After a drink and starter ( approx £10 ) it's likely you'll then pay full price for your main course and then full price for any further drinks or desserts

That's the case if you go somewhere expensive and/or have several courses. However, it is 50% off all food and non alcoholic drinks in many circumstances if your full price bill per person on these items is £20 or under, which it will be in many fast food places, cheaper restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and even more expensive restaurants where you just have a main and a soft drink, which many people would because most main courses are more than enough food in most cases.

went to a brewers fayre 50% automatically came off the bill they have taken off the 10 pound limit so you can order anything and get half off still

Same with Greene King pubs

Swings and roundabouts...we had some customers ask for 50% discount on takeaway and get really annoyed when we said no it's for eat in only. They just think it's a government treat that they're entitled too. They don't think of the reasons behind it and the fact that the restaurant has to fork out for the food, staff, rent etc in advance to getting the money back.

This thread just shows how little awareness customers have. These industries have had zero income for 4 months but still had commercial bills, mortgages, refunds and other costs. Then they have opened, mainly with at less than 50% of usual
Capacity, but you still need full staff. Wages have increased (April) which has a knock on effect as people above minimum are usually increased too.
The costs of cleaning products are higher, added ppe. Ingredient costs have increased.
Most pubs / hotels / restaurants have small increases every year at the start of the season (following the budget).
Yes, there will be a minority that take the piss; there is a minority of customers that try to take the piss with the offer too. That's life. Please, stop judging something you know so little about the reality of, and try to support your local independent places. Many have been and still will be lost to covid, so if you want them to be there in the future support them particularly over the winter. They've got very little time to recover and survive the winter ahead.

@Playingchesswithpigeons

"I think there is confusion over the discount. It isn't 50% off. It's an allowance of £10 per person. After a drink and starter ( approx £10 ) it's likely you'll then pay full price for your main course and then full price for any further drinks or desserts."
Yes, you are confused over the discount. It IS 50% off eat-in food and non-alcoholic drinks on Mon-Wed during August 2020 up to a maximum of £10 per person from participating establishments.

www.gov.uk/guidance/get-a-discount-with-the-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme

Took ds to Nando's yesterday - reduced menu but all of his favourites on there. Prices were VAT reduced and on top of that, 50% off. Trying an independent upmarket restaurant on Monday. Wish this lasted forever!

Infuriating we'll be paying more in taxes to cover this instead of giving more funding to the NHS, schools, libraries, social services, etc

@howfarwevecome

Infuriating we'll be paying more in taxes to cover this instead of giving more funding to the NHS, schools, libraries, social services, etc

So infuriating trying to save people's jobs and keep some off job centre waiting room. Fummin

Took kids to pizza hut, got £40 off bill (4 dinners) and 5%VAT. ordered via phone and it was fab. Deal was mentioned with code to enter and it was well organised. Portions and menu same as always, no ice cream factory but generous ice cream portion with toppings available. Salad made for you. V happy and they said they have been really busy since the offer started so it cane work.

Been out twice so far.

One gastropub. Portions seemed smaller, one small bowl of veg between two when previously had loads offered, my foccacia was actually a half, and so on. I didn't pay but know it was £70odd for 2 courses for 4 adults and 2 kids, with £50 off. £120 would have been extortionate for what we had! (2x foccacia light bites, 2 roast of the day, 2 kids pizza plus 6 cheesecake / brownie type desserts, soft drinks)

One local cafe. Was amazing - big chorizo and mozzarella panini, a goats cheese and falafel salad, 2 huge slabs of homemade and highly decorated cake, 3 soft drinks and a proper Oreo millshake (not just chocolate milk) - £11!

I know where I'll be going back to!

I don't think many restaurants are passing on the VAT discount, which I think is fair enough - they have increased costs of operating, and reprinting menus would add to that.
I haven't had any issues; I ate out a couple of times with the £10 scheme, portions as normal.
Just a bit disappointing that my favourite branch still not open, next nearest is half a mile away - I suppose the walking detracts from the calories in the meal

Yeah unfortunately independents will raise their prices so gain more profit as they know customers are still paying less than they usually would with the discount, some won't discount it unless you ask which is really bad practice and should be names and shamed in my opinion, the chains seem to be spot on like spoons and beefeaters which is a shame as I would prefer to support local but locals are taking the micky

We went out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday . The prices were normal and the portion sizes more than I could eat.

So very happy to save up to £10 pp.

MIL took us out recently (I wasn't keen on the idea but went along). The meals were very cheap and the portions were huge. Too big by far and to be honest, it actually put our whole table of 9 off their meals. (I didn't think I would ever say extra food is a bad thing!)
I presume this is to entice customers back.

However, as soon as we walked in with our masks on we were told they weren't required and should just take them off. (?)
And then we were taken to a table away from the packed, busy restaurant. There were no windows open for air circulation (and it was good weather)
Had it been that busy when we walked in we would have left instead. Instead they filled the room around us after we were already eating. There was no one way system and I spent the whole meal worrying, berating shallow and leaning away from all the other customers packed in!

I think I'll avoid eating out in future, especially if other places are upping their prices to crazy amounts as well!

*think there is confusion over the discount. It isn't 50% off. It's an allowance of £10 per person. After a drink and starter ( approx £10 ) it's likely you'll then pay full price for your main course and then full price for any further drinks or desserts."

Nope that would have to be an expensive restaurant. Went out last night nice restaurant, starter price £5, main course £13, soft drink £3 so should have been £21 , it was £11.

That's life. Please, stop judging something you know so little about the reality of, and try to support your local independent places. Many have been and still will be lost to covid, so if you want them to be there in the future support them particularly over the winter. They've got very little time to recover and survive the winter ahead.

Those eateries don't exist in a vacuum though. Many patrons will have lost their jobs, taken pay cuts, face uncertain futures, etc. Awareness needs to go both ways.

We went to Ask yesterday, the starter portions were slightly smaller than usual and there was no side salad with my main like there always used to be.

Our local one has only just reopened so don’t know if it’s related to EOHO or just a change to the way they’re doing things after being closed for so long.

Was amazing that we could still use clubcard vouchers to pay too.

There is a chain restaurant which has printed disposable menus with their usual daily offers (steak monday, burger tuesday or whatever) but when you order are not honouring the daily deals. Given they are a relatively large company and gone to the trouble of printing menus specifically for this period i do feel they are taking advantage of the scheme as they are claiming back more than the advertised cost of the meal. Whilst I was happy to pay the increased cost personally due to understanding extra costs for ppe etc, I do think it is wrong that as tax payers we are paying an inflated cost which could be spent on the NHS rather than someones overpriced steak. I've even written to my MP to say as much

It is really dishonest though, isn't it?
The discount is paid for by the govt, so by increasing prices/serving smaller portions the restaurants basically tries to cash in the discount twice: once from the govt and once from the customer.

There are two places locally taking part in the deal. One is same price with a £2 per table PPE charge (they are a very small business) and everything is the same - prices, portions, offers and the likes. So people are getting their £10 off.

Another has hiked prices, removed all their offers, and their portions are awful. Much smaller than they used to be. They've also massively hiked their drinks prices as well.

One has a strict booking system and is packed busy. The other is complaining constantly on Facebook that people aren't supporting them. Easy to guess which one.