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?

'Vat has also been reduced to 5% so this should reflect in a smaller bill'

No, it shouldn't. The VAT reduction is to help save businesses that really are on the verge of going under NOT make your meal out cheaper. If you were happy to pay say £10 before the VAT reduction, then £10 after the reduction makes no odds to you. However, it makes a huge difference to the business. The quarterly VAT bill to HMRC is a very big burden to small businesses, and it isn't something that can be deferred.

Also, it would cost some businesses (not all) in real terms to pass on the reduction, so a scheme designed to help them would leave them worse off. This is because their VATable inputs are still charged at 20%, but their VATable outputs at 5%. If their output tax is reduced they may not be able to reclaim all their input tax. Net, they would be worse off.

If a business can afford to pass on the VAT reduction that is great, but arguably if they can then they aren't the businesses that need the help the most. They are probably bigger, with greater reserves and deeper pockets....

I'm not sure that those who haven't suffered anything worse than a 20% reduction in salary during all of this really understand WHY these aid packages have been put together. Without them the hospitality industry as a whole would fold. A quick google shows that The UK hospitality and tourism industry employs 4.49m people - approximately 10 per cent of the working population. That's a big unemployment bill for the remaining tax payers.

I still don’t see how they can just raise prices on a Monday Tuesday and Wednesday? They’d have to change the entire menu and no serve the same soft drinks. That’s really easy to spot and you could report them to whichever department is issuing the rebate.Its fraud.

Granted portion size is harder to prove.

@Leflic it's immoral, but it isn't fraud. If they are advertising their menu prices they can charge what they want when they want. Transport for example is more expensive at peak time. Is that fraud? It's certainly unfair on commuters.

However, they are likely to shoot themselves in the foot as it is going to erode customer good will and people will vote with their feet.

The government spends taxpayers money as they see fit. It is taxpayers who are footing this bill ultimately. The first place we had EOTHO was underwhelming mostly due to presentation, service and choices. When booked online you have to say whether you are doing the scheme so I expect they have a 'special' menu for that.

@Pillypocket666

Bar and service staff are now wearing aprons and visors, aprons are changed between areas so if you are serving drinks to be delivered by other staff but then need to wash glasses or go to the kitchen you change your apron, wash hands (as ever) and sanitise your visor. You can go through 10 a shift easily, and masks are available (and used) too. We only wear gloves to handle dirty pots/glasses after use because as you say, hand washing and sanitising happens regularly anyway regardless of Covid. The gloves mitigate the risk a bit more when dealing with dirty crockery and glasses or cleaning areas. We're cleaning all touch points in all areas hourly with a dedicated disinfectant alongside tables and chairs after each table leaves.
This also requires extra staff as does the table service etc.
It all costs extra to businesses that are already struggling with a couple of months lost revenue and reduced capacity.
Plus some of our suppliers increased their prices as their running costs have also increased.

We had lunch in our local M&S café. Food and drink as usual- prices and portions - and bill half the price. All good though we wouldn't normally have had a slice of cake between us as well

It's very short sighted to take advantage if you want people to come back.

Went yesterday to an independent restaurant we've eaten at many times before. It was great, food as good as ever, portions the same and almost half price after the discount! Staff said they'd been very busy so far on the days the offer is on, so I hope it does them some good. Places that do the right thing will do better in the long run, I would think.

[quote extrappe]@Leflic it's immoral, but it isn't fraud. If they are advertising their menu prices they can charge what they want when they want. Transport for example is more expensive at peak time. Is that fraud? It's certainly unfair on commuters.

However, they are likely to shoot themselves in the foot as it is going to erode customer good will and people will vote with their feet.[/quote]
I thought it was a trade description thing, like sale prices. Things have to be advertised at a higher price before you can say they’re discounted.
Would you be able to sign up for the scheme if all your prices go up 50% on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays?
In fairness I’ve no idea what the criteria are for pubs and restaurants reclaiming the money.

We went a pub grub place. Food was nice, but a limited menu, which was fine. £11.00 for 3 of us.

I did have booze, but it was my bday.

What I do have an issue with is the slogan. It sounds so rude and I ALWAYS think ' eat me out to help me out'

I've noticed a few places who say you can order off the happy hour menu but have to pay full menu price if doing EOTO. A did think it was a bit cheeky

I did the Hawksmoor deal on Tuesday, rump steak, chips and a sauce for £10, spent more as had a drink and pudding. It was bloody marvellous and an absolute bargain for central London.
I'm saddened that some places are taking advantage. Good food and good service will see people come back, maybe on a weekend when it's full price.

@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

You'll be paying more out in tax to cover UC for the millions of people without jobs otherwise. I say this as a non Tory voter.

I haven’t noticed that by me but will be on the lookout!

Not on.

We've eaten in a few chain restaurants this mon-wed. Spent about £20pp so got about 50% off which I think is really good - so good we're booked in for a few places next week.

Sounds to me as if they are trying to defraud the government. Unfortunately I think this is likely to be happening a lot with many of the governments incentives. It’s just pure greed.

YANBU

@BarbaraofSeville

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.

The deal doesn’t include soft drinks. OP never said nor implied that soft drinks were £10?!?!

Sort drinks are included if your bill for food and non alcoholic drinks is £20 PP or less, which you would expect it to be in the sort of establishment the OP describes.

They were charged £5 for soft drinks, which should have been half the normal price, which implies that the pub was claiming that they were normally £10 which is clearly bollocks, thus illustrating that this pub was trying to double up by getting both the government support and full and stupidly high price from the customer. I wouldn't have thought that anywhere in the UK except maybe higher end hotels or fancy London bars, would charge even a fiver for a normal soft drinks.

Bar and service staff are now wearing aprons and visors, aprons are changed between areas ... You can go through 10 a shift easily
That is a hideous amount of waste. Most places arent wearing aprons at all. after all it's not like you rub yourself up against plates/glasses/customers so why you need an apron at all is surprising! 10 per person per day going into landfill. I guess we have just forgotten about the environment in all this.

@Alwaysinpain The deal doesn’t include soft drinks.
Yes, it does

The deal doesn’t include soft drinks.

Yes it does, everything but alcohol.

@KitKatastrophe

Ooh look something new to blame hospitality staff for.
I do actually totally agree with you. However I'm told what PPE to wear and when to change it - plastic apron and visor and the apron is changed and visor cleaned before moving to a new area. I'm not an expert in disease control (I realise this is totally unacceptable on my part and should rectify that immediately) and trust my employer has done their research and this is what they've put in place.
Honestly I think that it's more about how things look from a customer POV than their actual effectiveness and I think it's ludicrous that people will be 'concerned' that wait staff don't wear anything/enough, people who are having their temps taken and are visibily seen to be washing and sanitising hands constantly yet are fine with sitting in the actual room with 30-40 other people round them who've they've no idea if they are sticking to any kind of hygiene or social distancing etc. But you can bet your last £1 that if we're involved in an outbreak it'll be the establishment and the staff get the blame.

I went out to local independent restaurant on Wednesday. Slightly reduced menu. No reduction in portion size. Prices the same. 3 x mains, 3 x desserts, 3 x soft drink and 1 x pint came to £29. Happy days!

I ate out 3 days last week. Was great. I don't plan to cook Mon - Wed during August. Some meals more than others but no hike in prices and portion sizes the same.

And this is why some small businesses stay small. Treat your customers like fools and they will not be around much longer. Sticking to larger chains is the way to go if you want transparency when taking advantage of a scheme like this. The list price will be the same as it was before the scheme started so you actually save 50%.