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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cakeage??

58 replies

purplemumster · 27/02/2023 16:57

Testing the waters here to see if we're just stingy country bumpkins!

A group of us are going out for a meal tonight to make a bit of a fuss of a friend before she has a baby. We've booked a table at a restaurant/posh pub she'd mentioned she'd like to go to.
Had a look at the menu, relatively steep prices - cheapest starter £15, cheapest main £25 but looks delish and she's our friend and worth making a fuss of so all good...... Until...

One of our group thought it might be a nice idea to take a cake along, totally fine, it is a kind of celebration I guess. So out of courtesy we let the pub know in advance and were informed that they charge a 'Cakeage' charge of £30 if we touch the cake but don't order a dessert with themselves. It was a very odd response basically giving us 3 options

  1. they will unbox the cake, bring it out and then rebox it - no charge to us whether we order desserts or not.

  2. They will unbox the cake, bring it out and if we eat any of it but don't order a dessert with them they will charge us a £30 'cakeage' fee

  3. I'll be suggesting we take the cake outside after the meal and eat it in the car park under the northern lights😂

Is this a thing?? I've obviously heard of corkage but not this. It feels kind of grabby but I guess the AIBU is - "is cakeage a thing and AIBU to think it's a bit stingy?"

OP posts:
Original poster
purplemumster · 27/02/2023 17:10

BreadInCaptivity · 27/02/2023 17:08

I've heard of this before and I think it's fair enough.

It's not just the fact people won't eat a dessert it's also the cost to the venue of providing (and washing up) the plates and cutlery to eat it.

The whole point of a restaurant is to provide food to people paying for it and not to provide a venue for people to eat their own food for free.

Think of it this way - would you rock up to a pub with a bottle of wine and expect them to be fine about you drinking that using their glasses, using their tables and not buying anything from the bar?

Not unless I'd checked first but I'd be aware there may be a 'corkage' charge. I'd just never encountered such terms being imposed for cake...

OP posts:
givemushypeasachance · 27/02/2023 17:10

It's sometimes know as "plateage" or a plating fee as well - you're bringing your own food, which they sell, to cut and share/eat at the end of the meal.

If they sell wine, and you said can I bring a bottle or two of fizz to toast the birthday girl with, they would also be reasonably placed to charge you corkage for that. Same idea.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 27/02/2023 17:11

soboredoflooking · 27/02/2023 17:09

I thought it was usually a charge per plate. Like £2 per plate/cutlery for the cake. Least that makes more sense than just it's £30. £30 is quite steep but then if everything else is expensive then makes sense.

They want to offer it and discourage it at the same time

NeedToChangeName · 27/02/2023 17:11

I haven't heard of this before, but I think it's fair enough

drpet49 · 27/02/2023 17:11

londonrach · 27/02/2023 17:02

I'd not go there. Choose another restaurant

Me too. £30 is ridiculous.

MissPoldark · 27/02/2023 17:14

I just wouldn’t bother taking a cake, especially not if it’s just a shop bought one.

IntentionalError · 27/02/2023 17:21

Cakeage & corkage are both reasonable charges. The restaurant are not refusing to allow you to consume your own food & drink on their premises, served by their staff & using their chairs, tables, crockery & cutlery, but they are charging a fee for providing that service. £30 is a significant amount, so they are obviously trying to discourage this, and by doing so hopefully sell more desserts.

jellybar · 27/02/2023 17:22

Yes it's a thing. Usually I just see a small charge (not £30) for bringing cake though. Restaurants used to refrigerate and serve cakes (especially surprise cakes) as a favour but as it became a norm, the storage and special service costs for multiple cakes on a busy night added up. Plus it eats into their dessert costs of course.

I think this restaurant has a unique take on it. It makes sense though?

WonderingWanda · 27/02/2023 17:27

In theory I think that they are perfectly entitled to ask this. Although lots of restaurants don't, they also wouldn't expect you to rock up with your own starter. Whenever we do take a celebration cake we normally order a round of coffee /tea to go with it, would they waive the fee for that?

Sirius3030 · 27/02/2023 17:27

I usually bring sandwiches when I go to a high-end restaurant. I really enjoy the ambience though. I often leave a tip of course.

jellybar · 27/02/2023 17:32

@WonderingWanda no I think coffee/tea tends to be cheap in comparison to desserts on the menu. Drinks maybe but if they were ordering desserts on the menu they would still be ordering drinks

gooseduckchicken · 27/02/2023 17:33

I completely understand the restaurant's position - if you eat the cake, they will need to provide cutlery and plates and the group will spend longer at the table; not spending money on restaurant food and preventing the table being given to another group who would spend money.

As a restaurant goer, I hate when someone brings cake. I would never choose to have cake as dessert but if there's cake, there's usually an agreement within the group to not order dessert.

BreadInCaptivity · 27/02/2023 17:34

I don't think £30 is necessarily ridiculous either - depending on the number of guests.

Based on the costs for starters/mains the dessert I'm guessing would be around £5-7.

As such a £30 charge would be steep/excessive if there were only 4 of you as that's more than if you all had desert.

On the other hand if there are 10 of you then that is a potential revenue loss of £70, and they are only getting £30 in return.

ferneytorro · 27/02/2023 17:35

Never heard of it and have eaten at a lot of restaurants. Always ask of course but have never been charged. Not unreasonable I suppose but, look at it another way, if people weren't going to buy a desert anyway would they be better off as you will buy more drinks.

If you know the birthday girl will order a desert, one way to do it would be to get them to stick a candle/sparkler in it - that always works well and no faff of cutting or eating cake you don't want.

FoxInSocksSatOnBlocks · 27/02/2023 17:37

YABU and this is standard. It’s cheeky to want to take a dessert to a place that sells dessert.

dootball · 27/02/2023 17:37

I guess if it's full they can justify it.
If it's not full and lose out on a group of people paying a lot of money it doesn't look like such a good decision.

FoxInSocksSatOnBlocks · 27/02/2023 17:37

ferneytorro · 27/02/2023 17:35

Never heard of it and have eaten at a lot of restaurants. Always ask of course but have never been charged. Not unreasonable I suppose but, look at it another way, if people weren't going to buy a desert anyway would they be better off as you will buy more drinks.

If you know the birthday girl will order a desert, one way to do it would be to get them to stick a candle/sparkler in it - that always works well and no faff of cutting or eating cake you don't want.

Wow, the birthday girl must be rich if she’s wanting to order a desert…

SleepingisanArt · 27/02/2023 17:50

They said £30 if you don't buy dessert - so they are covering the cost of losing say 4 desserts. Charges for taking your own cake and wine have been around for a long time and will be more noticeable now that the utility costs have gone through the roof.

(Many of the restaurants I go to do not allow you to have any food not prepared on the premises at all.)

soleilblue · 27/02/2023 17:53

Seems fair enough. They'll let you sit there and eat your own food

catsonahottinroof · 27/02/2023 17:58

It seems really steep and I've never heard of this before, but I suppose it is fair enough in a way depending on the size of the group. So if it's a really nice cake and a fair size group I'd be tempted to pay it. If the cake is mediocre I'd do the cutting up and taking home thing and people can order desserts if they want.

catfunk · 27/02/2023 17:59

I think it's fair enough if they'd be losing £10 pp for dessert

ForestofD · 27/02/2023 18:01

Yes, my workplace does this.

If everyone is having a dessert, no charge.

If no-one is having a dessert, there is a plate charge to cover serving the cake, washing the cutlery/plate and fresh napkin.

In addition, sometimes guests want to store the cake in the walk -in fridge, which we can't allow because we have to track everything for allergies now.

WhatAmIDoingWrong123 · 27/02/2023 18:06

I’ve never heard of a cakeage charge! If we’ve ever taken a cake anywhere around here, they usually make a thing of bringing it out, singing happy birthday etc. Not everyone would have had dessert so you could all split the £30 but then you’ll have people saying ‘I wouldn’t have the cake anyway/I’d rather have something else’. Seems like a tricky one to me!

GPFavo · 27/02/2023 18:28

Movinghouseatlast · 27/02/2023 17:03

Realistically the cake will prevent people ordering a pudding if they can eat that instead. How many people will order pudding AND eat cake? So the cake being available means they won't get any pudding orders.

Most hospitality venues are on their knees at the moment. A lovely restaurants in our village has gone bust, another is not opening because they cant cover their electricity bill.

How many people will order pudding AND eat cake?

🤗guilty

Eleganz · 27/02/2023 18:33

It is a high charge to discourage people from bringing their own cake. I thought that would be obvious really. It isn't a "thing" in a general sense but clearly this restaurant doesn't want people bringing celebration cakes into the restaurant.

I would go somewhere else, they can lose the business of a group ordering starters, mains and drinks for the sake of not letting you have a celebration cake if they want. Doesn't make much commercial sense to me. I bet plenty of people dine there without ordering desert.