Goodbye Service Charge, Hello “Admin Fee”
In London, diners are beginning to notice a new kind of surcharge on their bills. A number of restaurants are swapping the traditional service charge for something called an “admin fee.” The change seems small but carries important implications for staff pay and customer transparency.
The Issue with ‘Admin Fees’
At L’Antica Pizzeria, which has branches in Hampstead and High Barnet, customers now see a 12.5% admin charge on their total. On paper, it mirrors a standard service charge, but with one major distinction — the name allows the restaurant to keep the money rather than dedicate it to employees.
“It looks a lot like a service charge and it is the same percentage cut as many service charges. But there’s one key difference — the different name means it doesn’t have to go to staff.”
In one instance, a reader’s meal rose from £69.20 to £77.85 once the new charge was included.
Elsewhere Around London
Meanwhile, the search for live snails continues to challenge a London restaurant relying on fresh ingredients, and locals have been sending in tips following reports of stolen phones hidden in flowerbeds across the city. The data contributed by readers has been used to create a crowdsourced map of drop points — a task some believe should fall to the police.
“Readers have flooded our inbox with the locations of other phone stashes across the capital.”
Thank You to Our Readers
London Centric thanks its subscribers for supporting independent journalism, which makes local reporting like this possible.
By Polly Smythe
Author’s Summary
The renaming of restaurant service charges as “admin fees” reveals a loophole that impacts staff income and raises questions about consumer transparency.