An award-winning local Italian restaurant has caused a stir over some ‘fine print’ at the bottom of its menu.
Questions have been raised over a clause on the menu of Northern Sydney restaurant Verace Pizzeria, mandating a “minimum charge” per customer.
The list of guidelines and requests, added at the bottom of the menu in bold italicised print, advises customers will be charged corkage for “BYO wine only” and cakeage, and declares a “no split bills” policy.
It also advises customers that the restaurant’s “minimum charge for ‘Dine In’ is $20 per person”.
“Bookings that arrive with reduced numbers will be charged $30 for each ‘no show’,” it continues.
“This is calculated from the average spend per customer.”
news.com.au approached Verace Pizzeria for comment after a picture of the restaurant’s menu clause made its way to social media, sparking a debate about whether it was “common place for restaurants to require a minimum spend”.
“Not common, but if the place is small and people are coming just for a chat then it makes sense,” someone replied.
Another agreed that the policy was logical after hearing “horror stories of poor buggers” in hospitality, especially independent businesses.
“It’s made me realise just how hard these independents work. These guys are not Starbucks, the margins I imagine are only getting smaller as the price of fresh produce inflates … and people are spending less as times get tougher,” they continued.
“Finally, in my experience, this type of small print on the back of a menu is rarely enforced, unless people are really taking the piss.”
According to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, businesses are allowed to set minimum spend limits how they please.
The consumer watchdog said the business are allowed to set the terms of transactions as long as the customers know about it before the transaction commences.
It means Verace Pizzeria can refuse to split bills, charge for changes to variations, and set minimum spends as long as it is made clear – by putting it in bold at the bottom of the menu.
But some were even more stunned by the Macquarie Park restaurant’s “unfair” no show fee, which is $10 more than the minimum spend, saying “they’re not losing ingredients to a no show”.
“Seems a bit unfair to charge a no-show $30 and not provide food, when you only need a minimum $20 spend if you do show up, and they have to provide food for that,” one person wrote
A few were quick to defend the restaurant for the guidelines, saying it is “frustrating” for small, local businesses to have tables wasted by both kinds of customers.
“Not showing up is massive losses for the company, hospitality is already one of the lowest profit margins,” one wrote.
“For small, local businesses, especially with limited seating, it can be very frustrating to have groups of people come in and just order a couple of items and use the place as a hangout spot and spend hours there,” another user replied.
“This takes up space for potential paying customers, but also we have other costs such as tablecloths, napkins, cutlery etc. that have to be taken into account as well.”
They added that their own hospitality venue enforced a minimum $12 spend during Covid but got rid of it “due to the increasing cost of living, and fear of upsetting customers”.
“Most of the time it’s not too big of an issue, but I guess some businesses just want to have a bit of a safeguard against unfortunate situations.”
But the reality is, whether or not there was a minimum spend, it may not take long for a group dining at the Macquarie Park pizzeria to order $20 worth of food each. Especially if they plan to split the costs relatively evenly afterward.
The average cost of a Verace pizza is almost $26, with its metre-long pizzas between $75 and $85.
If the group added on salads or sides – $19 or $9.60 on average, respectively – or starters – which cost a little less than $25 on average – or swapped a pizza for a pasta – which cost almost $29 on average – they have passed the minimum spend without even realising it.
And that’s without the $4 corkage fee per person for bringing your own wine for the group to share.
Not to mention, $20 per person is not that much for a night out. And, it may be steep, but the $30 no show fee could motivate the flakey friends in our lives to actually show up on time for dinner.