Covid-19 surcharges not catching on so far with Pittsburgh area restaurants

Across the nation, some restaurants are tacking on a “covid-19 surcharge,” designed to cover the extra costs of operating safely in the coronavirus pandemic, as well as trying to recoup losses from the nearly three-month lockdown.

But few, if any, Pittsburgh-area restaurants are adding the charge. One that tried to add it learned quickly that it did not go over well with customers.

The Double Wide Grill, located in Pittsburgh’s South Side, recently began charging a $2 surcharge per meal. Brian Laing, the manager of the restaurant’s East Carson Street location, cited the rising costs of doing business as the reason for adding the surcharge.

“Everything we have to do now is single-use, so there are a lot of costs going into all of the foods that we sell. The cost of meat has risen. The cost of the paper products and single-use products like beer menus and food menus has risen,” Laing said. “So, it’s just the added cost of all of those things combined with limited capacity. That’s where that surcharge came in.”

But then a backlash from customers ensued on Facebook, and Double Wide Grill decided to take the surcharge off the menu.

“We just decided we would much rather have our people coming out and being happy than have something that small affecting our business. So, we decided to just do without it,” Laing said.

The Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association has not taken a position on the covid-19 surcharge, but the organization’s president and CEO, John Longstreet, said there is nothing illegal about it.

“I personally understand the surcharge,” Longstreet said. “If I went into a restaurant and somebody was charging that right now, I would just be happy they were still there. Restaurants are really struggling and 75% of operators say it’s unlikely they will be profitable in the next six months. It was the first industry (during the pandemic) that was totally closed down.”

Longstreet cited statistics showing 95% of the restaurants in Pennsylvania have laid off at least some of their employees. However, Longstreet said surcharges in general have not been something that people have reacted well to, which may explain why it’s difficult to find Pittsburgh-area restaurants that have them.

A limited sampling did not turn up a single establishment that currently has a covid-19 surcharge.

Representatives for the Original Oyster House in Pittsburgh’s Market Square, Wiener World in Downtown, Primanti Brothers, El Burro in Regent Square, Le Mont on Mt. Washington, Mineo’s Pizza in Squirrel Hill and Sarafino’s Homestyle Italian Restaurant in Crafton all flatly stated they had no plans to issue any type of surcharge.

Mineo’s co-owner Dominic Mineo was among those adamantly opposed to the idea.

“I don’t think anybody should be charging a surcharge. It is what it is and we need to deal with it and there were a lot of opportunities out there for businesses to get aid from payroll protection programs and stuff like that,” Mineo said. “I think it’s bad PR if you’re going to charge a percentage above your normal cost to make up for what you lost during covid. I could see a lot of people reacting negatively to that.”

Kevin Sousa, chef and owner of Superior Motors in Braddock, has established a reputation as an innovative restaurateur. Sousa said he doubts he’ll issue a surcharge when his restaurant reopens in August.

“When you say surcharge, it hits me in a way that makes me uncomfortable. I’m a consumer as well, so I wouldn’t want to see it. I understand it and I wouldn’t be mad over having to pay it because I know what it takes to operate a place.”

Sousa said operating a restaurant at 50% capacity takes the same number of people to operate as it does at 100% capacity.

“It’s not that much different. So, you’re cutting your income in half but your operations costs aren’t really changing all that much. Yeah, you might have one or two fewer servers, maybe one fewer cook, but it’s a very difficult situation to manage. So, I wouldn’t be upset at paying it but personally, I don’t think I would charge it.”

Sousa said there is no right answer at this point in the pandemic.

“We’ve never been through this before, so everyone’s just trying to figure it out,” he said. “We’re going to make some mistakes and maybe the surcharge is the thing and maybe that becomes the norm until there is a vaccine.”