Italian restaurant questioned over minimum spend policy
An Italian restaurant’s fine in Sydney has raised eyebrows over a minimum charge per customer.
Northern Sydney restaurant Verace Pizzeria has a long list of guidelines for customers wanting to dine at the award-winning venue. These include corkage for ‘BYO wine only’, cakeage, and a ‘no split bills’ policy.
The menu advises of a “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.”
The policy has divided social media.
“Not common, but if the place is small and people are coming just for a chat then it makes sense,” one social media user stated.
Another agreed saying, “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.
“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.”
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) allows businesses to set minimum spend limits as long as the limits are transparent before a transaction happens.
While there is a lot of support for the Macquarie Park restaurant, somne have called the no show fee “unfair”. This is $10 more than the minimum spend.
“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.
However, the restaurant had its defenders with one stating, “Not showing up is massive losses for the company, hospitality is already one of the lowest profit margins.”
The restaurant is at the higher end of costs for a pizza. A Verace pizza is almost $26, with its metre-long pizzas between $75 and $85.
Salads and sides range from $9.69 to $19.00 on average.
Those prices make its minimum spend easy to target, while making sure that diners aren’t wasting the restaurant’s time.
Jonathan Jackson, 28th June 2023
