[Un]reasonably outraged by hospitality surcharges

Weekend and public holiday surcharges. Why are we paying for your business costs?

My husband and I ventured into the Big Smoke (Melbourne CBD) for the (AFL) Grand Final public holiday. It was to meet friends for dinner and soak in the atmosphere. Look, I’m not really a footy head, so I don’t care about parades and team-coloured scarves but I’m happy to be among the joy and anticipation others feel at this time. And of course, we wanted to see our friends.

Drinks laced with gold

First drinks were ordered. A wine and a beer. $49. No shit. FORTY NINE DOLLARS! Was it an incorrect charge? No, it was a public holiday surcharge.

Hospitality owners put a tiny line on the bottom of the menu that says there are surcharges on weekends and public holidays. Penalty rates. Staff costs are higher on weekends and holidays, therefore customers must cough up more.

Why is the cost ours?

Weekends and public holidays aren’t a surprise. They happen every year. They should be built into hospitality business models too.

Weekends are the bread and butter

In Victoria, Saturday staff usually earn 25% extra, Sundays 50% extra, and public holidays? Double time and a half. And as someone who worked those shifts as a teenager and now with teenagers of my own who give up their weekends and holidays to do this, I completely agree that hospitality staff deserve to be paid properly for working when the rest of us are kicking back. But the part that makes no sense, is that weekends and holidays are the busiest days in hospitality.

Cafés are full, pubs are pumping, restaurants are turning tables faster than ever. We struggled to get a seat last Friday because most restaurants were bleeding patrons. The higher wage bill is already being offset by sheer volume. Yet somehow, customers are still slapped with a surcharge.

The staff should absolutely be compensated, but that’s the responsibility of the business owner.

That’ll be $4000, thanks

I don’t understand why staff penalty rates on public holidays are passed onto the consumer

Imagine if retail tried this

Let’s take it out of hospitality for a second. You walk into your local hardware store on a Sunday. The outdoor setting you’ve been eyeing off for months is finally on sale. At the counter, the sales assistant says: “Actually, because it’s Sunday, that’ll be extra”. Laughable.

Think about literally any other business: supermarkets, clothes shops, bookshops charging a surcharge. The outrage would make headlines. But in cafés, restaurants, and pubs, we’ve been trained to shrug and pay up. It’s absurd.

It’s making eating out unaffordable

I appreciate that eating out is a luxury already. With the cost of living as it is, most of us can’t afford to do this unless it’s a treat. Our extended family goes away every year at Easter to a sleepy seaside location that is basically dead for the rest of the year. Because the four-day weekend consists of two public holidays and a weekend, every single day has a surcharge. To buy a coffee, to take the family out for a special meal, to have a beer at the pub. It’s eye watering.

And yes, the easy solution is don’t go. Eat at home. Live within your means.

Here’s a radical idea

My husband and I are self-employed. We have staff to pay and costs to cover. We are not in hospitality so those penalty rates don’t apply but we do have to find a way to spread our costs over the year and price our services accordingly.

Could hospitality not average out the spike in staff costs over the year, raise their menu prices by a small percentage across the board, and then promote that they don't charge surcharges? It’s like paying a monthly fee to my bank for the loan we’ve had for years. Just make the interest rate a tiny bit higher to cover the fees and then don’t charge a monthly fee. It’s psychological I guess. Feels like we’re getting ripped off.

Final word

Weekends and public holidays should be a celebration. They should be about good food, good company, and good vibes. Instead, too many venues sour the deal with surcharges.

If you’re in business, you plan for costs. Rent, power, milk, staff training, penalty rates—they’re all part of the gig. Passing those costs onto customers only on certain days isn’t clever. It’s opportunistic. And it makes people feel like they’re being fleeced.

Price fairly all year round, skip the surcharges, and build goodwill that keeps people coming back.

Is my outrage unreasonable?

Kylie

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