WATCH: Service charge must go to employees, not help cover costs, catering association President says

Any service charge billed to customers must go towards employees, and should not to go towards helping establishments cover costs, President of the Association of Catering Establishments Michelle Muscat told this newsroom, highlighting this as her only concern about the issue.

The introduction of a service charge by a number of restaurants around the country has stirred controversy, prompting a debate over the additional cost and also about how clearly customers are informed about it before ordering.

Ms Muscat said that she’s noted some confusion online between a service charge and a cover charge. The former is a percentage on the total bill which goes towards tipping the staff for their service, she said. The latter is a fixed amount depending on the number of customers, which goes towards the costs of linen, bread, olive oil etc.

“Both, if they are going to be included on the bill, should be written very clearly on the menu and the bill itself, so that people know exactly what they are going to pay for and how much it will cost them.”

She said that the association cannot oblige catering establishment to introduce such charges or not to do so. “Our concern is only one. If we are going to have a service charge billed to customers, we have to make sure that the service charge amount is going to employees. It should not go to help an establishment cover costs. Its got nothing to do with covering costs.”  She said it shouldn’t be used as a replacement for wages.

As for whether she thinks service charges will be introduced more widely, and asked how she believes Maltese people would react to that, Ms Muscat said that she has never heard complaints from Maltese about service charges being billed when eating abroad. She noted that Italy and the USA, for instance, have service charges.

“As long as it is listed on the menu and people know what they are going to pay for, I see nothing wrong with it. If I don’t like It, I won’t go there. And if I go to a restaurant and there is a service charge but the service wasn’t good, I’d ask to have the service charge removed.”

She said that Maltese are generally very generous when it comes to tipping, “so we don’t really need to be obliged to pay a service charge, but if the service wasn’t up to standard, I would ask to have it removed.”