The Linkery
By Christy Scannell
Editor
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office is allegedly pursuing action against The Linkery, 3794 30th St., saying the restaurant’s service charge policy is against state law.
The North Park eatery automatically adds an 18 percent fee to dine-in checks. Any money left in the form of tips above the service charge is donated to charity.
Tricia Pummill, a criminal prosecutor for the City Attorney, was unwilling to discuss litigation against any specific business but did explain the city’s interest in pursuing such cases.
“We have heard from the public that people are unhappy with service charges being added to bills,” she said. “State law requires that you give sufficient information about any surcharges. The law says you cannot mislead people. Businesses must charge their advertised price. Any hidden increase in price is unfair to the competition who does include all costs in the stated price.”
Pummill cited restaurants, ticket agents and contractors as just some of the industries where service charges are added to bills. She refused to identify how many or which San Diego businesses her office is targeting, but did say the service charge issue is “a current problem in our community.”
Jay Porter, owner of The Linkery, said his service charge system creates equality for food service staff.
“Apparently the City Attorney is scared that if restaurants charge for table service, people might start thinking of restaurant workers as professionals, and wonder why it’s okay that most of them make low wages and have no health insurance,” he said. “If people start asking that question, it would upset the economic infrastructure of the whole service industry.”
On his Web site (thelinkery.com), Porter points out he knows no other U.S restaurant that charges for table service, although he does mention that Chez Panisse in Berkeley and The French Laundry in Yountville include service charges but they allow tipping as well.
Mike Rossman, co-owner/manager of Terra and a member of the San Diego Restaurant Association, said he doesn’t see any problem with The Linkery’s policy.
“They (The Linkery) have it posted clearly that [diners] will have an automatic gratuity on the bill,” he said. “Every restaurant in San Francisco includes a 3 percent gratuity to pay for health insurance. During the gas crisis practically every distributor we had included a surcharge for their increased fuel consumption costs. That included liquor, produce and UPS.”
Pummill said the city attorney’s office “did address” the energy surcharges but she did not elaborate how they did so. Businesses found to be in violation in any current cases could face a court order to stop including service charges and a call for monetary restitution, she said.
If the city requires restaurants to absorb all costs, Rossman said, the result will be higher menu prices.
“If mandatory healthcare is passed we may have to do the same thing as San Francisco (where many restaurants tack on a healthcare surcharge), but no one wants to be the first ones to do that,” he said. “In this economy we keep all of our entrée prices below $20. If we are forced by regulations to include those costs in our bill then I’ve priced myself out of the market and out of business.”
“I don’t understand where the city is coming from,” he added.
Rossman said the San Diego Restaurant Association will be seeking advice from the California Restaurant Association’s attorneys on the matter.
Update: Uptown News received the following statement this morning from Tricia Pummill, assistant city attorney:
“The Consumer Protection Unit has decided not to file a court case against The Linkery restaurant for its pricing policy. Instead, we will work with the San Diego Restaurant Association to develop guidelines that address the complaints we have received from the public about hidden charges and surcharges.”
Uptown News will continue to follow the story.
