An Atlanta restaurant has taken some hits for adding unknown fees to its customers’ bills.
JenChan’s Pizza and Chinese in Cabbagetown, Georgia, received hate on social media after a customer called out the restaurant’s 4% fee for employee health insurance on the bill.
A customer posted a photo of the bill on Reddit last month, which showed an additional $2.02 charge at the bottom.
It received over 2,000 comments and nearly 9,000 reactions, although the Redditor has since deleted the original post.
Criticism came from others, with one Facebook user commenting on a photo of JenChan’s owner — showing married couple Jen and Emily Chan, and their child — with these distasteful words: “I’ve never seen a family that needs to be beaten. even more, make health care useful.”
The owner responded in a statement posted on Facebook on Dec. 29, 2023, writing that “everything seemed fine” when they served the customer in question at the restaurant.
They also point out that health insurance charges are completely optional — and any customer can choose not to pay them.
“We post it on the menu itself and the receipt to avoid this,” the restaurant wrote.
“It’s been on the menu for about a year now; we’ve been inspired by a few other restaurants here that are doing the same thing.”
JenChan’s Pizza and Chinese in Cabbagetown, Georgia has been criticized for a 4% health insurance charge on the bill. Neighbors in Need Reynoldstown
In February 2023, JenChan posted on Facebook, “Our health insurance premiums for our employees increased from $408 per employee to $650. Not sustainable. Congress? Bueller…”
The following notices are displayed on the restaurant’s menu and bill.
“On your receipt, you will see the 4% health insurance we implemented after our premiums tripled last year. Thank you for being a part of our efforts to ensure our staff can seek treatment for any mental or physical illness they may be dealing with. We appreciate all the positive feedback from you, thank you! Please know that we will be happy to remove this for you without hesitation.”
The restaurant also noted in the same Facebook post that other businesses are handling the cost increase by either reducing their portion sizes or raising their prices.
In an interview with Fox 5 Atlanta, Emily Chan said many people have asked why owners don’t raise the cost of health insurance to “the price of their fried rice.”
“We don’t want to do that,” he said. “We want to raise awareness. We want people to see that there is a crisis.”
In its release, the restaurant noted that “this is a hostile climate for small business owners with rising food costs, taxes, inflation, you name it.”
The establishment also wrote, “We’re just trying to keep our doors open and our employees’ health insurance covered, and we’re doing it as transparently and honestly as we can. Because we care.”
JenChan opened its doors six months before the coronavirus outbreak, which put pressure on the business.
The owners claim that they have yet to make a “real profit,” and point to many other small, independent Atlanta eateries that don’t survive.
“If we don’t do something, we will [had] to cancel insurance or close our doors,” the statement said.
“So we do it because we’re driven by passion and sentimentality and the desire to bring people together around the table … It’s in our bones. Hospitality is the reason we get up in the morning.”
“We post it on the menu itself and the receipt to avoid this,” the restaurant wrote. Yelp
The restaurant claims that it is refunding the entire bill of the angry customer for the $2.02 charge in the hope that the person will remove the viral social post.
“Power companies, gas companies, telephone companies, ticket companies … they all have millions in charges that they are not very transparent about,” Chans wrote in the same statement.
“We have one [charge] … and we are very clear about it. Why blow up small businesses?”
The family goes on to encourage readers to “shout out to insurance companies that make a killing with one-star reviews … but not family-owned businesses that are trying to do their best.”
“We’re really just trying to do our best.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the restaurant, which declined to comment.
Sean Kennedy, EVP of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, is concerned about the struggles small businesses face as they try to stay afloat.
“This issue really illustrates how thin the profit margins are for restaurants and how difficult it is for restaurants every day to ensure financially that they can continue to open their doors and serve their communities,” he told FOX Business in a phone interview.
“What these restaurants are trying to do is add benefits to their workforce that will allow them to retain and recruit more workers – and obviously, the labor challenge is a huge challenge that every restaurant faces.”
The average restaurant profit margin in the US is between 3% and 4%, according to Kennedy of the National Restaurant Association.
“When restaurants try to innovate … they run into a brick wall because their profit margins are so low,” he said.
Kennedy and the National Restaurant Association are encouraging restaurant owners to take note of JenChan’s approach to being transparent with the public.
Customers criticized the restaurant for the unusual policy.
The third highest cost facing restaurateurs today is credit card swipe fees, Kennedy revealed – while owners must also deal with inconsistent demand and “runaway” inflation in food prices.
“The restaurant industry continues to be under significant cost pressures that are largely out of their control,” he said. “Currently, about 15% of restaurants charge extra on them [bills].”
While the surcharge won’t be popular with every consumer, Kennedy reminded restaurant patrons that these fees may be the only option for small business owners to keep their doors open.
“They do everything they can to ensure that customers’ meals will be of high quality and humanely low-priced,” he said.
“If you want to put your business elsewhere and go to another restaurant, do that — but at the same time, know that restaurants operate under tremendous cost pressure, and we’re the last industry to really pass our costs to our customer .”
Kennedy added that the industry is asking for patience, support and understanding.
“Restaurant customers – they can choose what’s going to happen here,” he said.
“But their decision will go a long way toward whether restaurants like this will open their doors six months from now.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
