An Atlanta restaurant has taken some hits for adding an unknown fee to its customers’ bills.
JenChan’s Pizza and Chinese in Cabbagetown, Georgia, received hate on social media after a customer mentioned the restaurant’s 4% fee for employee health insurance on the bill.
The customer posted a photo of the bill on Reddit last month, showing 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, and one Facebook user even commented on a photo of JenChan’s owners, showing married couple Jen and Emily Chan, plus their son, with these ominous words: “I’ve never seen a family that needs to be beaten increase more, make health care useful.”
The owners responded in a statement posted to Facebook on December 29, 2023, writing that “everything seemed fine” when they served the customer in question at the restaurant.
They also noted that the health insurance charge is completely optional and any customer can choose not to pay it.
“We posted it on the menu and receipt to prevent this,” the restaurant wrote.
“It’s been on the menu for about a year now; We were inspired by two other restaurants here that do the same thing.”
JenChan’s Pizza and Chinese in Cabbagetown, Georgia, came under fire for its 4% health insurance charge on bills. Needy Neighbor Reynoldstown
In February 2023, JenChan posted on Facebook: “Our health insurance premiums for our employees went from $408 per employee to $650. Untenable. Congress? Bueller…”
The following notice is posted on the restaurant’s menu and invoices.
“On your receipt you will see 4% health insurance that we implemented after our premiums tripled last year. Thank you for being a part of our efforts to ensure that our staff can seek care for any mental or physical ailments you may face. We have appreciated all the positive feedback from you, thank you! Please note that we will be happy to remove it without hesitation.”
The restaurant also stated in the same Facebook post that other businesses are managing rising costs by reducing their portion sizes or raising their prices.
In an interview with Fox 5 Atlanta, Emily Chan said many people have asked why the owners haven’t included health insurance costs in “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 post, 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 possible. Because we care.”
JenChan’s opened its doors six months before the coronavirus pandemic, which put a strain on the business.
The owners claimed they have yet to make “real profits” and pointed to many other small, independent Atlanta restaurants that have not survived.
“If we didn’t do something, we would have [had] cancel insurance or close our doors,” the statement said.
“So, we do it because we are driven by passion and sentimentality and the desire to bring people together around a table… It’s in our bones. “Hospitality is the reason we get up in the morning.”
“We posted it on the menu and receipt to prevent this,” the restaurant wrote. Yelp
The restaurant claimed it refunded the angry customer’s entire bill for the $2.02 charge in hopes the person would delete the viral social post.
“Electricity, gas, telephone, ticket companies… all have millions of added charges about which they are not as transparent,” the Chans wrote in the same statement.
“We have one [charge] …and we are very clear about it. Why criticize small businesses?
The family went on to encourage readers to “criticize insurance companies that make a living off of one-star reviews…but not family-owned businesses that try to do the best they can.”
“We’re really trying to do the best we can.”
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Fox News Digital contacted the restaurant, which declined to comment.
Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, weighed in on the struggle small businesses face as they try to stay afloat.
“This issue really illustrates how tight profit margins are for restaurants and how difficult it is for restaurants every day to financially ensure that they can keep their doors open and serve their community,” he told FOX Business in a phone interview.
“What this restaurant is trying to do is add a benefit to their workforce that allows them to retain and recruit more workers and obviously the labor challenge is tremendous that every restaurant faces.”
The average restaurant profit margin in the United States is between 3% and 4%, according to Kennedy of the National Restaurant Association.
“When restaurants try to innovate… they face a brick wall because their profit margins are so low,” he said.
Kennedy and the National Restaurant Association encourage restaurant owners to take note of JenChan’s approach to being transparent with the public.
Customers criticized the restaurant for its unusual policy.
The third highest cost facing restaurant operators today is credit card swiping fees, Kennedy revealed, while owners must also contend with inconsistent demand and “runaway” inflation in food prices.
“The restaurant industry remains under enormous cost pressures that are largely out of its control,” he said. “Right now, about 15% of restaurants are imposing additional fees on their [bills].”
While the additional fees won’t be popular with all consumers, Kennedy reminded restaurant-goers that these fees may be the only option for small business owners to keep their doors open.
“They are doing everything they can to ensure that the customer’s food is of the highest quality and the lowest price humanly possible,” he said.
“If you want to move your business somewhere else and go to another restaurant, do it, but at the same time, recognize that restaurants operate under incredible cost pressures and that we are the last industry to actually pass our costs on to our customers. .”
Kennedy added that the industry asks for patience, support and understanding.
“The restaurant consumer can choose what happens here,” he said.
“But their decisions will go a long way toward determining whether restaurants like this will have their doors open six months from now.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn