Diner Sparks Debate Over 'Ridiculous' Fee Added to Bill

A man who was forced to pay to pick up food has shared his fury online.

"I've gone from living in a time when delivery was free to paying to collect my food," he wrote under the username ColdCruise on Reddit.

The man had collected enough loyalty points with the local restaurant to be able to order an appetizer for free, but when he put his request through the online system, he was stunned to see a fee added.

"I assume that the fee has been introduced because of corporate greed-driven inflation. Whether the fee is strictly from that greed, or from an increase in operating costs caused by the greed of a different corporation charging Buffalo Wild Wings, I do not know," ColdCruise told Newsweek.

A spokesperson for Buffalo Wild Wings told Newsweek: "Several Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants have tested a take-out fee; however, we are ending the test and will have the fee removed by the end of this summer."

In a screenshot of the online system, the Redditor shared how the free order included a 99-cent takeout fee. Additional information from the restaurant said: "This service fee helps us to operate our takeout business."

The American casual dining restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings was founded in 1982 and has locations across the U.S., Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

ColdCruise posted the complaint on Reddit's r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, where it has received 13,000 upvotes and over 700 comments.

Many people agreed that the direction of takeout food costs was frustrating and even shared their own reactions.

"In 3 years we went from 'cheap delivery on pizza and Chinese food,' to 'everything is now delivered to my door' to 'delivery is so expensive I have no other choice but to pick the damn food up myself,'" wrote one frustrated commenter.

While customers shared frustrations about charges associated with buying takeout food, and debates over so-called "rip off" fees surge, retailers have shared the reality for them too.

In 2020, Giuseppe Badalamenti, a consultant and owner of the small business Chicago Pizza Boss showed how much he was being charged for using third-party delivery services: "Stop believing you are supporting your community by ordering from a 3rd party delivery company Out of almost $1,100 of orders. Your restaurant you are trying to support receives not even $400. It is almost enough to pay for the food," he said.

But many said it would put them off ordering if a restaurant added fees like this to their order.

"The audacity to have a takeout fee...restaurants are now trying to charge for everything," said one Redditor. Another wrote: "What's next? Pay to have your food wrapped up?"

"All aspects of operating a business have an overhead," said poster ColdCruise. "Whether it be dine-in, takeout or delivery, and regardless of what that aspect is, adding ridiculous fees like a Takeout Fee is just a way to squeeze extra money from customers to take out extra profits by hiding fees at checkout."

Update 06/21/23 at 3:03 a.m. ET; This article was updated to add comment from Buffalo Wild Wings.