A well-known local kopitiam chain has announced a five percent increase in its service charge for Chinese New Year, triggering mixed reactions online with many voicing out the increment as unfair to customers.
In a Threads post, an image attached showed the notice announcing the service charge adjustment, from 10% to 15% during the first two days of the festivities.
The adjusted service charge is excluding the 6% SST charge.
Netizens voiced out their annoyed by the service charge hike and called to boycott the eatery while some reasoned that the practice is common, taking the festive period into account.
Meanwhile, a few have alleged that they have noticed business establishments implementing the practice during the Chinese New Year period.
“This is insane. I see their restaurants packed with people daily and they most certainly can afford to pay extra to their staff. I guess I and many others will just eat elsewhere on those days,” a netizen said.
“This is the first time (I’m) hearing about restaurants (increasing) service charges during the festive period,” a user commented.
“The temporary adjustment is justifiable as during public holidays, business owners have to absorb twice the labour costs according to regulations and for mall tenants, I trust they cant simply close shop during the holidays,” another commenter reasoned.
