Restaurants "Plate Sharing Charge" Sparks Debate After Customer Finds Workaround

A TikTok user went viral after sharing their "hack" for getting around a restaurant's plate sharing charge. If you've ever dined out with someone and told your wait staff that you plan on sharing a meal or dish with another person at your table, you may've been slapped with a "plate sharing" charge.

A TikTok user went viral after sharing their "hack" for purchasing around a cafe's plate sharing charge.

Source: TikTok | @jasonmoodyphoto

If you've ever dined out with somebody and told your wait team of workers that you plan on sharing a meal or dish with someone else at your desk, you could've been slapped with a "plate sharing" charge.

Different other folks have differing opinions on these fees: there are some who argue that it handiest makes sense for some companies to put in force them as a means of helping to cover overhead.

And then there are those that don't seem to be fans of the follow, mentioning that it is simply differently for eating places to check out and extricate as much money as possible from its guests, particularly since 92% of all American restaurants serve "oversized portions" to its diners.

One TikToker shared how they have been able to "bypass" a plate sharing charge at a restaurant they visited. Jason Moody (@jasonmoodyphoto) uploaded a trending clip to TikTok discussing the charge, which initiated a dialog in regards to the practice within the feedback phase.

@jasonmoodyphoto ♬ original sound - Jason Moody Source: TikTok | @jasonmoodyphoto

Jason writes in a textual content overlay of the video, which shows a near empty plate of salad in entrance of him: "When they charge you $5 to split a plate, so 'you' order a salad for 'yourself.'

He then grabs a fork of greens and feeds a woman sitting across the table from him before the video cuts out, demonstrating how he was able to effectively bypass the $5 plate sharing charge implemented by the restaurant.

Like any industry, time is money in the restaurant business, and restaurant staff ideally want customers spending the most amount of possible during their time at the table they're seated in.

Source: TikTok | @jasonmoodyphoto

Which means that when folks come in for a meal, staff are going to push drinks, appetizers, entrees for everyone seated, and some desserts and coffees when everyone is done.

All of these things inevitably add up, and people are almost always left with more food than they could possibly finish during a single sitting, leaving everyone with to-go containers they may or may not finish when they get home.

Source: TikTok | @jasonmoodyphoto

So if you're at an eating establishment and plan on sharing a meal with whoever you're seated with, businesses aren't the biggest fans of that, because they're attempting to maximize their revenue after all.

As a result, they'll institute an "empty plate" or "shared plate" charge in order to recoup some of the projected losses that they thought they were going to get from a customer seated at the table.

Source: TikTok | @jasonmoodyphoto

This may seem pretty ridiculous, as the individual isn't necessarily buying anything at the restaurant, but from the restaurant's perspective, they probably see it like this: they just gave a table that could seat 2 or more people and aren't fully squeezing the revenue they could be getting out of said table.

If just one person at the table is buying food/drinks, the restaurant probably could've seated that one person at the bar, for instance, so they could grab their food, had their guest not been there.

Source: TikTok | @jasonmoodyphoto

One TikToker who viewed Jason's post told him to simply "order to move," however, Jason said that he and his co-diner were probably never going to eat from there ever again.

Someone else said that they couldn't understand plate splitting charges: "I had a business break up a burger as soon as for $1.50. Why?!?? Just give me a knife"

What do you think? Do you understand the place eating places are coming from? Or is it cash grubbing behavior that you just can't reinforce?

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfmLWivsaipaBlZWKxsLjLmqmsZaSkerS8y6KrZpldpbmiwMQ%3D

 Share!