CA Restaurants to Include Fees in Menu Prices

A new state law requiring price transparency at California restaurants, dubbed the “Honest Pricing Law,” will take effect in July, reports NPR.

Restaurants will have to list prices for each menu item with all mandatory charges, including fees, put into a single figure. Optional fees, like a tip, and government-imposed tariffs, like sales tax, will be omitted from the law. Otherwise, surcharges, resort fees, and service charges will no longer be able to be added directly to the bill.

"The law is simple: the price you see is the price you pay," Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Wednesday, as his office issued long-awaited guidance about a law that applies to thousands of businesses in a wide range of sectors.

If a business violates the law, consumers will be able to seek "actual damages of at least $1,000." California says it won't focus initial enforcement efforts on "fees that are paid directly and entirely by a restaurant to its workers, such as an automatic gratuity. However, businesses may be liable in private actions."

Restaurant owners are weary of the changes; however, consumer advocate groups welcome the legislation, according to the report.

"People deserve to know the true price of products upfront so that they can do good comparison shopping and so that there's just good competition in the marketplace," said Jenn Engstrom, state director for the California Public Interest Research Group, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit. Full Story