To brazen or justified? The controversy for extra fees in Italian restaurants.

To brazen or justified? The controversy for extra fees in Italian restaurants.

Title: Controversy about extra fees in Italian restaurants

subtitle: Are two euros justified for an extra plate or the cutting of a sandwich?

Nothing is eaten as hot as it is cooked. Also not trofie with pesto. A plate of this noodle specialty has now caused excitement in Liguria-because one plate three and a small service had become a two-euro fee. But everything is nice.

The Italian columnist Selvaggia Lucarelli had recently published the photo of a restaurant bill that had sent her a reader. In addition to the trofie pasta, anchovy, water, beer and said extra fee of two euros are listed in addition to the trofie pasta.

This was apparently raised, so Lucarelli quotes her reader because she had asked for a small extra plate for her three-year-old daughter, who should also eat from the pasta. An insolence, the columnist, who has been dealing with the business practices of Italian restaurants for a long time - and one that is currently in the picture of Italy's restaurateurs.

Two euros extra for cutting a sandwich
Because just two days before this, another similar case caused a sensation: an absurd -looking fee was also charged in a restaurant on Lake Como; Again two euros were due, but this time for the professional division of a sandwich. Because she wanted to share the occupied bread with her accompaniment, the customer wrote on the TripAdvisor rating portal, an Extrageld was calculated in the restaurant. "Halve: 2 euros", it said on the receipt.

What just sounds brazen is not that easy to look at - if you listen to the restaurateur. In the case of the trofie pasta and the extra plate, it was like this: the restaurant that it runs is quite small, only had ten seats, explained the owner Ida Germano to the news portal. The corresponding customer with a child and another adult accompaniment would only have ordered the pasta and a plate with anchovies, but wanted to share everything - on three and not on two plates.

The fact that she ultimately only calculated an extra plate for her customer sees Germano as a congratulated train: Actually, she should have calculated both of them additional plates, after all, the flushing work would have tripled. The restaurant owner Cristina Biacchi, who had asked for money for parts of the sandwich on Lake Comer, argues similarly: extra working hours, extra flushing work. And - both restaurateurs agree: a meal for two guests - that just doesn't pay off.

200 euros punishment in the event of non -appearance of the guests
In fact, many restaurants are in crisis, have to fight with increased energy and food prices- not only in Italy. In May 2022, a restaurant caused a stir in North Rhine-Westphalian Ratingen because it wanted to request admission from its guests in the future. Other restaurants all over Germany that offer all-you-can-eat buffets have been transferred to imposing punishment: for those guests who can be loaded properly and then leave half.

and in Berlin, many gastronomies - from rustic restaurants such as the thick landlady to gourmet restaurants such as Tim Raue - have recently known - recently fines of up to 200 euros from those guests who do not perceive an ordered table; So leave the space reserved for you. In many Berlin restaurants, the procedure of only allowing table reservations with time windows have prevailed so that the guests do not stay seated for hours after eating to sip wine on the last glass.

What sounds little hospitably speaks a clear language: that the behavior of the guests does not always decrease in a glorious - and that this is difficult in the crisis. Reservations that are not perceived ensure empty tables and therefore failing income. Excessiveness on the all-you-can-eat buffet ensures plenty of food waste and thus losses of the restaurant. And even if a table is occupied in pairs, but is only eaten by you at the price, the host ultimately pays. So there are many other examples - such as the bad cut in Berlin, to ask tap water in a restaurant for a glass - where it remains unclear what a good service has to do and when a restaurateur has to draw boundaries.

Two euros fees for an extra plate or for cutting a sandwich may sound outrageous-but sometimes to tast the price of one in pairs, but it is sometimes also. So who is right in the dispute over the manageable two euros? Who is brazen here - the host or the guests? Isn't it more like going to the baker in a sandwich you want to share? How long can I occupy the table in the restaurant - and how many people? Difficult box.

Another example from Italy is already clear: A few days ago, a Twitter user published the photo of a receipt; Again it was about a restaurant in Italy. Here, too, two euros were calculated extra - to take tomatoes down by the pizza. Outrage.