Sad truth behind Thai joint’s unpopular sign revealed
The owner of a popular Thai food joint has come under fire for surprising charges on his menu.
Small Business
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The owner of a popular Thai restaurant says surcharges as high as 15 per cent are the only way to protect his business from a ‘Covid-level’ crisis, as the internet begins to turn on him.
Boon Low, the owner of the independent Victorian Dodee Paidang restaurant chain with four stores in greater Melbourne, said surcharges are the only way forward in a tough economic climate.
This includes a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge and 10 per cent Sunday charge, which are common throughout Australia, but also a 5 per cent surcharge on Saturdays and 10 per cent if it’s “late night”,
Speaking candidly to news.com.au, Mr Low said that the cost pressures on the hospitality industry have made the current economic climate “as bad as Covid” for small businesses.
Among them are increased land taxes, rent, and food costs, which have almost doubled in some cases, and wages, which are expected to increase again this year.
An image from his Swanston store is doing the rounds on Google reviews and Reddit, showing a list of surcharge rates.
“We’re an honest operator that doesn’t owe anyone a single cent, we have full time staff, we pay over half a million dollars in rent, we pay the land tax on the building and it’s costing us fortune,” he said.
“The surcharges are what we need to do to make everything work.”
Surcharge rates shown in the viral image also include 1.7 per cent for card transactions.
Mr Low said the surcharges kick in when relevant penalty rates must be paid to staff and that he understood the frustration, saying he wished he didn’t have to impose the charges on diners.
Still, he said that the anger regarding his surcharges, which vary between his stores, misrepresents the strain his restaurants and the entire sector are under.
“If we want to maintain 30 per cent wage costs, be respectful of low food prices, and stay open later, that’s what we need to do,” he lamented.
“The conversation with surcharges is a good one because I look at it, and I think, ‘look, our weekend sales are dying because of the surcharge’.
“The actual conversation we should be having is “what’s happening with costs? Why are we being pushed into this scenario?”’
He added while his business’ approach to cover rising costs is unpopular increased surcharges, other’s find perhaps more subtle ways to make back the difference.
“We went to the pub last Friday, and a main cost $40,” he said.
“I don’t think you can walk out of a pub now paying less than $100 between two.
“My major mantra is we want people to be able to afford our food every day,” he explained, adding his actual food prices, before the surcharges, have hardly moved.
Having operated Dodee Paidang for seven years, toiling through the Covid-19 pandemic, which proved fatal for many businesses, Mr Low felt governments had failed at every step to ease the strain on the hospitality sector amid a new potential cost crisis.
“They’re trying to obviously squeeze everything back into inflation, but it’s been bad – this is as bad a time as Covid,” he said.
Ultimately Mr Low fears that Melbourne’s iconic dining culture, which drew him to Victoria from Western Australia in the first place, is under threat.
“I remember Melbourne 15 years ago as a vibrant city, a city that was always open and there was always something interesting to find,” he added.
“Now, that’s just not going to happen.
“You can see the amount of retail and hospitality businesses are folding.”
Ultimately, Mr Low said customers have the last say with their wallets.
“I just want people to be aware of the fact that we are struggling and it’s not blatant profiteering,” he said.
“It’s brutal – it’s absolutely brutal.
“Our voices have drowned out by the people who are angry and who are emotional, and so they should be – but the outlet shouldn’t be us.”
Mr Low’s concerns are perhaps exemplified in what has been a devastating year for Victoria’s revered culinary scene, with news of administration or flat-out closures of lauded eateries becoming routine.
The Forge, the flagship pizzeria of Tim Matthews in Ballarat, was placed into administration last month due to a hostile business environment, according to The Age.
“Every time the Reserve Bank announced another rise, I could see a steep drop in our takings,” Mr Matthews said.
“Add to this the debt accrued during Covid, a lack of staff, and increased cost of energy and produce. And now revenue has dropped to 50 per cent of pre-Covid levels. It is incredibly stressful.”
Industry advocate Jodie Gillett also warned of the impending crisis.
“It’s like Covid all over again, except with no direct financial support or grant opportunities to assist,” the chief executive of Commerce Ballarat and chair of the Victorian Regional Chamber Alliance told The Age.
“Recovering from the pandemic, holding debt, tax increases, staff shortages, skill shortages, drought, flood, new legislation to absorb, the list goes on. So many are at breaking point.”
The issue appears to extend beyond well beyond Victoria, with most capital cities experiencing spates of high-profile restaurant closures.
Originally published as Sad truth behind Thai joint’s unpopular sign revealed
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