US Restaurant Introduces Covid-19 Surcharge To Tackle Rising Costs

Goog's Pub & Grub in Michigan began charging customers the extra fee on Thursday 7 May and claims it is a way for the business to be transparent about rising costs and decreasing profits.

Due to lockdown measures, the eatery is only open for takeaway, which means it isn't bringing in money from alcohol sales, with rising food costs worsening the situation.

Owner Brad White said it was just a temporary measure to keep the business afloat.

"Takeout averages about 82 cents more per meal just to put that meal out cause you're not just putting it on a plate or tray and washing that again. It's the silverware, the boxes.

"When this started, we were running about $50 for a case of burgers and then it was up to $55, $62, $66, $72 last week and they just told me next week it'll probably be up to $88 a case, so almost double what we were paying.

"It's going to be a while before the food industry, the suppliers catch up. If the industry's prices are going to stay, it's going to affect people down the road just as much as it is now."

Brad and general manager Palmer White said they were the only restaurant in the area to put in place such a charge, but they expect others to follow suit. That said, they plan to remove the surcharge when things return to normal.

Palmer said: "It's just all these extra costs added onto each plate and we don't have as many avenues to bring in extra profit in other places.

"We're not doing this to get rich. We just want to see our staff is taken care of, make sure people are fed, make sure our lights are on."

At the time of writing, there have been 1.45 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US, with more than 86,000 people having died after testing positive for the virus.