A heated debate has begun on Reddit after a restaurant was found to be charging a 10% “peak season surcharge” on its menu items. Is this in line with our hot girl summer ethics? Let’s chat about it.
On Friday, Redditor @Mad_Bison posted a photo to the r/Australia subreddit of the menu from Pavilion Geelong, an upscale eatery with views of Eastern Beach.
Vibe-wise, the spot is similar to the Coogie Pav in Sydney. Except, it’s in Victoria so the weather is a bit more shit.
“IMO No need for a peak season surcharge,” the post begins.
“Set your prices year round and absorb this bullshit. At least when it came up for a tip, the default option was “Yeah. Nah”.”
Folks in the comments section didn’t shy away from sharing their options either.
“I wouldn’t eat here,” said one comment with over 400 upvotes.
“Why would peak season cost them more though? Surely peak season means it’s busier and the business is making more money. Unless all ingredients or electricity or rent is suddenly priced higher during that month, why would they need a surcharge??” said another.
A third pointed out that the venue was charging “$24 for avocado toast…”, with another responding that it was “Actually $24.50 and then add the 10% surcharge for a low $26.95. I wonder if the wheat was hand sown, small batch, stone ground yada yada yada”.
Perhaps we’ve been living under a rock, but this is the first time we’ve heard of “peak season pricing”.
Public holiday surcharge? Sure!
Why wouldn’t we want to contribute to the hospo workers making a bit of extra coin? Fair’s fair.
While the practice of seasonal pricing is common with hotels, peak season pricing for restaurants feels like a foreign concept.
One Redditor had a suggestion that the restaurant might want to adopt to avoid future awkwardness…
In any case, the lack of an explanation for the seasonal price increase leaves more questions than answers.
The venue’s online menu doesn’t feature the surcharge, which appears to be a different version from the physical menu at the venue which appeared in the Reddit post.
Instead, a weekend surcharge of 10% is listed in the online version.
Further, it’s a less-than-ideal time to be receiving accusations of price gouging.
It was recently announced that Coles and Woolworths would be undergoing a Senate inquiry into their grocery prices after recording record profits.
Just weeks later, Coles was found to have majorly cut prices on many products ahead of the Senate inquiry. Peculiar timing?
I’ll be making my avo toast at home from now on, with $1.40 avocados purchased from the market. Yee haw.
