INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. (WFTS) — A bill proposed in the Florida Legislature is looking to regulate service charges at Florida restaurants.
HB 535 would allow automatic gratuity or service charges only for parties of 6 or more. It would have to be clearly labeled on the menu, bill, and receipt, notifying you of the recipient of the gratuity or service charge and the percentage the person or business entity is receiving.
Additionally, a guest is not required to pay an automatic gratuity or service charge if the guest requests not to pay it.
Although The Original Crabby Bill's no longer has its service fee, it was once a necessary addition.
JT Corrales, the restaurant's Director of Business Development, explains why it was once part of the bill.
"There was a point where inflation was really running high. Wages, cost of goods were all going up significantly. So I think there was a scramble at the time to figure out, like, how can you make the math work? Because the math just wasn't working," Corrales said.
Corrales said upping price's wasn't the best option.
"People would say, 'Well, why don't you just change the price on the menu?' Problem is, by the time the menus got printed, the prices of what we were paying to get those products were already going up, so it made it very difficult," he said.
Samantha Padgett, the Vice President of Government Relations and General Counsel for the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association explained why FRLA is against this push.
"We think it's a burden on small businesses. It has unintended consequences for workers, and it has an impact on all food service. It's not just about the tipping, and it really, it creates a one-size-fits-all solution where there really needs to be many solutions and tools available for a very diverse industry," she said.
However, FRLA isn't against HB 535 as a whole. The topic of gratuity and fees is a recent addition to a bill initially aimed at making it easier for hotels to remove people who won't leave yet won't pay either.
"It [was] creating a situation where hoteliers who are not landlords are having to go through the landlord-tenant process to remove guests who are not paying to stay there," she said.
As of right now, HB 535 is a packaged deal.
Corrales said that because they no longer have the extra charges, it won't impact them, but the industry continues to change, and today's business model isn't guaranteed to work tomorrow.
"The invisible hand of economics will take its place, and you will just adapt the way that you have to as a business, and consumers will spend the way that they have to, too," he said.
If this happens to become law, it would take effect July 1, 2025.
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