All restaurants across the Kingdom were given 60 days by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to officially cancel service charges, a period that has finally come to an end. Restaurants vary in their responses to this new rule - there are those that immediately removed the service charge and others that have not yet complied. A restaurant manager in Jeddah told a customer who asked about the removal of the service charge: “The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has given us a deadline of two months, and we intend to wait it out and keep the service charge until the final deadline.” Some restaurants have figured out a loophole in this policy and have invented ways to compensate for any decrease in financial gains that may result. Although restaurants have banished the service charge, some businesses have raised their prices. The manager of a restaurant in Al-Khobar, Rolan Sleibi, told Al-Watan daily, “Our restaurant started implementing the no-service charge policy just two days ago, as the Chamber of Commerce made it clear that this policy is mandatory. This week we plan to change our menu, add new dishes and change the prices ... a large number of other restaurants in the region are making similar changes. The slight increase in prices and adjustments to the menu is a normal reaction to the cancellation of the service charge.” “After the announcement from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 90 percent of our regular customers did not even mention the new policy or ask whether our restaurant had implemented the policy or not. Our average customer's main concern is to enjoy a delicious meal in a pleasant atmosphere. Around 10 percent of our customers had heard about the policy and they did ask us when we were planning to remove the service charge,” added Sleibi. The restaurant manager went on to claim that the removal of the service charge will not affect the business but will negatively impact waiters, janitors and chefs who work at the restaurant. The service charge was a means to complement our employees' monthly income and it used to be evenly distributed among employees whose fixed salaries are not very high. Now the waiters have to rely on the fluctuating tips from customers in addition to their regular wages. Another restaurant manager who disagrees with this opinion views the new no-service charge policy as being quite reasonable. Muhammad Bilal operates a restaurant in the region. “There is no need to raise our prices as a result of the cancellation of the service charge. The only changes we made to the menu included adding new, exquisite, and creative dishes to attract more customers; we also created new desserts and fresh fruit juices with a variety of flavors. The restaurant manager here did not receive an official notice from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, but we learned about the policy by reading the local newspapers,” he said. Other restaurants are afraid that customers will file complaints if they do not comply with the no-service charge rule as a large number of customers seem well informed. Restaurants have, therefore, posted signs on entrances and inside restaurants to let customers know that the management has removed the service charge, in compliance with the Ministry of Commerce's mandate. “Most restaurants in the Eastern Province were keen on conforming to this new rule, especially in the last two weeks, and we were given a time frame of two months which I believe was sufficient,” added Bilal. Many believe that it is going to be very challenging and difficult for the ministry to monitor all restaurants and force them to comply. Fadl Abu Aynain, an economist, fears that in the absence of strict regulations, restaurant owners will increase prices and in that case the new policy will have missed its intended purpose, which was to protect customers' rights and reduce the exaggerated costs customers are forced to pay when dining out.
