Restaurant Owner to Imposes Surcharge For Obamacare

I don't see how this is any different from any other business. Look closely at your cell phone bill, your power bill, your cable bill, etc. See where they charge you, their customers, for the taxes that they have to pay? Like Leona Helmsley said, only the little people pay taxes. Whenever the government says they are going to "tax the rich" you can bet that the "rich" will simply pass those taxes down.

If he had just hiked his prices by 5% without an explaination this would not be a news story.

Lets see:

48 Hurricane Grill & Wings locations (5 Corporate owned)
40 Denny's and Dairy Queen locations

Me thinks he's getting a pretty penny back from all these franchises, wouldn't you think? But if he has to pay for his employees healthcare he won't be able to get that new hummer.

reply to post by inverslyproportional


He will alienate some and encourage others. I imagine his goal is to shed light on the costs of "free healthcare."

Time will tell if his idea pans out.

Actions have consequences.

That goes for both sides here.

reply to post by VictorVonDoom


Hiking his prices without explanation would have been "smart business." This is pandering, and it can only backfire in a world where more than 50% of his potential customer base voted for President Obama.

Not that anyone under 75 eats at Denny's or anything.

reply to post by Krazysh0t


Yeah, by adding the surcharge, he was definitely politicizing the issue
But maybe he SHOULD have done it. People hear obamacare and they think "OH SWEET, I GET MEDICARE WITHOUT PAYING W00T W00T"
Nah man, ever hear the phrase "There's no such thing as a free puppy"?
Same thing with universal healthcare.

Fact of the matter is he owns 88 restaurants (some franchised). I think he can afford to pay for his employees healthcare benefits and I don't think it would put him or his business in the poor house.

ha ha ha too funny how everyone is bagging on this guy for being greedy when all the other restaurants will just raise their prices and not say a word. But all the geniuses claim they will take their business elsewhere (and pay the same higher prices but not have to think about why) and the severs will look elsewhere so they can get better tips. LOL higher prices will effect tips whether they are known or not. At least this guy is letting the people know why the prices are higher...

Here is my prediction his business will do just fine. More businesses should do this so people can start getting a clue on how things actually work instead of thinking prices rise by osmosis and welfare grows freely on trees and stop supporting idiots like Obama Bush Romney Clinton and the whole anti-liberty crowd that has been ruining this country for decades...

Originally posted by Crakeur
It's a smart tactic in the sense that he's going to raise the prices to cover the cost of Obamacare but he's going to do it in a manner that makes Obama, and his plan, the enemy, not him.

It's a moronic tactic because there will be many people who won't eat at his restaurants as a result and, more important, if obamacare is overhauled, or reversed, in later years, he will be forced to remove the surcharge whereas, if he just raised his prices, he wouldn't have the same need to remove the obamacare increases as the customers won't know the primary reason for the increase in the first place.

I eat at one of his resturaunts about once a week in Palm Beach with my kids. Never, ever again, even if he reverses this surcharge, which I predict won't last more than a week when he sees the backlash against him. For a bunch of people around here his stance will be forever burnt into their minds and it will cost him dearly. He would have been off just to just take care of his employees in the first place. He didn't and that is one of the reasons we have Obamacare. Guys like him who feel the right to exploit other human beings. For pete's sake he only pays the servers less than $3/hr to start with.

reply to post by RedShirt73


But see, that's his call. Therein lies the problem. The left wants to decide how the producers can spend their money, and the risk takers and entrepreneurs are just supposed to shut up and take it.

There's two sides to that coin. There should be no bailouts, no subsidies, no corporate welfare either. The government is trying to be all things to all people. Bail out the rich and supply everything to the poor. Who foots that bill?

The rest of us.

Good for this guy. If it's a bad move, the market will speak. As it should be.

Originally posted by hawkiye
ha ha ha too funny how everyone is bagging on this guy for being greedy when all the other restaurants will just raise their prices and not say a word. But all the geniuses claim they will take their business elsewhere (and pay the same higher prices but not have to think about why) and the severs will look elsewhere so they can get better tips. LOL higher prices will effect tips whether they are known or not. At least this guy is letting the people know why the prices are higher...

Here is my prediction his business will do just fine. More businesses should do this so people can start getting a clue on how things actually work instead of thinking prices rise by osmosis and welfare grows freely on trees and stop supporting idiots like Obama Bush Romney Clinton and the whole anti-liberty crowd that has been ruining this country for decades...

edit on 15-11-2012 by hawkiye because: (no reason given)

Tips are almost always given on the amount of the check. Higher prices = higher tips. in that respect he is screwing over the servers even more.

You're right that more businesses than just this one will likely employ such a tactic, albeit more quietly. However, as mentioned, this guy is trying to make a show of it, and a political point. And he will "enjoy" the repercussions of that.

I kind of hope others do it like this too -- so I know which greedy scumbags NOT to give my money to
Now, i do have some culinary business training, so I can tell you that restaurants typically run at a pretty thin profit margin. Big franchise-chain places tend to do a little better.

As mentioned, however.... some will boycott the food, and even those who would not boycott it for political reasons will begin eating somewhere else when all the good servers leave for places where their tips will not be so affected. If I worked at one of those places, I'd leave upon finding out what a greedy scumbag the owner is.

It is true that lots of businesses pull crap like this in response to stuff like tax hikes or obamacare-- but maybe these scumbags have gotten enough of a "free ride" of the sweat of the backs of their employees. See? The tables can spin on that one, too.....

Higher costs are always passed on to the end consumer, dont know why the outrage at this.

Having been in the service industry, people tip on the total amount of the check, and only those old people who break out the tip calculators are the ones who tip on the pre tax total.

This could actually end up putting more money in the servers pockets.

Good for him.

Originally posted by iwilliam
It is true that lots of businesses pull crap like this in response to stuff like tax hikes or obamacare-- but maybe these scumbags have gotten enough of a "free ride" of the sweat of the backs of their employees. See? The tables can spin on that one, too.....

Maybe a wobbly and backward spin. "Scumbags with a free ride"? That's pretty funny. Where would these people work without the 'scumbags' willing to take a risk to start a business. Here's a newsflash: Contrary to leftist logic, businesses aren't started to benefit the employees. You make the owner assume all the risk and eliminate the profit, what do you think happens?

Yes, businesses pass their costs along, building the cost of delivery into the pricing structure. That's how they turn this thing called profit. I know, profits are evil and all.

Those who create business aren't in it to work for free even tho quite a few people think those owners should.

When it costs more to keep the doors open than they take in costs are cut ever single day business input costs increase without fail,.

That business owner is already paying for unemployment insurance, they are already paying for 6% of the SS benefits, and some genius said make them pay for healthcare too.

Then he has to pay for everything else, real estate loans,equipment loans, food, complying with department of health standards etc.

He passed the cost on so what?

If the employee is not working for charity neither is the business owner and for those who say they can afford to pay for it?

No they don't if they could they already would have been,

I think that he is just being honest about the cost of doing business under Obama.

When the government makes decisions, like Obamacare, it carries a price tag.

Businesses will pass this price along to consumers. He could have hidden the cost by raising his prices by 5% but why not let the public know what Obamacare costs?

Other restaurants have reduced peoples hours to less then 30 hrs per week in order not to have to pay for Obamacare. That hurts the workers.

Life is full of choices. If enough people are outraged by this tactic, they will stop frequenting his restaurants. Of course then, all the employees will not have jobs or healthcare.

Originally posted by MsAphrodite
reply to post by inverslyproportional

 

He will alienate some and encourage others. I imagine his goal is to shed light on the costs of "free healthcare."

Time will tell if his idea pans out.

Actions have consequences.

That goes for both sides here.

Who said it was free???

The bloody point of Obamacare was to make sure people PAY for their own healthcare as opposed

to UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE or the E.R.

Do you guys really think the cost of 30 million uninsured people is nothing???


You ALREADY pay for it, but that require too much thought.

reply to post by neo96

He passed the cost on so what?

I agree with just about everything that you posted. The only problem that I have with this guy is the way he intends to do it.

He put a public statement out saying that the surcharge he plans to impose will pay for the servers health benefits, and that customers are free not to tip, or to tip less, as a result.

He could have just as easily chosen to quietly raise menu prices, without demonizing the server in political revenge.

That's a low blow.

Originally posted by neo96
Those who create business aren't in it to work for free even tho quite a few people think those owners should.

When it costs more to keep the doors open than they take in costs are cut ever single day business input costs increase without fail,.

That business owner is already paying for unemployment insurance, they are already paying for 6% of the SS benefits, and some genius said make them pay for healthcare too.

Then he has to pay for everything else, real estate loans,equipment loans, food, complying with department of health standards etc.

He passed the cost on so what?

If the employee is not working for charity neither is the business owner and for those who say they can afford to pay for it?

No they don't if they could they already would have been,

edit on 15-11-2012 by neo96 because: (no reason given)

That's why we need universal healthcare.

It's only a matter of time.

Originally posted by Thepump


That's why we need universal healthcare.

It's only a matter of time.

Uh huh, and your plan for universal healthcare includes what measures to make sure the deadbeats and parasites of society actually pay into the fund?

Originally posted by Indigo5
Hmm...Hamburgers is his biggest seller and beef prices have increased nearly 100% over the past few years...and yet he is going to tag a 5% Obamacare preium on peoples bill for an expense that he hasn't incurred yet and doesn't know if it will cost him anything?

I smell idealogical retard...