The so-called ‘cakeage fee’ – a charge restaurants command when customers bring their own cake – has shot up to as much as £9 in some big-name restaurants.
Diners at Kaspar’s Seafood Bar & Grill at the Savoy, run by Gordon Ramsay, who wish to bring their own birthday cake are charged an extra £9 each, according to The Sunday Times. Diners bringing their own cake to the St John restaurant in Smithfield, central London, must pay £7.50 per person if dessert is not ordered.
Of 78 outlets contacted by the paper, which encompassed fine dining restaurants to run-of-the-mill pubs, just those in London applied the fee, which has been likened to the corkage fee at bring-your-own alcohol venues.
British Baker first wrote about businesses charging customers’ for their own cake earlier this month, when it found that London-based BBQ chain Bodean’s charges £1.50 per person per slice – but only if they want to eat the cake. Customers are free to bring the cake, light candles and sing at no extra cost.
In contrast to several high-ticket London venues levying the fee, several of a similar calibre do not. The main restaurant at the Ritz nor the bar at Claridge’s command the charge. While pubs generally choose to let customers celebrate with cake at no extra cost, The Thomas Cubbitt in Belgravia and its three sister pubs, all in London, charge an extra £3.50 per person, again when dessert is not also ordered.
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