City restaurants flout minimum price rule

Several restaurants are openly flouting a regulation that came into effect on Saturday outlawing the practice of setting minimum tariffs for customers occupying private rooms.

The Jing'an Temple outlet of Shanghai No. 1 Restaurant on Nanjing Road W. told Shanghai Daily yesterday that it imposed a minimum charge of 150 yuan (US$24.50) per person for parties of eight or more in private rooms.

Last week, the eatery charged a minimum of 800 yuan at lunch and 1,000 yuan at dinner, excluding drinks, for an eight-person room.

At the Taojiang Road branch of Pinchuan, Shanghai Daily was told that diners occupying a 10-person VIP room are asked to choose from four set meals priced from 1,288 yuan to 2,888 yuan per head.

Customers also have the option to select from the a la carte menu, but if they do, the total spend must be at least 1,288 yuan per person, it said.

Despite the stipulations, Pinchuan denied having a minimum charge policy.

According to a report by Wenhui Daily, an unnamed restaurant on Wanping Road in Xuhui District makes a service charge of between 10 and 20 percent of the total if the per-person spend by customers occupying VIP rooms falls below its minimum.

The fee is necessary to cover the cost of the additional waiting staff required to cater to a private room, it said.

In the same report, the owner of a Cantonese restaurant in the Jing An Kerry Centre was quoted as saying that the purpose of the minimum fee is to prevent diners occupying a VIP room but buying just two or three dishes.

The unnamed eatery will continue to charge a service fee, though customers are always made aware of it prior to dining, said the woman surnamed Shao.

Under the new rules issued by the Ministry of Commerce, restaurants can be fined up to 30,000 yuan for setting minimum charges.

However, there are as yet no clear means of reporting rule breaches to the authorities.

In February, the Supreme People's Court ruled that consumers who are asked to pay corkage fees or a minimum charge for a meal in a VIP room, or are forbidden from taking their own drinks into a restaurant, can take legal action.