This is insanity, driving local public outrage and vows to avoid these establishments: high-end restaurants in Chicago are still blaming COVID social distancing polices for a strictly enforced policy of a $100 minimum for each person to dine.
“A Chicago man was outraged when he was faced with a minimum payment to eat at a restaurant, and he thinks the rule should go away now that the city is opening back up,” a local CBS affiliate reports. But the rule isn’t going away, many restaurants say while claiming the continued requirement is toward ensuring operations are in line with COVID-related health and distancing measures.
One man interviewed in the report, Howard Tolsky, booked a dinner online for a well-known downtown steak restaurant and was required to pay a minimum of $300 for three total people just to ensure a table there.
“I figured, well, we’re not going to spend $300,” Tolsky said. “We might spend $250. But I don’t want to spend $300 dollars on a meal that costs $250.” He went elsewhere on that basis, telling CBS-2 that “Now is the time for them to attract customers and not detract them.”
The restaurant itself echoed the policies of a number of other Chicago dining establishments, saying in response to the report:
“Like many in our industry, we had to make some updates to our policies. The $100 per person minimum will remain in effect to provide the ability to be successful as a steakhouse designed for the full sit-down experience and support our restaurant’s operations and staff.”
The restaurants say that with the past year of severely restricted numbers on diners they were allowed to seat, last-minute cancelled reservations were especially brutal, causing them to also implement unusual requirements like non-refundable deposits on reserving a table. – READ MORE
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