Occasionally, restaurants will charge fees to customers who want to split a meal.
According to an article from Yahoo! Life, there are a few reasons a restaurant may opt to do this.
First, restaurants work on thin margins, so every person who splits a meal is a lost opportunity for profit. The restaurant’s charge for a split meal, then, serves as an attempt to claw back some of that potential lost revenue.
Second, a split meal means more work for the staff than just one dish. Servers still have to serve you as though you ordered your own meal, they must provide you with dishes and utensils for your meal, and more.
That said, split meal fees can still come as a shock for restaurant patrons, as TikTok user Jason (@jasonmoodyphoto) recently noted.
@jasonmoodyphoto ♬ original sound – Jason Moody
In a clip with over 57,000 views, Jason shows his attempt to circumvent the restaurant’s split meal fee.
“When they charge you $5 to split a plate, so ‘you’ order a salad for ‘yourself,’” he writes in the text overlaying the video. The video shows Jason handing a fork with salad on it to someone across the table.
In the comments section, several users derided the concept of a fee to split a meal.
“I had a business split a burger once for $1.50,” wrote a user. “Why?!?? Just give me a knife.”
“What a weird and exploitative business practice,” added another.
“I’ve eaten at hundreds of mid to higher end restaurants and never encountered this,” shared a third. “My and my bestie split one meal about 90% of the time.”
Some users offered further ways to get around having to pay the fee.
“That’s a charge if you want them to literally plate it separately , but if you order it how it is and get side plates they don’t charge you, v common,” offered a commenter.
“Order to go,” suggested a second.
However, Jason says his days at this restaurant are likely over.
“We probably won’t order anything from this place again,” he detailed in a comment.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jason via Instagram direct message.
