Surcharges dropped to attract customers

Restaurants in Tauranga are offering a surcharge-free lunch over the Christmas and New Year holiday period to entice customers through the door.
"It's our gift," said Nancy Hogg, who owns Bravo Cafe and Restaurant, Encore Cafe and Greer's Gastro Bar, and is vice-president of the Bay of Plenty branch of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand.
"The economic climate is hard enough for people now. I think we have to see what's happening in the community and every paper you pick up tells us how slow it is," she said.
Likewise, the Naked Grape has opted out of applying a surcharge in the interests of staying competitive.
"If someone else doesn't put one on and they see we've got one they will go to the other place," Naked Grape manager Lance Milne said.
Cornerstone Pub duty manager Natalie MacDonald said surcharges were also off the menu at her pub, on The Strand.
"We have done surcharges in the past but we decided not to do it (this time). There is no point for us. People still come in.
"Other people may need to, depending how busy they get. We get busy though so there's no need to," she added.
Harbourside will not have a surcharge on Christmas Day, but will add a 15 per cent charge on Boxing Day and January 1 and 2 to "recoup costs".
"We have a Christmas Day lunch which is a set menu. It's a one-off price so we don't want to add to that," manager Peter Ward said.
The Horny Bull planned a 10 per cent surcharge on Boxing and New Year's days to "cover the cost of staff", said manager Heidi Taylor, while Mount Maunganui's Astrolabe was yet to finalise its position on a surcharge.
Under the Holidays Act 2003, employees must be paid time-and-a-half and receive time off in lieu when they work on a public holiday.
To compensate for this, some restaurants impose a "surcharge" on prices on public holidays.
However with Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and January 2 falling on weekend days there is some confusion as to which days are classed as "public holidays".
On calendars, the public holidays have been transferred to Monday and Tuesday on both weeks.
However, the Department of Labour said for people who usually worked Saturday and Sunday, the public holidays fell on those days.
Someone who usually worked Saturday and Sunday, such as hospitality staff, would be entitled to time and a half and time off in lieu for working Christmas and Boxing Days but not for working the following Monday and Tuesday.
An employee was only entitled to a maximum of four public holidays over the Christmas and New Year period.
According to the Commerce Commission, an employer may be entitled to impose a surcharge on any day where they have to pay their employees more than a normal working day.
A spokesman said New Zealand businesses were free to determine the retail price for goods and services and did not have to justify their prices to customers.
If businesses used public holidays as a reason for applying a surcharge, to avoid the potential of misleading customers, that surcharge needed to accurately reflect their costs of opening.