At Don Pan de Kendall, customers are informed about the credit card surcharge at the register before placing their order.
Amy Reyes
Miami restaurants love slipping a 20% “service charge” onto your bill without warning — and diners are right to be frustrated. Florida’s new transparency law finally forces the industry to come clean before you order.
FULL STORY: Restaurants have the right to charge fees. Miami diners have the right to know | Opinion
Here are key takeaways:
Florida’s “Operations Charge” law, which took effect July 1, requires restaurants to disclose mandatory fees — service charges, automatic gratuities, credit card surcharges and delivery fees — before customers order. That’s a straightforward win for consumers tired of surprises when they get the check.The law doesn’t cap what restaurants can charge or ban service fees. It simply demands honesty upfront, letting restaurants control their pricing while diners make informed choices.Andrew Zelman, a partner at Berger Singerman in Fort Lauderdale, told the Editorial Board the law “focuses towards disclosure and transparency to customers, eliminating any confusion.” In tourist-heavy South Florida, where visitors aren’t used to automatic operations charges, that clarity is overdue.Diners often assume a 20% service charge is the server’s tip — but it isn’t necessarily. The money goes to the restaurant, which decides how to distribute it, meaning customers can unintentionally shortchange servers or tip twice.Fine print and quiet fees erode trust. Transparency isn’t just fair to consumers — it’s good business for restaurants willing to be upfront about what a meal actually costs.
The summary was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.