How this café introduced a weekend surcharge to cover penalty rates without upsetting customers

Tuesday, March 1 2016
Smart Company

A café owner in north east Victoria has decided to apply a 20% surcharge to customers’ bills in order to open on public holidays after its weekend surcharge to cover penalty rates was well received by customers.   

Eric Bittner, the owner of Café Derailleur in Wangaratta, introduced a 10% surcharge on customers’ weekend bills last year.

Yesterday, the small business owner took to Facebook to say he will be opening on public holidays and applying a surcharge of 20% to ensure he won’t lose money by trading on those days.



Café Derailleur employees around 13 people and has been operating for nearly five-and-a-half years.

As for how Bittner initially introduced the surcharge without creating a backlash from customers, the small business owner told SmartCompany it’s all about being as transparent as possible.



As a result, Bittner says the response from the community has been fantastic, with many people saying they are happy to pay a little extra in order to support a local business.   

“It comes down to being able to manage my expenses and revenue at the same time,” Bittner says.

“I try and maintain a dialogue with my customers to talk about what the issues are that they have and to try and make sure there’s an understanding about what my issues are in the business. It’s about making sure I’m running as sustainably as possible.”









Bittner says too many hospitality businesses close their doors after a year or two because they are unable to put money away for tough times and are just trying to stay afloat by managing costs, including penalty rates.

“That’s typical for a lot of businesses, they have a debt to the tax office and that’s what causes them to go under,” he says.

The small business owner acknowledges penalty rates are a “really contentious issue” but  says he hopes he has found a way to move beyond simplistic and divisive arguments.

“If my customers go, ‘Eric, we’re not going to come on a public holiday because you’re charging the surcharge’, that’s fine,” he says.

“I’ll respond accordingly and look at what other ways I can look at staying open on a public holiday. That’s up to me as a hospitality professional to explore what other options I’ve got.”

This has been around for ages.

mariacostel wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 8:12am:


I think you'll find he supports the idea.

As do I.

cods wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 7:51am:

Swagman wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 3:13pm:


Why would they be?

Nobody has mentioned anything like that.

greggerypeccary wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 8:18am:


AS long as the places YOU go to dont do the same.

greggerypeccary wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 6:25pm:


But surely it is a horrible offence to ask someone to be forced to pay more for the same service?

Do you realise you are making the opposite argument you normally make because the show is on the other foot?

greggerypeccary wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 6:39pm:



Actually, the comparison is between paying customer and paying EMPLOYER.

Do try and get your hypocrisy correct. Your pedantry should have picked that up for you!