Australian diners’ outrage over latest restaurant fee imported from overseas for cutting cakes

Australian diners are being hit in the hips as more restaurants introduce a charge for cutting your cake.

Much like corkage, which requires customers to pay to bring their own wine into a restaurant, the practice of an eatery charging customers for bringing an outside cake is called “cakeage.”

The trend has slowly made its way from overseas to Australian shores and is starting to cause outrage among guests.

One influencer caused a stir this month when she took to TikTok to complain about the rising price of cakeage at Sydney restaurants, detailing her experience of being charged $10 per person for cakeage.

Jules Rangiheuea, a former Big Brother contestant who traveled to Sydney from Perth, said the increased charges were “criminal”.

It has long been common for restaurants to charge customers for bringing their own pies.

This is usually done to cover the costs of storing the dessert, which can often be quite large, and of preparing, presenting and serving the cake.

There are also costs associated with the cleanup and the levy is intended to cover the restaurant’s loss of revenue if customers have not ordered a dessert from the establishment’s own menu.

But what exactly is a fair price for cakeage?

Rangiheuea said that while she understood there was a cost associated with serving an outside cake to guests, the prices had become disproportionate and inappropriate given the rising costs of living and, by extension, dining out.

“I feel like this is also something new because it only happened to me at the beginning of September,” Ms. Rangiheuea said of the $5 per person fee.

In her TikTok, which was posted online in early October, she said the cost has since doubled.

“I know people will say, ‘Oh, the size of the refrigerator’ and all that, but have refrigerators changed since six months ago?

“I’m so confused, especially (with) the cost of living, like now people only go out to celebrate and a lot of celebrations include cake.”

Many small businesses and iconic eateries have closed their doors during the cost of living crisis and succumbed to skyrocketing costs.

Earlier this year, Rocky Pitarelli and his wife Kerrin were forced to close Caruso’s Italian Restaurant in Gymea after five years, succumbing to “unbearable” increases in operating costs.

“It’s hard: you put your life into one location, and the end result, what you have to show for it, is nothing,” Mr Pitarelli told News.com.au.

“(But) it’s an honor to have celebrations at your location – families have made you part of their lives and they trust you with that baptism, birthday party, engagement – ​​those milestone celebrations.”

Indeed, many small businesses are struggling with the massive disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and now the skyrocketing costs of energy and manufacturing, the latter largely affected by natural disasters.

A report from investment bank UBS, published in May, showed that the average cost of groceries at Woolworths and Coles had risen by a whopping 9.6 percent the month before.

Coles argued the report was ‘not an accurate reflection’ of the way it calculates and reports inflation, while Woolworths admitted customers were ‘trading into more affordable options’.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is largely blamed on rising energy costs.

Questions about appropriate pastries have been circulating on online forums for years, while some restaurants now simply refuse to accommodate customers who want to bring their own desserts.

Two such eateries are well-known Brisbane restaurants Bianca and sAme sAme, which introduced bans last year.

A spokesperson for Bianca told the Courier Mail in 2022 that customers could instead purchase one of the many cakes on offer.

“Once customers pay for the cake, it can be portioned and served whenever the customer wishes,” they said.

A spokesperson for sAme sAme expressed a similar sentiment, encouraging customers to choose from their “selection of in-house custom cakes.”

While cakeage covers associated costs, some restaurants have implemented higher rates simply to dissuade customers from using this practice, hoping that they will instead order substitutes from the establishment’s own menu.

In 2021, someone took to Reddit to question whether cake was normal, especially when the dessert in question was cupcakes.

A former hospitality worker said customers often underestimate “the f*** around” that came with the practice, while another urged Australians not to take cupcakes into restaurants, calling it a “logistical nightmare”.

A Reddit user who had been to Sydney’s Rockpool Bar & Grill, one of the city’s most refined fine dining restaurants, several years ago, said the staff heard it was their birthday and surprised them with a cupcake, but gave them a cupcake $5 fee on bill.

One person, who identified himself as a pastry chef, said he found it “quite annoying” when customers brought their own desserts.

“It really takes time preparing and serving the desserts I have on the menu,” they said.

“Not to mention, you wouldn’t come into a restaurant with your own fried chicken and have us heat it up.

“I feel the same way about y’all bringing your own cupcakes and stuff.”

However, customers and restaurant owners seem to be unanimous in requiring such fees to be disclosed to customers in advance.

Likewise, there seems to be consensus that compensation should not be exorbitant, although the exact ‘fair’ amount in question varies from person to person.

Certainly, some increase in costs is to be expected, in line with the rising costs of running a hospitality business.

Commenters on Rangiheuea’s TikTok were quick to point out that the fee had become standard in Sydney, but some did admit that “$10 is excessive.”

Other Aussies urged customers to support the hospitality sector during the cost of living crisis, which has also seen workers and owners struggling.

“Think about the hospo community, one of the hardest hit sectors,” one said.

‘Alternative option: buy desserts at the restaurants you go to.’