Miami Beach Takes 'Rampant Shenanigans' Off the Menu

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Miami Beach Commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday to take "rampant shenanigans" off the menu by requiring outdoor restaurants to disclose some of the hidden charges they've been tacking onto customer tabs.

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"There’s rampant shenanigans going on," declared Commissioner Michael Grieco in introducing the measure last month. The change takes effect in 10 days and will force outdoor cafes to disclose any service charges, gratuities and taxes they've been tacking onto bills.

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"This is a great piece of legislation," declared Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who chaired Wednesday's meeting.

Grieco told fellow commissioners that the measure stemmed from a photograph of a restaurant bill that was sent to him by a Miami Beach resident showing more sales tax than required by law.

"Right now sales tax in Miami Beach for food and beverage is 9 percent. They were applying in excess of 10 percent," Grieco said at a meeting in February.

While other restaurants may be tacking on similar charges, the measure approved on Wednesday only affects outdoor cafes because they fall under the city's jurisdiction. Other restaurants may voluntarily comply with the new disclosure requirements.

"If you weren’t paying attention you were getting taxed. Let’s say it’s a dollar or two more, but aggregate that out and that’s the fleecing of a lot of customers," according to Grieco, who said he visited a number of Miami Beach restaurants and discovered that such practices were rampant.

The hidden fees weren't limited to incorrect taxes.

"When you look at your bill and it says ‘service charge’ — service charge and gratuity are two different things," he explained. So a gratuity — and I’ve waited tables for years — a gratuity goes to the server. But a service charge is something different and gratuities cannot be taxed."

Grieco, who went from waiting tables to become an attorney before joining the commission, said that patrons should feel free to question service charges.

"Your question should be where does this money go to? And if it goes purely to the server, then they’re applying a tax where it can’t be applied. So this requires all of our sidewalk cafes not only to comply with the state laws. It applies to the applicability of taxes."

Now that the measure has won final approval, the Miami Beach city manager will have the authority to shut down outdoor cafes that fail to comply.

The commission met on the third floor of Miami Beach City Hall at 1700 Convention Center Drive.

Photo of Ocean Drive in South Beach by Paul Scicchitano