Kudos to Florida restaurant owner Ken Brackins for so cleverly shaming those who “dine and dash” at his restaurant. His success rate at getting these people to pay up is enviable and should serve as a blueprint to other restaurant owners dealing with the problem of those who try to evade paying their bill.
How A Clever Restaurant Owner Is Shaming “Dine And Dash” Customers
Brackins owns a restaurant in Tampa called Rick’s On The River and has installed a series of security cameras to track customers who decide to “dine and dash” (leave without settling the bill). He then posts the video on Facebook, publicly shaming them.
His approach is apparently working. He claims that 9/10 people eventually come back and pay.
“We believe it’s been a deterrent for those that have been caught. They’re embarrassed and hopefully won’t do it again in the future.”
Take the latest such case, where a woman who decided to not pay for her tab because her pitcher of beer tipped over and a little bit spilled out. She quickly changed her tune when confronted…
This latest dine and dasher spent her beer money on a fancy, late model Mercedes. She refused to pay her entire tab because she said the wind blew over her pitcher of beer. There were only a few ounces of beer on the deck. True story.
Anyone who runs a customer-facing industry (as I do at Award Expert) learns very quickly that the customer is not always right. Indeed, customers are often thugs who are willing to lie, cheat, or steal from you get ahead.
I have great respect and admiration for the vast majority of my clients, who are decent folks I have had the privilege of helping for years. Others…well, what goes around, comes around…
Those who dine and dash are such repugnant creatures (with the exception of those who dine at DK Oyster in Mykonos). And if you review the videos on his Facebook page, it is often the people with fancy cars who do this.
I’d love to see more restaurants and bars shame those who skip without paying. In a world of CCTV, this is now easier than ever.
CONCLUSION
A Florida man boasts a 90% success rate on getting “dine and dash” customers to come back and pay their bills by shaming them on social media. I’d love to see more of this and welcome this over a system that requires prepayment before food is served (as we see in some parts of the world).
image: Facebook / Rick’s On The River
Why doesn’t he report these ppl to the police? Last I checked bailing on your bill was illegal. Ideally he’d report them after they came back and paid and he had their name.
Even in “Law & Order” Florida police don’t care about this. They will tell you to find a civil claim even though it’s still a crime. Welcome to law enforcement in 2023, as many want it to be.
I live in Florida and twice in the last few years I have seen Police respond to a restaurant after a customer skipped out on the check.
In fact, just recently I was walking out with my wife after dinner and saw two Boca Raton Police cars out front of the restaurant. I asked the valet what happened and he said a customer ran out on a $400 check.
So the Manager called the Police who arrived as the customer and his two friends were leaving the parking spot.
Being a Florida resident myself, I would certainly disagree with your blanket statement. Perhaps, in some of the bigger cities that may happen, but the vast majority of the state police respond to these incidents.
You should always be careful making these types of blanket statements about any group or any state.
Florida is a cesspool of rich a-holes from the NE. You know a blanket statement when backed by fact is truth many dont care to want to deal with. I grew up FL and now unfortunately live amongst the wealthy German car driving cretan of Massachusetts and I will state that this is prevalent up here. The sh*t runs downhill! Good for the shaming especially the entitled wealthy!
Ime, it depends on a number of factors including the cost of the check.
The restaurant that @Matthew was writing about, Ricks on the River isn’t very expensive.
If the restaurant is far more expensive, say like Burns Steakhouse or Donatello’s (both great Tampa restaurants) many times the restaurant will call the Police, but for smaller checks like what “Ricks on the River might charge, it isn’t worth the Police’s time and they would not respond.
Yeah right. The police have tons of things to do in real time. These people deserve the public shame since they did this in public. Bravo.
Just have Customers put a card up first & leave open …..maybe ?
I have had places require a credit card just for reservations. If you do not show up, they charge a fee. I think this is fair. I would also not mind if they require a card before they seat me. For the people who say they only pay cash and say they do not have a credit card, first I do not believe them and if they are telling the truth…go away!
I would guess he doesn’t call the police because they either are too busy and or don’t get convictions
More effective would be to have them pay before serving , 25% tip added .
I can see a “service charge” as reasonable if the prices for entrees is the same as for eat-in vs take-out. I know of some places that expect a tip for takeout but this is unfair in that the kitchen plates the product just as easily in a container as on a plate.
Restaurants resist paying in advance because it will mean having to make multiple CC transactions means higher CC fees BUT they can and should insist on a CC or cash on deposit.
Tipping is an evil practice, particularly in the states, and should be banned because it encourages racism since it happens to also be true. Certain groups of people are lousy tippers. It’s well known in the service industry and some resist the urge to retaliate but imagine you’re some working class schmuck and you get assigned a table with some group that notoriously will COST you money to serve them (since you “payout” to the kitchen in expected tips). If I was them, I’d put on an EXTRA wide smile and be SUPER nice and then…. make them wait for their order. Any changes they make, an additional 20 minutes. The food came out cold? “I’m so sorry! I’ll take it back in and warm it for you! That’ll be 20 minutes!” One guy I know at works complained that he got lousy service at this place we frequent. I didn’t have the heart to tell him why.
One guy I know at work whose a member of suc
All they need to do is what most bars/restaurants do here. To keep a tab open and not immediately pay for a round of drinks… is to give them a CC which goes into a rolodex or card file and the transaction is posted on their POS system – then when they close out, they get a printed tab to sign, one for themselves and the cc back. People seldom remember to pick up a held cc.
Why wouldn’t people pay for what they ate or drank? Maybe I am naive but I never thought that was a common thing other than with thieves. Thieves don’t care about being shamed online. The world is getting more weird by the day.
Friend Santastico … An airlne ticket charges you for the trip and any meals or drinks before consumption . We give our credit card to a hotel before staying overnight . Why not restaurants ? Myself , I will gladly pay in advance .
Many restaurants in Europe ask for a credit card at the time of reservation. That is in case of a “No show” and they will charge a minimum amount per person to compensate maybe not being able to book that table to another customer. Most restaurants only take on turn at each table per night so having a “now show” means they won’t be able to get revenue from that table for the entire night. Now, the case on this post is theft. Should get people in jail but if t is apparently normal now in the US to grab whatever you want from stores and leave without paying and nobody will say anything.
True. Very true. There is a difference between this.
You are paying a known price for a known object or service in advance.
I would have no idea what I would order at a restuarant. And you also put a tip on that food of your own choosing.
In addition, there is a mix of credit cards and those paying cash. Do you want cash payments outlawed
It seems to be the new thing now. Together with the ever popular smash and grab or grab and walk out with full cart.
Most of these thieves believe they will not be caught.
I believe public shaming is a great idea. It will work for higher end places like this one.
I have been to bars and they require you to leave a credit card on file for when you close your tab. Why can’t you do this for dinning?
It would mark a big change, but we may be moving in the direction.
What are we teaching the youth of our country? This is absolutely not okay!
What is not okay? The dining and dodging or the public shaming?
Bravo!!!
Great. Now how about US restaurants reciprocate by bringing the credit card terminal out to the table when you pay instead of disappearing with our credit card, then having us sign a paper receipt.
Rather like tipping only the US appear to consider walking off with a customers credit card to be standard practice. In other parts of the world, notably Europe, cardholders are advised to prevent credit card theft they should never let their card out of sight. You would never post your card details, including expiry date and security code, in your car window in the parking lot, so why should you have to do this in a restaurant?
I live in Australia and in many Cafe’s and Restaurants but not usually Fine Dining, we order and pay for our food and drink on entering the establishment. Much prefer this system to ordering and eating and then paying but we don’t generally give tips unless service has been extraordinarily great. All our wait staff and admin staff including chefs and kitchen hands are paid a living wage – it is enshrined in our laws.
A better system indeed!
Who lets these people write these articles? Sorry Matthew but you need to learn basic journalism — not once did you mention the restaurant that you are using as a springboard to your own business no one cares about. At least you credited him in the image. You don’t even link to the Facebook site.
It seems that you need to work on your reading comprehension, because I included the name of the restaurant and a Facebook link!
Yea!!! Good for him. Seeing people do this is not a joke. I have had it happen to me in my younger days of service. Some owners are making the staff pay for these dashers out of their pockets claiming that it was their job to watch them while caring for others as well. It’s just not possible. Places where staff works for tips… this hurts them. If you cannot afford the bill, stay home and eat. As for the police, although a crime it is not a priority. Publicly shaming them obviously does. Good for him. Seriously, a Mercedes? What the F##k was her excuse.
I am not a fan off paying for food before I get it but I never argue with a bill I’d foods not good I don’t pay
This is theft of service and is only a misdemeanor in FL.
People should be shot instead.
“Indeed, customers are often thugs who are willing to lie, cheat, or steal from you get ahead.”
Goodness, sounds like you may need to change lines of work… by any standard, the above is very harsh and denotes a deep seated anger/frustration which you may want to look into.