Big Mamma Group criticised for applying 'checkout fee' on its payment app
The group’s Gloria restaurant in Shoreditch has added a ‘checkout fee’ to customer bills paid via mobile.
Big Mamma uses Sunday - the payment app founded by the restaurant group’s cofounders, Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux.
One diner took to Reddit to complain of the charge at the restaurant, posting a picture of the receipt that states the £2.99 fee ‘applies to the use of Sunday, your 10-second QR code payment’. The fee was in addition to a service charge levied at 13.5%.
Sunday confirmed to Restaurant's sister title MCA that “in some cases a small fee between 0.5% and 2% fees (capped for big checks) is applied to customers who wish to pay quickly with QR codes, not wait for the bill and get their digital receipt instantly”.
According to the app, the fee allows users ‘instant payments, the ability to split the bill in seconds… and will not apply if you choose to wait for the credit card machine.’
A spokesperson added: “This fee, and the choice to pay another way, is clearly shown to guests at checkout.”
Customers at other restaurants using Sunday have also complained about the charge, which only applies to those paying via the app.
The charges vary, but often appear to be around 2% of the total bill. The fee, which appears to have been levied for several months, is likely to prove controversial among consumers still feeling sensitive to the effects of cost-of-living pressures.
A spokesperson for the restaurant group said: ”Big Mamma does use Sunday across all their London restaurants as a payment option, and the fee is part of this software which allows customers to pay via their phone, split the bill and instantly receive their receipt.
”It is an option offered to guests, which guests can decide whether or not to use. There are also other ways to pay, which don’t incur the Sunday fee, such as via card machine, this is just a quicker and easier solution for guests.”
Sunday was founded in 2021 and raised $124m in its first year in business over two rounds of fundraising. The checkout system for restaurants uses QR codes on tables, which customers can scan to pay the bill via mobile.
The app promises to cut the commission restaurant groups pay on customer bills by at least half.
After rapid early expansion, in 2022 the start-up pulled out of four markets - Spain, Portugal, Canada and Italy – and cut its workforce, saying it was refocusing on its most important markets, the US, the UK and France.
Sunday tends to work with premium operators, with partners including the likes of Dishoom, JKS Restaurant, Le Bab, Berber & Q, Hache Burer, Homeslice and Berenjak.
It has clarified that Dishoom, Berber & Q, Le Bab are using the app without any fee for their guests.
