Pizza Express gets clean chit

Richa Mishra

NEW DELHI, Dec. 17

THE pizza served on your table is not free of service charge. And this is what the complainant discovered from her bill at a Pizza Express restaurant, which included an additional amount of nine per cent towards service charges in addition to the cost of the food.

The Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC), giving a clean chit to Pizza Express on the charges of unfair trade practices, said that even though any levy of extra charges would push up the price of the product in all circumstances, the practice is to be seen in the context and pretext it has been questioned.

On an enquiry by the complainant, the amount was stated to be the compulsory `tips' charges recovered from all customers who visited the restaurant, the Commission noted. Maintaining that the `tips' charges were optional, the practice of recovering service charges at a specified rate for serving food at table was considered to be an unfair trade practice imposing unjustified cost on the customers, the complainant had submitted.

In its submissions, Pizza Express, a restaurant approved by the Department of Tourism, said that in compliance with the stipulations and requirements laid down by the Department, the restaurants duly displayed on the menu cards the rates charged by it.

As the customers are informed of the charges to be levied, no unfair or deceptive method is stated to have been adopted to recover the amount, the company submitted, adding that there is also no tie-up between the products sold by the respondent (Pizza Express) and the service charges levied by it, the Commission observed.

There is a takeaway service available in the restaurant as clearly indicated in the menu card and it is only the food served in the premises that attracts a service charge, said the Commission.

"Levy of service charges, on the other hand, cannot be questioned in law as there is no provision prohibiting levy of such charges," the Commission observed.

Besides, the company is not alone in this kind of practice, as others in the hospitality industry also followed the same practice, it said.

"The practice followed by the respondent as well as others in trade in no way harms the competitor, in general, or the customer, in particular. It has thus been sufficiently demonstrated that the respondent did not indulge in unfair or restrictive trade practices as alleged," the Commission said.