Columbus restaurants add "inflation fees" to bills

Take a close look at the receipt the next time you dine out.

What's happening: Some local restaurants have started adding "inflation fees" to bills to mitigate rising food and labor costs, rather than increasing menu prices directly.

Zoom in: Pizza Cottage, with several local locations, is charging 3% to all bills, while Forno in the Short North is charging 3% for all credit card transactions, WBNS-TV reports.

What they're saying: "Put quite simply, it is helping many restaurants survive," Ohio Restaurant Association president and CEO John Barker tells Axios in a statement.

The other side: Columbus Redditors criticized the move in some lengthy threads, alleging a lack of transparency regarding the charges.

The big picture: Though unpopular, the trend has been happening for a while nationwide, Axios' Kelly Tyko reported last year.

• The number of restaurants adding service fees increased by 36% from April 2021 to April 2022, Lightspeed, a global developer of point-of-sale software, told The Wall Street Journal.