Why The 3% Card Charge & How To Gain 5%!

Just recently we started adding a 3% fee to any tab that uses a credit or debit card. Some understand and some don’t. So we thought we’d explain why and also bring some good news. As you’re aware, just about everything we buy today has gone up by at least 10-20%. All of us are feeling it at the grocery stores, gas pumps, and energy bills. These increases effects small business owners just as much, if not more. Where we could add 10-20% to our menu items like .25-.50 cents to a bottle of beer or $1-$1.50 to all of our food items to keep up with these increases, we decided to go another route that would be less costly to our customers, but still help us a little with the rising costs.

This just shows from 2020 to 2021. This is even higher in 2022

Besides food costs going up, gas has more than doubled. When this happens our distributors increase their “fuel surcharge” for delivery by double. Our gas bills double and there’s ALOT of kitchen equipment using gas 12-14 hours a day.
And then there is cooking oil that has increased by 152% over the last 2 years. Yes, we go through mass amounts of oil in our fryers (we sell a lot of those egg rolls!)

How To Save Another 5% On Top Of The 3% Charge

Just about every debit / credit card now offers cash back rewards with an average of 2%.

On top of this, if you’re using your VIP account with us, we give you 5% cash back on all purchases as well. It’s free to join and easy to use. Once you spend $200 total, you’ll get $10 credit on your account and you can stack these credits up if you’d like.

If you’re coming in for 1/2 price apps, happy hour drinks, 20% off flatbreads, etc, now you’re really saving when you tie on this extra 7% (2% and 5% combined)

Quick question, how many bars and restaurants do you go to that offer 5% cash back in town? I personally don’t know of one. How many offer you a free birthday meal? Not many do. When you add all these discounts and cash back incentives up, this 3% doesn’t compared to what you’d pay at 98% of all other bars / restaurants in town.

If This Is Still An Issue, We’d Like To Offer You A Refund

Think about it, is .60 cents on a $20 bill that big of a deal to you? Is $3 that big of a deal on $100 tab? I’m guessing not, but this makes a BIG difference to us business owners when you have thousands of transactions a month and it really helps cover some, but not all, of the 10-20-100% or more increases in food, beverage, delivery, dry goods, oil, and utility expenses.

If this 3% charge for using a debit or credit card is going to put you in a tough financial bind, then we are happy to take it off for you. Just let your server / bartender know. However, be aware that next time you come in, this charge will take place (unless we get enough feedback from customers saying they’d rather see us increase our food / beverage prices by 10-20%).

Conclusion

Our goal is to provide a great experience and a great value. If you feel what you pay for at Fozzys’s isn’t worth the experience, then we are doing something wrong and I’d like to know about it.

Our goal isn’t to nickel and dime our customers but business is business and when all your costs go up, your prices must as well or soon you’ll be out of business or working for nothing.

We feel we provide great service and better incentives than 99% of the bars / restaurants in town and we do this because we’ve had a loyal following for many years at the 3 different places we’ve had over the last 11 years in business.

Cheers,
Nick “Fozzy” Fosberg
PS. You can always email me at nickfosberg@gmail.com with any feedback. I love hearing
opinions.