Dine and Dash – Who Really Pays and What Can A Restaurant Do?

831 days ago by
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24 comments

We’ve heard stories, always wondered if people really did it, and yes, some of us may have even done it….dined and dashed.  For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, a dine and dash (also known as a chew and screw or dine and ditch) occurs, as the name implies, that you eat (or drink) at a restaurant and then leave without paying a bill.  Morally, this is wrong, but what about legally?

Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

At the heart of issue is that someone is taking advantage of a system of trust.  This system, which delivers food to you usually before you pay, requires certain levels of trust in that the restaurant expects you to pay after you eat.  When someone breaks this trust, it not only hurts the restaurant financially (they do lose money) and the waiter/waitress (no tip), but it also makes the restaurant and its employees far more suspicious of every other guest that walks through the door. 

Consequences of Dining and Dashing

First, there’s the ethical issue of stealing to deal with, but assuming you have no problem with dining and dashing morally, what about legally?  In many states, dining and dashing is not considered a serious criminal issue.  Some states, like California, charge those who are caught with petty theft.  Other states, like Mississippi have laws that make it a felony offense to refuse to pay for a restaurant bill over $25.  

Do Waiters/Waitresses Pay For Dine And Dash Customers?

There have always been rumors that a server will have to pay for the dine and dash customers.  In some states, this may be the case, especially if one particular server has multiple walk-outs.  However, many states have rules that require an employer to alert an employee of any deductions from their wages in advance. 

Can Waiters/Waitresses Chase You Down?

Assuming you’ve gotten out the front door, how far can a waiter/waitress/busboy/manager chase you?  For many companies, the general rule is that you shouldn’t chase people outside of the premises.  However, assuming someone continues to chase you, they are likely doing so at their own risk.  The person chasing you can arrest you, but only so far as a “citizen’s arrest.”  They can call the police as they are chasing you, or report your license plates so the police can run a DMV search.  However, even if caught, depending on the bill and prior behavior, you are likely going to have to pay for the bill and may be charged with a misdemeanor. 

That being said, many restaurants budget for walk-outs.  They realize that the cost of the food is not worth the potential injury to an employee chasing after someone.  In fact, if an employee was to injure someone accidentally while chasing after a fleeing walk-out, both the employee and the employer could be found liable for any injuries or damages. 

What do you think, should there be stricter laws for dine and dashers?

  • wailuachef

    Please do not advise your readers to ‘dine and dash’ by telling them that restaurants budget for theft. We don’t. The profit margin in restaurants is usually sub-5%, so for a small operation one unpaid check for four can financially ruin an entire day. Not paying for goods or services received is theft. What would a bank do if you took $100 while the teller wasn’t looking?

  • emily

    As a server in Maryland, I can tell you that servers are required to foot the bill of any table that decides to “dine and dash.” I don’t know if this is legal or not, but in the three restaurants that I have worked in – and one of them was a corporate owned restaurant- management’s policy was that the server was responsible for the tab, resulting in you not only losing your tip, but actually paying to come to work. There is a choice, of course- you do not have to pay the tab, but if that is the case, you will lose your job, regardless of whether this was your first walkout or not.

  • Charles

    I was the victime of a Dine and Dash at the On The Border I work as last Saturday. These two people ran up a $150 tab, and when they sent me to the bar for two more shots they snuck out. Nothing was wrong with the service as they actually told the GM I was doing a great job. To make matters worse, they also took the cash payment on the table next to them. While the restaurant ate the cost, they are wrongly suspicious of me, and as a result my work hours have been cut. Don’t employees that make only $2.13 an hour have to suffer enough as it is?

  • Cheerie

    2.13 an hour is not even legal minimum wage.

  • Megan l. Dye

    servers often are not paid minimum wage because they receive tips. they can get to as low as a dollar and twenty five cents per hour in some states. luckily for me, the minimum wage for a tipped employee is $4.29. which all goes to taxes. servers are really paid by tips.

  • WaitinginCali

    I just want to say, I am a waitress, and when people “walk out”, some of us lose not only the tip, but are forced to pay the entire bill. I have had to pay checks up to $100. If there is a problem with the meal, speak to the manager. If there is a problem with anything, they will more than likely do whatever they can to take win you over again, sometimes paying for part or all of your check, or even buying a round of drinks for your table.

  • WaitinginCali

    $2.13 an hour IS a legal wage, it’s what I made working in Georgia for many years. Im happy to be making $8 an hour now that I live in California and their minimum wage for servers is much higher. Woohoo.

  • Scott

    It is illegal to stick servers with an unpaid customer tab in most states. In Michigan it is a misdemeanor criminal offense under Michigan Public Act 390 of 1978. If monies deducted bring a server under the Federal Minimum Wage said deduction is illegal under Federal Law, as well.

  • Kate

    I am a server & in michigan if you dine & dash the server DOES have to pay your bill! If they refuse they lose their job.

  • Kate

    At least that is the policy at Max & Ermas

  • Kate

    server wage in michigan is $2.65/hr

  • Shell

    I have worked as a waitress and have had dine and dash at my tables. While I think it is illegal to make the server pay for the bill, it does happen. I have had to $150 dine and dash that took every penny I made in tips for two days.

  • Biz owner

    As a small restaurant owner, I say an eye for eye. As stated above, it is a system of trust. If you break that trust, I should be able break your fingers or legs.

  • Problem Solved

    Couldn’t the whole problem be fixed by letting the customers pay before we eat? For example, bring me the check between ordering and delivery to the table. I would actually much prefer this, as it would mean when I’m done I can just get up and leave. Of course, restaurants won’t want to do this because it limits their ability to try and “upsell” me on their desserts (which makes it another plus for the consumer.)

  • Chew N. Screw

    “Finally, if you’re a server whose employer is saddling you with bills that customers refuse to pay, the U.S. Department of Labor wants to hear from you. Call its help line at 866-487-9243.

    It’s a toll-free number because when it comes to justice in the workplace, you shouldn’t foot the bill.” I found this tonight while trying to find out my rights on this subject as an employee. I am a server and had a customer walk out on a bill tonight for 35$. That may not be a lot of money but I worked really hard for it and I do not think that it is fair to make me pay for that. I am calling the labor board in the morning and filing a complaint. ….Had a chew and screw.. I got screwed … I hope they get screwed too. I work in an establishment that the design alone it is completely impossible to see all of your customers. They made a fellow employee pay for a 75 $ walk out last week and I watched her leave in tears. Im looking for a new job now. Good luck to all who need it.

  • Jim

    So the restaurant owner loses either way: 1) Risk walkouts or 2) Make customers pay up-front (surely offending many of them) and have decide against dessert or coffee. Problem not solved.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joshblevins Josh Blevins

    I am a restaurant owner, and I cannot imagine ever charging one of my employees for somebody else’s theft.

  • angry mom

    My daughter has worked as a server in IL, MN, and CO, and EVERY time she is required to pay for walk outs. The labor laws have this convoluted minimum wage, poverty level thing to determine if it is illegal, but restaurants NEVER convey this and if you don’t pay, you are fired.

    Some times, she ends up owing the restaurant money at the end of her shift. These are extremely crowded, rowdy restaurants. ie.This weekend, her employer gave her a 30 table section and sat 10 tables at once. Most were drunk coming home from the bars. One of her tables, a guy punched another server in the face because “he looked at him wrong” (he was a 7ft drag queen, and this is real life, not a reality show at this restaurant). The manager MADE HER call the police and when she was giving her statement, most of her tables walked out without paying. This is typical. She is a single Mom and the 11pm-7am shift is the only shift she can work, which limits the restaurants in her city to 3 other than Denny’s, and she can’t make enough money at Denny’s to support her children. If she complains she gets fired. If she doesn’t pay she gets fired. In the restaurant business, servers have NO rights.

  • Daivd

    Boycott Buffalo Wild Wings – they do make the servers pay for dine & dash

  • Ripped off server

    Places like the one I work for found a way around the laws…you can’t deduct from wages to pay for a walk out in the state of Oregon. So instead, we have to run our own tills and at the end of the shift you owe what your print out says you owe,walk outs or not. That way we have to pay for dine and dashers and the restaurant gets to stay “legal”. Isn’t that great! Oh yeah and they calculate what 4.5% of our sales amount is and then deduct that out of our credit card tips to tip out the rest of the employees. Again whether the customer didn’t pay for their bill or left no tip at all we still pay.

  • Idunn

    People are giving misinformation on the minimum wages for waiter/waitress. While they may only get a base $2.00+ an hour they have to report any tips they make. If their tips and base hourly do NOT equal the national minimal wage (7.25$) then the restaurant HAS to make up the remaining amount. It is illegal for your wage to be equal to less than 7.25$ come pay day.

    The confusion is that you get your tips then and there. It is not included in your paycheck because you’ve already gotten the money. In other words;
    Hourly + Tips >/= $7.25 no change on check
    Hourly + Tips < $7.25 the restaurant has to make up the difference.

    At $2.13 per hour on a 40 hour work week your check would be $85.02.
    At $7.25 per hour on a 40 hour work week your check would be $290.00
    This means if you didn't make $204.98 in tips that week the restaurant has to make up the difference. If you made more than $204.98 in tips then you made more than minimal wage.

    By law, restaurants have to report tips in their payroll if they have tipped servers. This means they know how much (assuming you actually tell them) you are making between your hourly and tips. If you are seriously making under $7.25 an hour (tips included) then the place you are working is breaking a few laws.

  • Idunn

    Er… “illegal for your wage to be less than” rather than equal. No idea why ‘equal’ wanted in there.

  • krissyd

    had a dine and dash last night, the customers were watching me dealing with a very difficult customer and soon as i turned to get the manager for assistance, they walked out like nothing was wrong. needless to say i ran around for them for over an hour and they racked up a 100$ bill.. which came out of my pay. your welcome for your free dinner you a**holes

  • sss

    I have a customer dine and dash . And they came back to eat . she refuse to pay for her last time bill. This time she used her credit card to pay for her meal. Can we charge her credit card for the last time she didn’t pay?

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