This article explains the steps you can take to create a surcharge / service charge, as well as the difference between the two types.

This article contains the following section:

• What's the difference between a Surcharge and a Service Charge?
• How to setup a Surcharge
• How to disable a Surcharge
• How to setup a Service Charge
• Frequently Asked Questions 

What's the difference between a Surcharge and a Service Charge?

A surcharge is an additional charge applied to a guest's bill at specific times. Typically this is set up by venues to help cover additional wage costs for specific days or special events such as weekends and public holidays. For example, a venue might have a 10% surcharge that is automatically applied to all orders on Weekends. The image below shows how this will appear for the guest.

NOTE: Card surcharges, where the card fee can be passed on to the guest are set up separately. To set this up, please email hospo@meandu.com

A service charge is an additional charge applied to a guest's bill that will be distributed to staff. Some venues may want to set up a service charge that appears on all orders. Typically, the service charge needs to be removable by guests, otherwise, there are different tax implications. Tax and the me&u fee are not charged on service charges. Venues can choose if the service charge can be removed by the guest in the cart or payments page.

Service charges will be reported separately on the Sales Report page and the Payouts page.

How to set up a Surcharge

1. Go to Venue Details > Discounts/Surcharges.
2. Click Add Discount/Surcharge
   
   
   
   1. Select Surcharge in the dropdown menu under Type.
   2. Name: This is what will show up to the customer when they see the surcharge. E.g. “10% Public Holiday Surcharge."
   3. Surcharge code: Even though the customer won't need to enter a code, the system requires this field. It must be in capital letters and no spaces e.g. PUBLICHOLIDAY. 
   4. Percent surcharge/discount: This is where you enter the percentage increase you want on their order. E.g. For a 10% increase on weekends, you would enter 10.
   5. POS surcount ID is an optional input that is required for some POS integrations.
   6. Description: Write a description for you and your team to know what the surcharge is for. E.g. “10% surcharge on public holidays.”
   7. Optional Step - If you want the surcharge valid for a specific time period: 
      1. Click Add time slot 
      2. Enter start and end dates  
   8. Select Save
3. Optional Step - If you want the surcharge to only work for specific days of the week or times:
   
   
   1. Click the clock button
   2. Add the time slots of your surcharge. For example, on Wednesday 4pm-6pm and name it the same as the discount/surcharge name. 
   3. If you want specific days, for example, Wednesday and Thursday enter 12:00am-11:59pm for those days so that it's only valid for those specific days. 
4. Select Set as Venue Wide Button - this will make the surcharge applies to all customers at the set times.

Once you have successfully setup your surcharge, you will see it appear under "Venue Wide Discounts & Surcharges" like pictured below:

How to disable a surcharge

In order to disable a surcharge, you need to click on the Unset venue wide button located on the right of your active surcharge.

How to set up a Service Charge

1. Go to Venue Details > Discounts/Surcharges.
2. Click Add Discount/Surcharge 
   1. Select Service Charge in the dropdown menu under Type.
   2. Name: This is what will show up to the customer on the cart and payments page. An example of what to write is “10% public holiday surcharge"
   3. Percent surcharge/discount: This is where you enter the percentage increase you want on their order. For example, for a 10% service charge, you would enter 10.
   4. POS surcount ID is an optional input that is required for some POS integrations.
   5. Description: Write a description of what the code is e.g. “10% surcharge on public holidays.” This description is for you and your team to know what the surcharge is for. 
3. Select Save

FAQs

• Can I have a venue wide surcharge and a service charge at the same time?
  Yes, you can. After you have created the surcharge, select the Set as venue wide button. Service charges will automatically be set as venue wide.
  
  
• What happens if I have more than one venue wide surcharge?
  Only 1 venue wide surcharge can apply at a time. If you have more than one venue wide surcharge, then the topmost surcharge in manage that is valid will apply.
  
  
• Why is surcharge not applying to today's orders? I set it as venue wide.
  
  Surcharge will automatically be applied to all orders once set as venue wide. If this is not working, check the set time blocks if you click the clock button. You may also want to check the time slot start and end dates if you select the Edit button.
  
  Example
  
  1. Weekend Surcharge 10% (valid Sat & Sun)
  2. Venue Surcharge 5% (every day)
  3. Christmas Surcharge 20% (25th December)
  
  If we pretend today is Wednesday, in the example above, the second surcharge would be enabled.