Wahaca backtracks on policy to charge wait staff for walkout customers

by XPRESS, 17 June 2019

Wahaca has confirmed that it will not be charging a waiter with the bill of a table who dined and dashed. The decision was taken after a Tweet from a former politician went viral.

Sarah Hayward, formerly leader of Camden Council tweeted: “Hi @wahaca just eaten in your Kentish Town restaurant for the last time. People next to us left without paying and their server is made to foot the bill from his wages. Apparently company policy. Utterly shameful employment practice. Food’s great, company is crap.”

Wahaca co-founders were quick to respond, clarifying: “We’d like to assure you that this is not our standard policy, only in cases of total negligence will a individual be held accountable, which is very rare. This will not be deducted from the waiter and we will be looking into making sure we have clarity on our policy internally.”

It was also noted that the waiter had only been charged £3 of the £40 total bill, but the decision had been reversed as there was no evidence of such negligence.

“This has been an internal communications issue, which we’ve now dealt with and resolved. Our policy is in line with industry standards and in no way would an individual be responsible for covering the bill in a situation they had no control over. As a business, we prioritise our staff and do everything we can to ensure our teams are well looked after at work.”

Emma Richardson