Restaurants can’t take service charge

Manama: Following a Ministerial order, restaurants in the Kingdom have been prohibited from applying additional charges (service charge) on their customers.

According to Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, “only tourist restaurants are allowed to charge customers extra for food and beverages services.”

This was mentioned in the Minister’s Resolution 64 of 2016, which forbids restaurants that are below the ranking of tourist restaurants from extracting additional charges from customers.

The Minister’s decision pointed out that “non-tourist restaurants could apply for permits to practice tourism services, after obtaining the necessary approval from Bahrain Tourisms and Exhibitions Authority’s Services and Utilities Directorate.”

The decision, which was issued on June 6 and published in the Official Gazette on June 9, stipulates that violating restaurants and coffee shops would be subjected to a fine not exceeding BD10,000.

“All classes of non-tourist restaurants and coffee shops should rectify their situations in one month after this resolution comes into effect,” the fourth article of the Minister’s decision read.

Al Zayani instructed the Ministry’s Commerce Affairs Undersecretary Nader Al Moayed to apply the resolution on the next day of publishing it in the Official Gazette (June 10).

Tourist restaurants

Clarifying the restaurants’ categories that were mentioned in the resolution, Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry explained on its official Instagram account that the term “tourist restaurants” includes restaurants in hotels, resorts and certain tourism areas.

“This category has a special permit from Bahrain Tourisms and Exhibitions Authority that is different from the ordinary commercial permits. They’re obliged to post their permits in visible places at their establishments, so customers could be able to verify if they’re categorised as tourist restaurants and coffee shops or not,” the Ministry said.

The decision received positive feedback from the Ministry’s followers on social media, who welcomed it
and called for similar procedures that benefit consumers.