Restaurant Charges $25 ‘Cake-Cutting Fee’ For Slicing Cake Guests Brought Themselves

Going out to dinner to celebrate a loved one’s birthday or even your own is always a festive occasion. You can eat a delicious meal and enjoy some drinks while spending time with the people you care about. You might or a guest might even decide to bring along a cake for dessert, which is a thoughtful idea. However, you don’t expect the restaurant you’re dining at to charge you an extra “cake-cutting fee” just for slicing the cake you brought yourself!

A TikToker named Gigi (@vivala_blondiiie) took to the video-sharing platform to share a receipt from a dinner party she went to that showed a mysterious $25 added charge. Many of the items she recognized — two insalada pizzas, two different drinks… and one “cake cut”?

Gigi captioned the video with the outrageous explanation for the added charge. “When the server asks if we want the cake WE brought cut, thinking she’s doing something nice for us. But it was 25 dollars,” she wrote. “I didn’t know this was a thing?!?”

@vivala_blondiiie

I didn’t know this was a thing?!? 😳@BrazyBecca @Michelle Greene @Vanessa Valenbaer #ReadySetLift

♬ I try not to km.. – ✂️

While many people are shocked by the idea of a “cake-cutting fee,” apparently it’s been around for a while and it’s a way for the restaurant to generate extra cash when guests bring food from outside. One commenter stated that the restaurant she works at applies this charge, but adds that staff are required to actually tell the customer about it before they go ahead.

Another person pointed out that $25 seems like a pretty extreme and arbitrary amount. And, given that it didn’t appear to be printed anywhere on the menu or posted anywhere in the restaurant, the server could be randomly making up an amount.

Others suggested that Gigi should have called the manager over and asked for the charge to be removed given that she was never made aware of it. Some people simply suggested she never patronizes that place again, with one writing: “Easy fix: don’t ever go back. If enough people stop going, the restaurant fails. $25 cutting fee is crazy.”

You live, you learn!