Having one too many drinks at your next bottomless brunch may cost you if you're in California. Turns out, mindful drinking is key if you're out for mimosas with your pals because some California restaurants have introduced something called 'vomit fees', to deter customers from drinking too much during bottomless brunches.
Several restaurants across the Bay Area have instituted $50 “vomit fees” for any customer who overindulges with alcohol and gets sick on the premises or misbehaves with other guests. This policy has been put in action for bottomless brunch hours exclusively since these are meals that offer unlimited alcohol.
Oakland's At Kitchen Story was reportedly the first restaurant to put up a sign advising patrons to drink responsibly. According to the restaurant policy, $50 is automatically added to the check of any guest who gets sick publicly, as a result of overdrinking. “Dear all mimosa lovers, Please drink responsibly and know your limits.
A $50 cleaning fee will automatically include in your tap when you throw up in our public areas," reads the sign. "Thank you so much for understanding." The restaurant also offers their customers small carafes of grapefruit- or peach-laced bubblies to the tables before serving their drinks which can stave off intoxication for a while.
“It became a very sensitive issue for customers and staff having to clean up. But this is not unique,” said the co-owner Hoyul Steven Choi, in reference to the sick fee. “It’s there to make the customers stop and think about other people." Most establishments in the town have followed suit and some of them have modified the rules to fit their policies.
A San Francisco establishment called Home Plate which offers a $22 bottomless brunch, charges customers a $50 cleaning fee if they get sick indoors; the fine is listed on the bottom of their drinks menu. Moreover, the joint has gone from a two-hour time limit to 75 minutes for bottomless brunches to prevent customers from drinking as much.
Another joint named The Sycamore, on San Franciso's Mission Street has two-hour brunch seatings and clever ways of preventing public intoxication. The establishment has a designated mimosa fairy who makes their way through the dining area every 15 minutes or so to offer pours. “Our staff is trained to make sure our customers don’t overdo it. Nobody wants to see people throwing up. That sort of spoils the party vibe that we’re trying to create," said Liz Ryan, co-owner of The Sycamore.
Interestingly, bottomless brunches are banned in a large number of American states. According to data from the National Institutes of Health, 24 states, including Texas, Virginia and Pennsylvania, ban restaurants and bars from offering unlimited drinks for a set price or time. And though the so-called vomit fees have experienced an uptick in LA hotspots, bottomless brunch-related intoxication is hardly a new or isolated problem. Recently, a restaurant in Singapore gained online attention when a viral video showed a woman arguing with restaurant staff who insisted she pay a $15 cleaning fee after her drunk friend vomited inside the eatery.