
A web-based study of nearly 500 respondents conducted by two researchers at Cornell University compared three possibilities for presenting the service charge for a prix fixe meal, namely, as a percentage added to the meal price, as a dollar amount added to the meal price, and as an unknown amount obscured by inclusion in the full meal price. The researchers concluded that the respondents inferred a 15-percent service charge, when one was not specified. Thus, a stated percentage service charge over that amount was viewed as "expensive." Survey participants regarded the dollar-amount service charges similarly, but this format also may serve to obscure the service charge calculation. READ MORE