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For Florida hotels and restaurants who impose service charges, I thought you would find my article of interest: 

On June 2, 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida Senate Bill 606, which, according to the Governor’s office, requires “public food service establishments to clearly disclose any operations charges like service fees or automatic gratuities on menus, contracts, and online platforms ….”

Though the effective date of SB 606 is July 1, 2025, the provision relating to new disclosures for service fees and gratuities does not take effect until July 1, 2026. The new provision contains a number of requirements for imposed service charges, automatic gratuities, credit card surcharges and delivery fees (all referred to as “operations charge”) as follows:

  1. The establishment must include a notice on its food menu, written contract and website or mobile application where food and beverage orders are placed;
  2. That notice must include the amount or percentage of the operations charge and the purpose of the charge;
  3. The notice must appear in a font that is equal to or greater than the font used for menu item descriptions or the general provisions of a written contract [e.g. banquets, catering, special events];
  4. If the establishment does not provide menus, table service or written contracts for banquet, catering or event services, the charge notice must appear in an obvious and clearly readable manner on a menu board or on an obvious and clearly readable sign by the register where the customer pays;
  5. There must also be a notice on the face of the bill provided to the customer that the charge is included;
  6. That notice must clearly state the percentage or the amount of the charge;
  7. Each copy of a receipt that a customer receives must contain separate lines for gratuity, the imposed operations charge and sales tax, so that it is clear to the customer what is being charged; and
  8. If the charge includes an automatic gratuity, such as a service charge, it must be separately stated on the receipt.

This law does not apply to the purchase of a dining plan or package or a fixed price meal for which the price of the plan or package or meal is disclosed to the customer before purchase.

Hotel and restaurant notices must include the purpose of the automatic charges that are being added to a guest bill. As such, distribution of the full charge to employees needs to be explained to guests. If the “house” is taking a percentage of the service charge for operational costs, that needs to be explained as well. Restaurants and hotels should contact their legal counsel to review their menus, guest checks and receipts and (agreements) to ensure compliance with the law before it takes effect.

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