[nkrisc]

I tried searching for what a "lifestyle fee" is and all I could find is references to "living wage fee" which is essentially a forced tip added to the bill.

A service charge for large groups though is understandable as they typically will require much more attention and work from waitstaff than the typical small dining party.

[TulliusCicero]

I'm somewhat skeptical that they actually require more attention per person. Does an 8-person group require more than 2x as much attention as a 4-person group?

[smelendez]

They do need more attention per person. Doing anything with a group of eight is just more complicated, and you’re more likely to have a person in the group who slows things down for whatever reason plus people trying to help them which can slow things down more.

They’ll take longer per person to order because they’ll be coordinating appetizers and who’s sharing what, etc.

They’re more likely to be celebrating a special occasion which means people less familiar with the restaurant or even people who don’t eat out much at all.

And the group is big enough that people will be having side conversations while one side of the table talks to the server, which also slows things down.

[account42]

> They do need more attention per person. Doing anything with a group of eight is just more complicated, and you’re more likely to have a person in the group who slows things down

More likely to have such a person in a group of 8 than in a group of 1 maybe but that's meaningless.

> for whatever reason plus people trying to help them which can slow things down more.

And group members helping each other never saves the restaurant any time?

> They’ll take longer per person to order because they’ll be coordinating appetizers and who’s sharing what, etc.

Appetizers they would likely have never ordered if they did not have people to share them with.

> They’re more likely to be celebrating a special occasion which means people less familiar with the restaurant or even people who don’t eat out much at all.

So they're even bringing new customers that would have never given the restaurant any money on their own.

[pnw]

Large groups are also the most notorious non-tippers.