Toronto restaurant now charging extra for paying with credit cards

A Toronto restaurant that's been in the Beaches for more than 20 years is suddenly charging customers extra if they want to pay by credit card.

Green Eggplant, a restaurant known for its brunch and friendly service, recently posted signs on its windows alerting customers to their new policy.

"Please note that there is a 4 percent surcharge that will apply to all credit card payments," reads the notice. "Alternately, you may wish to pay by cash or debit which will not incur the surcharge."

"Sorry for the inconvenience," concluded the posting.

While customer may not appreciate the extra charges for paying by credit card, it should be noted that Green Eggplant is not the first restaurant to implement this policy, although they are charging more than the legally allowed percentage.

Last year Samosa and Sweet Factory in Etobicoke instituted a similar charge only to be bombarded by one-star reviews on Google.

New rules about credit card surcharges went into effect in Canada last October, allowing restaurants and other businesses to charge customers up to 2.4 per cent extra to make up for the "swipe fees" Mastercard and Visa charge them in order to process the payment.

Many businesses have just been passing the fees along to customers in the form of higher prices, so it's a bit unusual for a restaurant like Green Eggplant to break them out separately.

Doing so, at least in theory, gives customers the option to pay lower prices if they choose to pay using debit or cash.

So far it doesn't seem the new policy is affecting business.

While one annoyed customer posted in a Facebook group complaining about the extra fee, the restaurant was busy as usual this past long weekend with customers eating up omelettes, Eggs Benedict and other tasty offerings.