I knew about pay problems at Lone Spur restaurant. It was closed for a time.
Menu prices downtown are 50% to 100% higher than when I moved here in 2012. Happy hours have almost disappeared. If you are hungry Monday or Tuesday, you are just out of luck around here. As Durango is a tourist town, our restaurants are a public utility that is needed to support our economy. Now, given the menu prices, there is no excuse for not paying employees. And there is no excuse for all the added fees on the bill.
And (here’s a new one) the checkout tape on one downtown restaurant has a tip prompt for an additional tip of up to 7% above the regular tip between 18% to 22%. Is this a tip on the tip? Well, if Durango wants to remain a tourist destination, our restaurants need to get their acts together.
Be open more hours per week. Get menu prices down just a bit. If a full-table service place, it’s OK to have a tip prompt on the checkout screen. If not full-table service, don’t. And in either event, don’t have an additional tip prompt.
It is OK with me if we aren’t a tourist town anymore. In fact, I’d rather like it without all the congestion. I know the local economy depends on tourism but unless our restaurants get their acts together, the tourists will not return here.
Richard H. Ruth
Durango
