When you order a burger and fries at a restaurant, you fully expect ketchup to be available. After all, it goes together like peanut butter and jelly, butter and popcorn, bacon and eggs, or any other well-known food combo.
To this man’s surprise, this restaurant didn’t seem to think ketchup was a given and instead opted to charge him for the condiment. You’ll never believe how much the charge showed up as on his receipt. Would you pay?
Ketchup Charge
In a since-deleted video, which garnered more than 119,000 views, content creator Sam E. Goldberg (@respectthechain) filmed his receipt at a downtown Miami restaurant.
“Three dollar ketchup,” he said, holding up the bill. “Right now we’re at Casa Neos in downtown Miami, and they are charging on the receipt $3. If you order ketchup, you know normally when you go to a restaurant they give you ketchup as part of the meal.”
For context, the rest of the bill wasn’t exactly budget-friendly either: burgers at $29, a salmon burger at $27, avocado toast at $21, and a $7 Diet Coke. But it was the ketchup line that stood out.
The ketchup in question appears to be the Heinz 2.25-ounce mini glass room service bottles—the kind designed for hotel room service trays and upscale table settings.
They run about $1.03 per bottle at full retail price on WebstaurantStore, a restaurant supply site that sells them in cases of 60. Casa Neos charged nearly three times the bulk price per bottle.
But the charge still doesn’t seem justified to Goldberg, who, in the caption, says, “$3 for ketchup… with a burger and fries. Not truffle sauce. Not house-made aioli. Just ketchup.”
“What do you think about this? Do you think they have a right to charge you $3 for ketchup?” he asks viewers.
Is Charging For Condiments Becoming A Thing?
Charging customers for condiments is a growing, and deeply unpopular, trend in the restaurant industry.
According to an industry survey by NPD Group cited by Restaurant Business, over 80% of consumers said they would not pay any additional fee for condiments. Of the small minority who said they would, most topped out at 25 cents. About half of all respondents said they’d simply leave and go somewhere else rather than pay for something that’s always been free.
Money Digest reports that a mid-sized restaurant serving 200 meals a day and handing out two ketchup packets per table can rack up $600 a month just on ketchup before factoring in mayo, hot sauce, or dressing.
Rising ingredient costs and supply chain issues have pushed more operators to itemize what used to be invisible line items. But most industry analysts agree the math doesn’t justify the customer backlash.
As NPD restaurant analyst Bonnie Riggs put it, charging for condiments “carries more risk than any revenue benefit a restaurant operator would derive.”
Commenters React
“Bro is right, no serious restaurant should charge for ketchup,” a person said.
“Honestly, I would easily pay that for a private ketchup that nobody has touched,” another wrote.
“I have just started subtracting any additional charges from the tip,” a commenter added.
“Yeah I’m not paying $30 for a damn Burger that doesn’t come with ketchup for my fries,” another chimed in.
BroBible reached out to Goldberg for comment via email and Instagram direct message and to Casa Neos via email. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.