Food - News
What Restaurants Actually Do If You Can't Pay Your Bill
By ASHLEY DELMAR
Leaving without paying the bill, known colloquially as “dining and dashing,” has become a familiar pop culture trope that usually involves teens running out on the tab. Although most have probably never committed this type of theft, you might be curious about how restaurants handle situations where someone can’t pay their bill.
How restaurants deal with the incident depends significantly on the offending diner’s intent; despite what some have been led to believe, restaurants can’t force someone to work in the kitchen due to modern food safety laws. Some restaurants may rely on good faith that the customer will return to pay, or they might write up an I.O.U.
According to Restaurant Clicks, a restaurant might ask guests to leave some form of collateral behind when they can’t pay their bill, such as a cell phone or piece of I.D. As a last resort, restaurants might get law enforcement involved if guests are uncooperative with other offered solutions — what happens next depends on the amount owed and the state.