By Derek Draplin | The Center Square
An idea to implement a 20% service charge on Denver restaurant bills, floated last week by Mayor Mike Johnston, could cost the city’s economy $718 million over the next five years, according to a policy think tank.
Johnston made the suggestion during an interview on the “City Cast Denver” podcast Wednesday while discussing struggling restaurants in the city.
“One idea we’ve been floating to restaurants is the idea of a service charge,” he said. “If you do a service charge of 20%, you can gather that, and you can spread it equally across all the employees.