Buffalo Wild Wings in Texas Add Then Drop Health Insurance Surcharge

In response to the the Affordable Care Act, some restaurants across the country added a surcharge to help cover the cost of new employer benefits requirements. But diners have mixed feelings about these surcharges. According to KAMC, Howard Restaurant Group in Lubbock, Texas — which owns several Buffalo Wild Wings locations — added a two percent health care fee to receipts earlier this week.

Twenty four hours later however, the surcharge was removed due to customer backlash. One customer told the local news station that it wasn't the amount that bothered her, but the fact that she wasn't warned: "What caught me off guard was they didn't tell me, I mean the waitress just laid the ticket down and didn't say 'Oh there's going to be...' there was no explanation."

A spokesperson for Buffalo Wild Wings tells KCBD that the chain regrets "any inconvenience" the surcharge may have caused customers. An employee of one of the Howard-owned Buffalo Wild Wings locations tells Eater that the surcharge will be back, however, "just in a different form." Eater has reached out to the Howard Restaurant Group for more details.

Numerous restaurants have jumped on the health care surcharge bandwagon in recent months including chef Suzanne Goin's Los Angeles-based Lucques Group, as well as as a Florida chainlet, and LA's Republique. Plenty of other restaurants have found ways to sneak around paying for health care altogether. Watch the local news story below: