Karl Strauss brewery in LA does this to cover staff costs and on their website they justify it is as follows:
As of March 1st, 2017, we implemented a surcharge to offset increasing operational costs triggered by new federal, state, and local laws
and then further down in a Q and A:
WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST RAISE THE PRICE OF YOUR MENU ITEMS?
We believe transparency is the right thing to do. These increased operational costs affect the company directly and indirectly through our vendors’ and local suppliers’ increased prices for raw ingredients, supplies, and services. Raising our menu prices under such conditions is not an accurate reflection of our core value to build authentic relationships based on trust and integrity.
Now if anyone can tell me that the text directly above is not meaningless nonsense then I would love to hear that argument.
https://www.karlstrauss.com/surcharge/