Now you can have your cake and eat it… but like everything else in life, it will cost you. It’s all part of the cost progression when diners bring something of their own to the table when eating out – from corkage to wine and food in restaurants.

'Cakeage' is now a cost if diners want to bring their own cake to a number of London restaurants

‘Cakeage’ is now a cost if diners want to bring their own cake to a number of London restaurants Image by Sam Howzit / CC BY 2.0

Diners at a number of London restaurants are now having to pay ‘cakeage’ according to the Daily Mail if they want to bring their own birthday cakes to a function It can cost up to £9 a head at Kaspar’s Seafood Bar & Grill in London’s Savoy Hotel – making it the same on a bill as if the diner bought off its menu. These charges are also part of a number of other restuarants including Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill and Maze restaurants in London. At that venue, the cost is a fiver per head with Bodean’s adding on an extra £1.50 since last month.

Managements say there is a cost of serving and clearing up occurring after a cake course and that is why they are putting a price on such work. However, in many case, the major reason is due to the fact that dessert sales are replaced in such situations. The Sunday Times says that Trevor Gullliver, chief executive of St John restaurant in Smithfield, central London pointed out that this charge was similar to corkage. Bodean’s only charge if the cake is eaten on their premises but do not do so if a waiter brings the cake for a party to sing ‘happy birthday’.