Catering 'service charges' of 18-25% are labeled to appear as gratuity but legally go to the company, causing couples to unknowingly double-tip or staff to receive nothing

Wedding caterers and venue-affiliated food services routinely add an 18-25% 'service charge' to the food and beverage bill that most couples assume is gratuity for the waitstaff. In reality, the service charge is retained by the catering company as revenue to cover administrative overhead, setup, and profit margin. The waitstaff receives none of it unless the couple tips separately, which many do not because they believe the service charge already covers gratuity. Why it matters: wedding servers and bartenders working 8-12 hour shifts at physically demanding events receive no tips despite the couple believing they were tipped generously, so service workers earn significantly less than expected and experience high turnover, so catering companies struggle to retain quality staff for weddings, so service quality at wedding receptions declines industry-wide, so couples pay a 20% surcharge that benefits neither the staff nor the quality of their event. The structural root cause is that no federal or uniform state regulation requires catering companies to disclose what percentage of a 'service charge' goes to employees versus the company. The term 'service charge' is deliberately ambiguous -- it sounds like 'gratuity' to consumers but has no legal obligation to be distributed to staff. A string of lawsuits against New York catering companies has accused them of adding 20-30% service charges and keeping some or all of the fee rather than distributing it to service employees, but the practice persists because each lawsuit addresses only one company.