From increase in the base price of food items, creating chaos and dispute during billing, increase of tip culture and an affect in the operating cost of the restaurants and employment — these will be some of the ramifications in the food and beverage sector if paying of service charge is made optional, say restaurateur.

While 2016 was straight out of a horror film, the food scene in India was one of the few redeeming features. By some strange alchemy(and a lot of venture capital funding), popular restaurants this year sprouted in many avatars in different cities.