KL residents dine in on takeaway to avoid service fees

Restaurants say they dare not turn away customers who eat their takeaway orders on the premises for fear of the backlash on social media.ST PHOTO: NADIRAH H. RODZI.

KUALA LUMPUR (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Order takeaway food, eat it in the restaurant and save on paying service charges - this is how some Kuala Lumpur residents are coping with the rising costs of living in the Malaysian capital.

This cost-saving trick, however, comes at the expense of restaurant owners and their wait staff, who forgo the extra income they could have earned if the food was ordered to be eaten on the premises.