FAQ’s FOR RESTAURANTS

Customer awareness
A small, elegant table card provided by PrathamUK is placed on each table. The card explains Pratham’s idea, and states that a voluntary £1 will be added by the restaurant to the table's bill at the end of the meal. It also states that the customer may, of course, decline to participate.

Administration
The use of electronic tills makes the administration very straightforward. Most restaurants allocate a button on their till to PrathamUK. Staff add £1 (or more if the customer wishes) to the bill given to the customer. At the close of business each day, the end of day report gives the sum totals for food, alcohol, beverages, service, etc., and a separate sum for PrathamUK. The amount taken for PrathamUK can then be subtracted from that day's sales.

At the end of each month, the accountant determines the balance of the restaurant takings versus total sales, and the surplus would be the sum of all the PrathamUK contributions made by customers. The restaurant then simply writes a cheque or makes a bank transfer at the end of each month to PrathamUK.

Cost to the restaurant
Essentially, zero. PrathamUK provides all the table cards and any information to the restaurant, and the administrative burden is very small. The scheme is a very cost efficient way for restaurants to fulfill their social and community responsibility.

Restaurant staff and tips
As electronic tills make adding the £1 easy and straightforward, participation usually presents no problems for staff. And most staff enjoy being associated with an employer who has a social conscience.

Most restaurants find that participating in charity has no effect on the level of tipping. Our enquiries have shown that customers are happy to contribute to the scheme and don't make any adjustment to the level of tip they would normally leave for a meal.

Customer attitudes
The experiences of other charities have shown that less than 1% of customers decline to participate, and often request that more than £1 be added to the bill! Most customers are very happy to "give a little something back" after enjoying a fabulous meal.

VAT effect
The £1 donation is added to the bill after the service charge and VAT, so it does not affect the restaurant's VAT returns.

Sending Collections to PrathamUK

Restaurants send the total money raised to PrathamUK at the end of each month either by cheque or bank transfer, as described below.

1. Sending a cheque, made payable to Pratham UK Ltd., to the address below,

PrathamUK,
c/o Dr. Viral Acharya,
85 Apsley House,
23-29 Finchley Road,
London - NW8 0NZ, U.K

Or,

2. Arranging a credit transfer direct to our account

Additional Contributions
Finally, any restaurant is welcome to make a donation in addition to or in lieu of participating in the £1 campaign.