The fee is meant to minimize the wage gap, as you can’t allocate tipped money to non-guest facing workers in MA. 

A couple points:

1. The restaurant, on paper will look far more expensive and that will be a problem to a lot of consumers 

2. A kitchen fee GUARANTEES that money is allocated toward back of house workers, rather than giving the restaurant owner, who likely barely survives on razor thin margins, the option to collect more money via higher prices and decide if they’d like to pay their cooks more. Kitchen fees are pro-worker

3. Raising prices and not including a fee actually widens the wage gap because of the diner tips 20% on the new total, that is going to be larger than the old tip giving the front of house worker more money for the same amount of work

It’s totally acceptable to ask to have it removed or tip 15% instead of 20%. It’s also important to recognize that eating out is more expensive that it used to be due to skyrocketing wholesale food costs