topic Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally! in Community Chat

Restaurant tips . . . finally!

LilacTree — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:04:13 GMT

I have always disliked that restaurants got away with paying their staff low wages and having patrons augment servers' income with tips. It's not that I didn't tip, after all I had three girls who worked after school and college waiting tables. It was the principle of the thing.

There is now a restaurant chain in NYC that is doing away with tips and raising wait staff and others salaries. This will now include kitchen and other staff members sharing in the extra $$.

They are going to start with their museum restaurants and slowly branch out to their other restaurants. Sorry, but I don't know the name of the restaurant chain.

They admit that will mean higher prices for the food, but no higher than an average tip would be.

As for rewarding for excellent service, it will be management who will be doing that, not the patrons. Hopefully this will work out to the benefit of all. And imagine not having to figure out tips everytime the check comes.

What do you think?

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

tends2dogs — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:13:11 GMT

I, personally, don't care for this idea. If you receive poor service there is no way to reflect that. I suppose you could always speak to the management, but I find that a hassle.

I would bet that they aren't raising their wages that much. There are higher end restaurants where the wait staff may make a few hundred dollars a night. I doubt that the raise in salary will compensate for that. JMHO

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

Iwantcoffee — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:14:54 GMT

I agree with the restaurant paying their staff higher wages and eliminating tipping.

The New York Times has an article "Danny Meyer Restaurants to Eliminate Tipping" about this topic.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

LilacTree — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:17:45 GMT

@Iwantcoffee wrote:
I agree with the restaurant paying their staff higher wages and eliminating tipping.

The New York Times has an article "Danny Meyer Restaurants to Eliminate Tipping" about this topic.

Thanks for posting the name of the restaurant. Let's hope this catches on!

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

millieshops — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:22:36 GMT

I think several things. First is that it will make life easier for patrons in a way, and in the restaurants where they plan to start this process, I think many are already tipping 20% or even more. At first it could make meals sound expensive and people might pull back, but I bet not for long and not much in those top establishments.

Also, I think more workers could benefit - especially those who do not work outfront at all and have never benefitted from any tips. If their wages go up, it should make it easier to hire kitchen staff. Will the wait staff go home with the same or more money? That's a maybe, especially for those who know how to relate to their customers well .Unless the restaurants raise prices more than 20% in order to pay the whole staff more, I don't see where the money comes from to pay the whole staff more.

So many restaurants don't survive long, There's not nearly as much profit apparently as we who just eat there think there would be. Especially in the transition period, I think we'll see an even larger percentage of failures while owners work their way through the maze.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

Laura14 — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:24:48 GMT

As a former server, I'm not sure about this idea since it seems to depend on the fairness of the manager in splitting up the tips and treating everyone equally which allows bad or mediocre employees to skate on other's good hard work and/or favoritism on the part of the GM.

And I'm not sure what they consider kitchen staff, but I don't see where a chef or cook really needs a tip. It's the servers who are on the front lines running themselves ragged. I would never discount the hard work of the kitchen in pushing out tickets but other than the bussers, dishwashers, and runners if you have them, I don't agree with taking a small pool of money and giving it out to everyone in the building so at the end of the day it's just not worth the effort. At some point, for some people, hard work by itself is just part of their job.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

151949 — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:24:29 GMT

A good waitress makes a lot of $$$ on tips. They will not get good, experienced waitresses in this restaurant.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

Snoopp — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:34:17 GMT

The customer will wind up paying more for the same meal to cover the costs for the restaurant.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

Krimpette — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:35:10 GMT

I certainly agree that wait staff deserve more, and I'm sure that's true for most of the kitchne staff. Why not just raise the required minimum raise for all restaurant employees? As mentioned, some wait staff deserve much more (or less) than others and that amount should remain at the customer's discretion.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

MacDUFF — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:39:27 GMT

@LilacTree wrote:

...doing away with tips and raising wait staff and others salaries....

...They admit that will mean higher prices for the food, but no higher than an average tip would be.

...rewarding for excellent service, it will be management who will be doing that, not the patrons.....

How much/what percentage of a raise?

This statement is "subject to change without notice." And, who is determining what an "average tip" is?

Could be different definitions of "excellent service"...one from management's POV and one from the patron's POV.

That said, generally speaking, I'm in favor of higher wages for waitstaff, but have learned that you might want to be careful of what you wish for.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

Oostende — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:41:50 GMT

I guess it depends on how much the restaurant raises the wages. I tip over 20%, regardless of the service. It's usually a pretty safe bet that the wait staff is doing their best, but sometimes circumstances can result in poor service. I give them the benefit of the doubt.

Servers in the better restaurants here do very, very well for themselves, depending on the day of the week and the time of the day. What kind of hourly wage are we talking about?

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

sunshine45 — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:45:35 GMT

i have no problem with them raising the wages to some extent for restaurant employees......but i dont think they should get rid of the tipping. i happen to be a good tipper.....if you give me excellent service you will be getting 20%+ tip from me, especially if i am a regular.

restaurants, raise the minimums that you give, raise your prices a bit to compensate, and let your patrons decide on what a fair amount of tip would be for the services provided.

i wonder how the waiters, waitresses, and busboys feel about this?

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

ChynnaBlue — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:48:25 GMT

@tends2dogs wrote:
I, personally, don't care for this idea. If you receive poor service there is no way to reflect that. I suppose you could always speak to the management, but I find that a hassle.

I would bet that they aren't raising their wages that much. There are higher end restaurants where the wait staff may make a few hundred dollars a night. I doubt that the raise in salary will compensate for that. JMHO

There are LOTS of places where one can receive excellent or poor service and they don't have tips. I wouldn't want any of those to start implementing tips just because it makes providing feedback easier for me.

And frankly, if you get exceptional or poor service, management should know anyway because a one-time tip doesn't allow management to reward or correct behaviors. A bad server will be around a lot longer if no one speaks up.

If I get exceptional service, I ask to speak to the manager. It could impact a server's position, schedule, or a pay raise in the future, which has more benefit than a one-time tip.

. . .

debic — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:48:36 GMT

As a customer I would go somewhere else. I'm the one who decides what a waiter deserves not the restaurant. And I pretty much tip everyone well.

As a former waitress I'd hate to think I wasn't worth any more than the servers that were cranky and not very good.

Most small restaurants would all go out of business if they paid minimum wage. While you can still come out ahead with tips it became a lot harder when they started taxing them.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

straykatz — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:49:11 GMT

Fast food joints pay minimum wage and do not allow tips...../just saying.....so why on earth can't chains and more up scale places not pay minimum wage?.....the excuse their wait staff gets tips is just that.. it's an excuse to not pay 9 or 10 bucks an hour plus tips.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

ChynnaBlue — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:51:10 GMT

@Snoopp wrote:
The customer will wind up paying more for the same meal to cover the costs for the restaurant.

You're already paying more when you tip. If they incorporate the tips into the wages, you'll know how much a meal costs up front and it will be consistent.

Unless you don't tip at all or tip poorly, in which case costs will go up more. You could, of course, eat elsewhere.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

ChynnaBlue — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:53:51 GMT

@Laura14 wrote:
As a former server, I'm not sure about this idea since it seems to depend on the fairness of the manager in splitting up the tips and treating everyone equally which allows bad or mediocre employees to skate on other's good hard work and/or favoritism on the part of the GM.

And I'm not sure what they consider kitchen staff, but I don't see where a chef or cook really needs a tip. It's the servers who are on the front lines running themselves ragged. I would never discount the hard work of the kitchen in pushing out tickets but other than the bussers, dishwashers, and runners if you have them, I don't agree with taking a small pool of money and giving it out to everyone in the building so at the end of the day it's just not worth the effort. At some point, for some people, hard work by itself is just part of their job.

No, because there's nothing to split this way. Many places split tips now and this eliminates that because there would be no tips to split up, everyone would get paid a higher wage, instead.

It also means a server can budget better because you will always know how much you get paid every month and don't have to worry about a month where tips were lower and you have less money.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

beach-mom — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:54:05 GMT

I'm not really in favor of this. We always tip 20% and round up, but I often have asked the host or maitre d' if the server gets his/her own tips or if they are split. We do reward for above average service. If the service is not good, we give 20% exactly.

I was scarred for life when I was a young girl around 11-12. My dad and I went out to eat - just the two of us. I think we went to a Chinese restaurant. The service was terrible and the server was rude. When we left, my dad left a penny on the table. I was so embarassed! Even if the service is not good, I try to think that maybe the server is just having an "off" day, and I still leave (exactly) 20%.

BUT - I once went to a hairstyling salon where there was no tipping. There was a nice sign when you first went in that said something like, "We do not accept tips. If you appreciate the look we've given you, just thank us and tell your friends about us." I'm sure they "included" the tips in the prices of their services, but it was still nice not to have to worry about it! I hated to leave there, but we moved!

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

CrazyDaisy — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:54:45 GMT

At the restaurant reported on, the price of the food was increased by 20%. So you are not actually eliminating the tip, you are being forced to pay a 20% tip regardless of the service you received.

Re: Restaurant tips . . . finally!

Laura14 — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:59:50 GMT

@ChynnaBlue If I'm a great server, which I was, why would I settle for a marginal flat rate when I can make more money elsewhere under the old system? I doubt the raise would cover what most good servers make and I never had a problem budgeting my living expenses. If I did a good job, I covered my bills and I did for two years.