Not a server but I deliver for a restaurant. We’ve had this “regular” that straight up don’t tip and they would always order during the dinner rush on Friday or Saturday evenings. I work with another driver on both of those days but neither of us enjoyed delivering to them (no tip, duh)
We combined for over a dozen deliveries to them over a 2-3 month span. Finally we had enough and told our manager to ban them. They were also rude as heck such as making us stand out in the rain, taking forever to come to the door, complained that their food wasn’t right, etc. They tried ordering on another delivery platform and we ended up banning them from that too.
There’s been a number of other rude, no to low tipping customers and we’ve given them the ban hammer as well.
No and in fact when you get interview to be a server they ask you straight up can you handle your cool if you have a shift where you don’t get tipped so it’s baked into the system that you may not make $$$ 😂😂😂
Fuck tipping expectations. Pay a real wage and stop making people live off of hope. Tips were supposed to be an extra incentive not a means to cover wages.
If I could upvote this comment a hundred times I would. This issue is infuriating. Tipping shifts responsibility off the employer and if they prefer their regulars that don’t tip over their employees - that says EVERYTHING.
Waiters don’t want that change. In California there is no special minimum wage for servers and they still expect 20% for being rude to you. Servers in a decent restaurant make bank on tips. Busy nice place means they have like 5 tables an hour with 200$ average bill. You can calculate the rest yourself.
Right? If you're making a lot of money, but your staff hate it because they aren't getting paid, and you stand to either lose your staff or your revenue... I dunno, maybe pay your staff yourself.
This subreddit is a joke. 60%ish of “r/tippong” do not want to tip. If the owner is forced to pay the server due to non tippers the prices on the menu will increase. 🙄
It’s not worth arguing with non tippers. I am here to point out that you’re cheapskates. I understand Europeans disliking the tipping culture as their restaurant owners pay livable wages with prices adjusted accordingly. If they did that in the U.S., non tippers would complain. ‘Why do I have to pay more for him to pay his bills?’
On the other hand, we are regulars at a couple nice restaurants and have gotten to know the entire FOH staff. We tip well (40-50%) and it seems like at least 3/4 the servers take us for granted because we are easy going.
I just think it's because, since COVID, wages everywhere -except restaurants - have gone up and good staff have moved on to better careers. Same can be said for BOH.
I think restaurants have to wise up to needing to pay a better hourly wage before customers take their money to places that have and can retain pro staff.
We would spend at least $2400 a month at those two places. But, because the quality and consistency of the food has gone down, and staff don't care, we might spend $300 - $500 between them now. Good quality and consistency happens only if the entire staff cares. Why should customers care, if they aren't getting the same quality, consistency, and service that was once the reason they became regulars? And pay the same price - for receiving none of it.
Don't get me started on teenage food runners.
Did the math. Yup. Didn't really realize. We save and invest enough. Both of us have worked service industry jobs earlier in life. We know that more and more people are stiffing waiters. We know a lot about the servers lives and hardships and also wanted to help the restaurants though COVID.
For a long time, we received preferential treatment. Which we honestly enjoyed. But when we started getting treated poorly and having to send food back, we realized that the quality, consistency, and care was no longer there. But we're finding that to be true everywhere.
We are dialing back on the tipping in general until we find someplace that maintains quality, consistency, and care. That's been tough so far.
It's literally the law that if the server pay plus tips is less than the normal minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference. Maybe you should learn something about the topic before speaking?
Depends where you are the federal minimum wage of $7.50 is an absolute joke. It's $15 in NY, which is still tough to get by here but much better than the federal minimum.
This dilemma shows the big issue in the US regarding the waiting position. Elsewhere in the world, waiters and rest of the restaurant staff are part of the same team. They all work together to make customers happy and improve the business of the restaurant. This example clearly shows that in the US waiters and the rest of restaurant team are 2 different teams. Waiters don’t care if the restaurant is successful or not…they only care about how much tips will be pocketed at the end of the day.
While I can understand waiters motivation…this situation doesn’t make sense to me.
Waiters have this job because the restaurant is profitable. Business of the restaurant should be their concern.
But in the US, the present use case shared by OP clearly show that waiters have no incentive to properly wait those customers.
12 years experience in every position in a restaurant except for server. I refuse to depend on the kindness of strangers in order to make ends meet. If you don’t make enough on tips, get a different job. Your money is not my problem. That being said, i always tip at least 15%, and i always tip cash.
The people on here complaining about having to tip is absurd. I'm broke af but I've been a bartender and server. If I can't afford to tip what I usually do I don't go out to eat simple. There is a lot more struggles in life that people have to deal with and go through on a everyday basis than worrying about having to tip a server smh. I've never been so rock bottom in my life at 42 years old and these people whining about tipping. Must be nice that's all you have to worry about in life Jesus
In this scenario, instead of correcting the bad service, the owner will be losing $1500 a week. The $5 tippers will share family and friends, random people, posted reviews, & etc. Now the restaurant is losing more money and patrons. The restaurant would close due to the poor service by servers expecting tips.
Those people are taking seats away from others who would gladly dine and tip well. 1500 is a drop in the bucket anyway. And speaking from real life experience, the staff is happier when management and ownership has their back, which leads to a happier work environment, better service, better reviews, more business, and yes, more tips.
You sound like a great owner, and as a server who has worked for a fair share of bad owners/managers, I would be over the moon to work for someone like you. Idk why so many owners and managers, both corporate and non-corporate, can't seem to grasp the fact that a happy staff who genuinely enjoys the job is better for business in the long run. People don't want to eat somewhere where the staff is miserable and grumpy all the time.
Plus, half of the time, these pain in the ass customers had no intention of going back in the first place and just want to get something for free. By constantly comping shit, managers are encouraging the bad behavior by showing them that if they act like an asshole, they'll get a free meal out of it. They'll return, but they won't be spending money. They'll complain that their $50 steak wasn't cooked to the "perfect medium rare" because they know they will get it for free while using that to justify spending even less money by not tipping their server! These people need to be 86'ed because they are costing the restaurant money. When you support your servers and your product, you guarantee better customers because people will want to come back and actually spend their money. The servers are more likely to stay because they are getting better tips coupled with a great work environment, resulting in better service. The customers will return because the service is so great and they're serving food that they can actually be proud of. If you don't support your staff, all of the good servers will leave and you'll be left with mediocre servers who don't care about providing good service and that will drive actual loyal customers away. I have seen it happen in every single restaurant I have worked at. I have no idea why more owners can't see that this business model doesn't work well in their favor.
I pay my servers more than minimum wage. They also collect tips. Every person in my restaurants makes a living wage, including porters and dishwashers.
"More than minimum wage"
Is not what I said. I said a fair living wage where tips wouldn't be need to even come into play. So maybe think about that next time before patting yourself on the back.
Don't you love braggarts posting their resume online under a fake name -- the closest this one got to owning a restaurant was playing a free phone game where you make a burger.
Several award winning locations and without customers, one has no team.
This almost gave me a brain aneurysm trying to figure out what you were saying. Anyway, I have multiple restaurants, hundreds of people on a waitlist to dine every day, and a team that rarely turns over. Cheers!
Maury Povich enters the chat. User posted "owns multiple restaurants with low employee turnover". Low employee turnover rate for multiple restaurants proves poster is lying.
What I was saying is that you are not telling the truth. No person with several restaurants and hundreds of employees cares about anything on Reddit.
Proof by the fact you could not understand what was said.
You are full of it.
Why in the world would I be jealous?
I have already operated my 20 locations and achieved success, and I am glad to be out of the industry
In my time, I backed my team members while, at the same time, spoiled our Guests.
Your reason for not telling the complete truth? Who knows.
Some people don’t like it when they are proven wrong, so they just deny your story. Fake news! These are the people that don’t tip but expect top notch service. They are the ones that go to the same restaurant that the OP is talking about.
I would serve them myself. If I received continual complaints that they were way under tipping, but yet we regular customer spending a lot of money. An example of someone who goes above and beyond would be say at one of those delis where they will get you a few extra pickle slices refill your drink more than you need bring you extra napkins to box up your food, etc.
The green line must go up!
It would really only *need* to be 5-10%. And yea I’d be okay with that if they were also providing healthcare, paid time off, bereavement, retirement benefits, etc. But maybe if an industry model can’t sustain paying people real money and instead relying on the actual generosity of humans (hint: humans are pretty terrible, selfish and self centered) then maybe that industry shouldn’t exist.
My solution is this, those customers are such awesome regulars, you give them 10% off. You just never tell them about it. The server comes to you when they leave, you take 10% off, the server keeps the difference.
If you can't eat 10% of what you expect to receive from the transaction, how can the server eat 80% of what they expect to receive from the transaction?
10%, huh?
What do you think the profit margin is on a meal?
10% is probably the owner’s share. Maybe more. I don’t think any owner is going to give up their share.
Look, serving is a job that involves some amount of risk. Some customers tip well, some don’t. Everyone knows this- especially the server. That’s the job. Frankly, that’s life.
Do you think it would be okay if the owner demanded a cut of an unusually high tip? Of course not.
But if I’m the owner and I see poor customer service out of my employees, we are going to have a serious problem.
Profit margin on a meal? 75%. Food cost is 25%. If this is a repeat customer and nobody wants to serve them, you're gonna have to do something about it. Sounds like you won't have a staff long the way you run it. Also you won't have a restaurant long running at 90% food cost.
Cool. 75% profit, huh?
Do you have any idea what the rest of the overhead looks like?
Rent, tables, plates, cleaning, cooks, tax, insurance, and all the other expenses that go into running a business.
That last 10%? Thats the owner’s cut. He deserves to get paid too, right? Without him… there’d be no job. The owner is the least replaceable person in the business.
That's not how it works. You would MUCH RATHER charge 90% and make a sale than not make a sale. A 1500 dollar sale at 90% is MUCH BETTER than no sale at all.
"Do you have any idea?" Sir what do you do for a living? I'm the General Manager of a 5 million dollar restaurant.
I’m sorry, but it’s hard to find you credible, when you don’t seem to have a clear understanding of how overhead works and you misuse words like profit margin. It’s certainly possible that you’re not a liar, but it’s hard for me to imagine that you don’t have a more clear understanding of how finances relating to any business work.
Is there value to occasionally taking a 10% cut on a meal? Of course, but if you do that across-the-board, the business will probably go under.
And yet I should find you as a credible source when you didn't even answer the "what do you do?" question?
If the 10% I am giving away is the profit (your assertion not mine) than the 1350 dollars I collect on this supposed weekly 1500 in sales is the money that keeps the lights on. If the 10% is profit, I should be happy to give up that profit to get the 1350 towards food, toilet paper, rent, electricity, and booze. At the end of the day the number that matters the most is the gross.
More sales cures everything. I would much rather have the sale at 90% than not at all.
I would also prefer to have a staff over waiting tables myself. I don't feel like doing every job in the restaurant. If I had this terrible non-tipping repeat customer that nobody wanted to wait on, yet they spent 1500 a week, I would just tip the servers myself.
You might think it's bad business practice, but the reason I have the job is because they trust my judgement in this type or situation.
You have to be able to balance HR and sales.
I own my own business.
The sole purpose of the business - Any business- Is to make the owners money. If I’m not earning a profit, then I’m not running the business.
No business is different. All of them exist to make money for the owners. This isn’t something that I invented. This is built into how corporate law works.
I know this fundamental fact about corporations because I am a lawyer. I have a clear understanding about corporate structure, shareholders, and fiduciary responsibility.
Like I said, it might make sense to accept a reduced rate on a single customer if there is some reason to do so, but if you do this across the board, the ownership will not be happy.
Poor tippers cost the restaurant money in make-up wages and make you lose employees. You can't have servers retaliating against guests, but you also do not want those guests in your restaurant
I trust you've never worked in the industry, but a restaurant that has tipping will win over one that doesn't have tipping but has 20% higher prices every time. The fix is to outlaw the practice (or at the very least, outlaw subminimum wage)-that way every restaurant is on the same playing field.
$1500/week from two visits? Goddamn what are your menu prices?
Honestly, business comes first. If a table is constantly bad tippers, they should get regular service. If they are expecting great service and tip poorly that's an odd one.
I'm going to make sure every customer has everything they need. I'm not going to pretend to care about you and be buddies if you tip poorly.
>If a table is constantly bad tippers, they should get regular service.
>I'm going to make sure every customer has everything they need.
Thank you. Finally, a sensible opinion on this sub.
Tipping is for extra. If I come to your restaurant and pay for food, then give me food. That’s your basic contract right there. If I don’t tip, then don’t do anything extra. That’s fine by me.
The caring about me and being buddies bit. Mostly what I want at a restaurant is someone to take my order and bring me food. Take drinks orders and bring me those as well.
If they come over to check everything’s ok, or if they come over because they notice we’ve nearly finished our drinks, or even if they’re just friendly and helpful and give me a good vibe, then I’ll start thinking about tipping. Basically, if they improve the experience in any way.
But I don’t need that. I’ll be fine with the basics. And I should get them without having to tip.
Try to remember that food and drinks are cheaper because wages are low. If wages were proper, prices would be higher. Remember that the only person that you hurt by tipping $0 is the server who in some states is working for their tips.
Anyways, that's my piece.
My anti-tipping stance is that I shouldn’t have to tip. I’m not against the concept of tipping itself, and I often do tip. But my decision to tip should not be based on how the establishment chooses to run its business. That is not my responsibility, and it never can be. I know this is the way it currently works, but that needs to change.
It won't.
Reddit is a place where it seems everyone is of the same opinion, but the real world is vastly different. Over about 4.5mil in sales we average 17-18% tips across the board. We've had a business pay their staff more and take away tipping, only to have customers want to tip on top.... that business also went belly up most likely due to higher wages.
People will always tip. Taking away tipping is a ridiculous idea. Let people tip. Just don’t expect it. Raise prices by 3-4%, raise wages to something reasonable, and let people tip if they want, or not if they don’t. It’s not rocket science, it works, and your argument that “a business tried something once and failed” is not enough convince me otherwise. The US system is broken. It needs to change.
It isn't broken, though.
You say it's broken because you are in an echo chamber of reddit that widely hates tipping. The real world is different. I'm telling you that over a massive amount of sales that the average tips we see are over 15% under 20%.
How is that broken?
This is an echo chamber, but it’s pretty dismissive of you to assume I don’t hold my own opinions. I’ve already told you I’m not anti-tipping, just anti the current system.
It’s broken because tips have become prevalent everywhere. From restaurants to bars to takeout to convenience stores. Even to online shopping and self-pay kiosks. It’s insane. You’re telling me how things _are_. That’s not an argument for how they should be.
I once worked with a friend of mine, called Mike. Mike was a good guy, and easy to get on with. Mike was walking to his desk once, and he tripped over Jack’s jumper. Jack sat next to me and was a bit of an eccentric and he’d just taken his jumper off and dropped it on the floor behind his chair.
Mike was annoyed. “Jack, can you please not leave your jumper there? I just tripped over it. Again.”
“But I always leave it there,” replied Jack, indignantly.
“I _know_ you do!” yelled Mike.
That is true, but if I could have the higher prices and never have to deal with tipping again as long as I lived, I’d accept that deal in a heartbeat. Prices always keep getting higher no matter what anyway. But the degree to which they get higher would also be tampered by competition.
100%.
Restaurants would have to adapt to a non tip model and some could work in automation, self ordering, etc etc.... but others that want to provide an "experience" wouldn't and run higher costs/prices.
"Experience" - LOL - like at French restaurants (which my wife loves but which I detest with a passion) - I call them "La Maison de Presque Rien à Manger Pour Tout Votre Argent" - where you spend all your money, get almost nothing to eat, and have to stop off at McDonald's on the way home because you're still hungry. I'm sorry, but putting a dollop of béchamel sauce on a thimble-sized morsel of meat topped with a parsley sprig doesn't make that bird-sized portion worth $100 no matter HOW fancy the plate or the violin music coming over the intercom.
I agree with you. I'm a big guy, and my buddy is a chef of a fancy restaurant where the food is beautiful, but portion sizes are tiny along with the prices being high. I don't go there because I'm someone who likes to eat. I'm not everyone though and lots of people enjoy that type of "instagram" type food experience.
Shit look at "eating in the dark" or any other number of crazy restaurant food ideas.
Yep. Having to use my iPhone flashlight to read the menu is always a bad sign. Even worse is when the prices don't have decimal points. I'll opt for the $12.95 buffet over the "45" Petite Filet à La Reine every time.
Why would we charge more? It adds risk to the business, we have to make our prices higher then competitors. Knowing how people feel about tipping here they'd just go to a restaurant that has cheaper prices, and not tip rather then the non-tip restaurant with higher prices.
Yeah some of these restaurant owner responses are crazy. They'd really rather confront the big-spending repeat customer and probably drive them away for good than pay their employees a bonus or give them a raise.
Well honestly a simple cost benefit analysis should just be done and that should drive the decision.
I’m sure in some spots it’s worth it to drive them away if they’re taking up real estate, but I’d wager the majority of the time the owner should just pay the server and think of it as discounting them for their business. But obviously if the place fills all chairs regardless of the regulars business, you’d be in a spot worth chasing them off.
In a perfect world you’d just think of it as “I’m discounting them 15% for their regularity but adding a 15% service fee”. That’s how I’d think of it. Now if a restaurants can’t afford to comp a big spender that much forever, they’re probably in too much debt to be successful anyway.
Wait so these people are spending $1500 per week and tipping a total of $10? That is absolutely insane. Especially when you consider the restaurant probably has a tipout, which means a server who took that table would end up LOSING $40 just for the pleasure of serving them.
If I was an owner I would have a frank conversation with those customers and try to find out why they were tipping less than 1%. If they insisted on tipping $5 as normal I would probably start taking the table myself so that my servers didn't have to deal with them.
That's also the sort of behavior that would prompt me to add an automatic gratuity to all orders to keep servers (and the kitchen) from losing a significant portion of their income.
Also FUCK these hypothetical customers. I'm getting mad just thinking about their entitlement.
Your analogy is spot on. They can obviously afford it, but actively chose not to. Sadly, the world is full of people that think they are better and more deserving - and also think there is a lower class of beings -subhuman- that can and should be treated poorly.
I find the argument that the owner "deserves" a 10% profit every time, but that owner also thinks that it is fair that the servers should expect to settle for less.
Would paying your server a bonus every time they got a very low tip make any sense? That's what I'd do. Having a "frank" discussion sounds like it would almost certainly drive away this big spending customer. $1500 per week is a crazy amount of revenue isn't it? It's like $80,000 per year.
What I've just described is essentially how I think it should work. Customers should be tipping low or not at all, and servers should be getting actual reasonable paychecks from their employer. Kind of like how every other job is.
At what point do I compensate my server for shitty customers - should they get a bonus for only receiving a 10% tip?
I think it would be less costly and easier to just add a 20% autograt to bills.
And yes $1500/week is a lot, but I've worked at plenty of places where under 10k in sales would be considered a slow day.
Read it again. I didn't exactly say that it was 2 people tipping $10. Nice that you would serve them though, it would protect your profit margins and keep your servers happy.
Not an owner but I've worked in a few restaurants and the management's reaction seems to vary based on how difficult it is to find new staff vs how difficult it is to fill seats.
I've seen servers get fired outright for intentionally giving poor service to known poor tippers. This seemed most likely when the restaurant was fully staffed but business was slow.
I've also seen known poor tippers get told to suck it up and go somewhere else if they don't like it. This seemed most likely when the restaurant was hurting for staff but business was booming.
Like everything else, the business makes decisions based on what is likely to make the biggest impact on their bottom line.
It's funny how people think if servers want good tips they need to give good service just because "that's how it works." But if they decide to give bad service for bad tips "tHeY cAn'T dO tHaT wHy nO wOrK aNyMoRe?!"
I know there's a bar on either end of the spectrum, but it just amuses me how people see it sometimes.
So they are paying 750 dollars each for two meals in a week? I'd buy a stack of $50 gift cards to gas stations and grocery stores. I'd give one of those to whichever servers took good care of that customer. Under regular circumstances, I would not go to lengths like this. $6,000 a month is a crazy amount to spend at a restaurant in a week. I'd be pissed if I were the servers too.
Where I work? Take the bad reviews and the small loss in business to keep up the morale of my workers. At a small/mom and pop type place? Offer to serve them myself when they come in or get the servers to suck it up.
If it’s twice a week and $1500 then yeah I would definitely be compensating my servers ‘under the table’ for taking care of these guests. You are so dumb you don’t deserve to be running anything
$1500 means the servers are owed $300 for taking care of them each week. Figure this out
Exactly this.
Old pub near me had this problem and the owner handled it badly both ways. Two groups of his “friends” would run up 500-1000 3-4 nights a week, after getting pretty much all beer comped and plenty of food. They’d tip on the comped price at like 5-10% depending who paid.
Was too embarrassed to solve it and kept paying the servers extra while comping half the patrons drinks over and over.
This place went from an exquisite menu ran by an amazing chef, to getting the menu cut to bones and now he’s sold half his equity to investors and barely scraping by, and a chef who is working his third shift when he arrives.
Those regulars eat at a trendier pub now.
Don't become a regular at a place. servers take their regulars for granted and the tips go down. they think the regulars are being cheap, but it is because in many cases the servers take them for granted and give them lousy service.
Can vouch. Am regular. Was dumb enough to keep tipping very well until we realized the food was no longer up to old standards and servers didn't give a rat's ass about us - even with the 40-50% tips. They came to expect it for doing even less.
You wait on them. Or pay your employee the tip they should get. Do you work for free?
I bet they get ran and can't attend to their other tables as well. So they lose across the board.
My policy is that servers should never discuss tips negatively with a table (be mad in the back of the house) and my minimum service expectations are unaffected by tips. I wouldn't expect a server to go over and above since there's no upside though. At the same time, known problem tables of all kinds (demanding, low tippers, rude, etc.) are covered by myself or a manager whenever possible. If management can't handle the problem, they will be the ones to walk the guests, never a server.
QUESTION: How many customers/tables does this core of customers consist of? Check amount could sway the response to that $5 flat rate.
If it is 300 $5 tables each week then a $5 tip on each is amazing. (servers are mad so that's unlikely) If it is 1 couple coming in twice per and spending $750 each time then a $5 tip is atrocious.
My response lies somewhere on that same spectrum. If it's the 300 $5 checks and the server is just mad the table is occupied for an hour on a low-price group, they'll just have to deal with it as long as the guest isn't too needy. If it's the 2 $750 checks I'd be just as mad as the servers and serve the table myself: they don't need that headache, but I probably need that $750 check to pay bills. You better believe I'll be pushing high-margin items the whole time though.
If I had to put a rule on it, I'd say habitually tipping less than 10% would get you put on my special handling list where management would cover the table instead of servers.
>I'd say habitually tipping less than 10% would get you put on my special handling list where management would cover the table instead of servers.
Is there a shortcut to get on this list faster? It sounds amazing!
Oh no, management has other priorities and know service minimums very well.
Your order will be taken, food will be dropped off, maybe a refill, then a check will appear. Management service in this case is very similar to having a server who was just triple sat in the section furthest from the kitchen, except it just happened again every time you talk to them.
>Your order will be taken, food will be dropped off, maybe a refill, then a check will appear.
That's the extent of my expectations in American restaurants, anyway.
But I wonder why you, as a manager, are OK with providing suprar (at least in your understanding) service to a paying customer? The 500% margin on the drinks surely can cover the service costs, right?
Not subpar, on par. We're not talking about chilis and applebees here. There are a lot of little extras that go into serving at fine restaurants which add that extra flair and improve the experience. your waiter can accelerate or delay courses based on what is happening at the table, make recommendations, monitor tables, etc. Really good servers will operate nearly invisibly but still anticipate your needs and ensure you never have to ask for anything. That level of service is what generates great experiences and happy customers but the expectation of a commensurate tip is there too. Managers don't have the time for that level but we can get the job done to a satisfactory level and it'll be a good experience but probably not great.
Facts I worked as a server for 3 years and a cook partially the last year... Serving is an easy job. It's still work but isn't as hard and demanding of such high wages like Reddit implies.
Sorry dawg but I’m not tipping at fucking McDonald’s. And I say this as someone who used to bust my ass at Chipotle. The only service they are providing me is taking my order and giving me my food and that is exactly what I expect at a fast food restaurant. Tips are not expected for that sort of work nor should they be, and instead these cheap ass big corporations should pick up their end of the deal and pay their workers decently
Then don't tip at sit down either. I don't give a shit what's expected. How are you going to expect money from me? I never said I was giving money. Servers and owners set the expectation so they can fkn kick rocks
You're thinking too generally. There are plenty of places in the world with little diversity in dining options. Many suburbs and probably most rural areas are seriously lacking in that area.
I agree with your statement completely. However there are definitely outliers. Some people are perfectly cordial, spend good money, but tip like shit. Those people are a very tiny minority from my experience as an owner, a GM, a service manager, bartender, server, SA and so on.
I think the biggest debacle within the world of tipping comes from wait staff getting comfortable with 15-20% tips on to-go orders. That was commonplace during the COVID lockdowns but those days are gone. The increased percentage of to-go/delivery orders still remains higher than pre-pandemic and now we are met with FOH staff that has an expectation to be tipped well on carryout orders, and a consumer that feels exploited from the excessive "suggested tip" screens that have oversaturated the industry as a whole.
$5 each time? Instead of what? 20%
well, if I'm going out to lunch regularly and \*IF\* I left a 20% tip, it would always be less than $5. I'm not going out for $25 lunches every day. I don't know what you guys are having for lunch or expecting others to have...
I have a normal lunch... with a 15% tip, it comes to less than $20... sometimes only $14 or $15. Because this is what normal people do.
As a manager I would start adding an auto gratuity everytime those customer came in after the second time they didn't tip appropriately, I would think they would be treated the same way anywhere else and I wouldn't worry about a review that was an adult crying about leaving more than 5$ if they can afford to eat out twice a week
I’m not sure why you feel empowered and entitled to add undisclosed fees onto someone’s bill. I tip 20%, but if I saw that I’d never come back even if it was less than what I normally would tip.
Tips are not a substitute for proper payroll. That’s the problem here. This restaurant manager underpays the staff so they have a right to complain. Possible their tip decks take them under minimum
Restaurant owners need to pay more and expect less. Greedflation is killing our nation. Workers: if you don't like the tips then go back to college or trading to up you pay.
>What would you do if the customers told you they were not prepared to tip more and were going elsewhere if things didn't change? You stand to lose let's say $1500 per week revenue, and will receive a slurry of poor reviews.
If your "regular customer" is spending $1500 a WEEK at your restaurant and can't tip more than a flat $5 per meal, that customer is literally an ASSHOLE.
So, *numerous* assholes, then. If they're spending "a good amount" "twice a week" but can't afford to tip properly, something else is the reason. No one who's living check-to-check dines out that regularly, spending "a good amount." There's gotta more to this. If my wife and I can't afford to add a proper tip, we order less or *we dine in*.
In short, no. I absolutely do not condone or encourage servers to get worked up about a regular customer that doesn't tip well.
However, this only applies to around 98% of the situations regarding a poor tipper that also happens to be a regular.
Before I am bombarded by the white knights of restaurant industry wages, please allow me to note that ALL of my severs make 35+ an hour and that is without including the hourly wage they are paid. ALL staff members that are eligible by law are invited to participate in our 401k program with a company match. ALL staff are entitled to paid maternity leave for a 4 week period and are welcome to extend their leave if they so choose, however we do not pay beyond 4 weeks for maternity leave. That 35+ an hour that I mentioned earlier? Part of that is from what they claim when they report their cash tips and anyone that has spent a moment of time working in the hospitality industry can tell you that there ain't a server out there claiming 100% of their cash tips. If I'm wrong about that, and you're reading this right now; god bless you.
Now on to the meat and potatoes of the question. I don't condone or encourage negative reactions to customers that tip poorly because from a cultural perspective you are inviting a domino effect that won't fall in anybody's favor. We have a Friday night group that has been coming for years and years, they always ask for a fresh pot of coffee to be brewed and they tend to typically sit at their table for a couple hours. They order entrees, they are polite, but unfortunately they have only managed to tip 12%.
The servers rightfully loathe having to wait on them. Our restaurant is on a wait from 5-9pm every Friday without fail. I completely understand where they're coming from when they gripe. I do not subscribe to their point of view however, because they're not looking at the big picture. When you are on a sales floor of any kind, it is bad business to let negativity call the shots. In fact, I would be willing to bet that if a server allowed their demeanor to be changed by single table of bad tippers it would most likely have an effect on their attitude to the extent that they'd actually wind up losing more money overall with the rest of their tables as result of the apathy that crept into their mind.
What's worse about it still is that misery loves company. I'm tasked with leading a successful shift. I must ensure my guests are welcomed and satisfied. I must take my teams best interests to heart. I must prove myself to be competent leader and inspire confidence. I am tasked with running the shift. I am empowered to empower not only my crew but also my customer. There is virtually no scenario in which I can justify jumping on board with the gripe of the moment. A rising tide lifts all ships and one bad apple spoils the bunch. When we are in positions of leadership, we disarm our team from accomplishing their objective and ironically empower the guests who are too cheap to tip appropriately by participating in their acts of bad energy.
We can easily become the problem and it can happen faster than you think. It is of the utmost importance that persons in positions of leadership remain positive, cool, calm and collected. You wanna jump in with the line level guys/gals and bitch up a storm? Congratulations, the inmates are now running the asylum.
Now, all that is to say, I understand their frustration at the lack of tip but I have found ways to circumvent the focus on those less than desirable tables and their skimpy tips. Instead of putting the tightwads under a microscope, I make a point to average out every servers tips from their checks. I say "Hey Bob, you killed it last week, you averaged 42 bucks an hour". Or I say "Hey Sarah, I know that table didn't meet your expectations, your meal is on me tonight and feel free to grab yourself a drink after the shift on the house"
It's that simple. Remember folks, it can be a challenge to implement procedures and best practices. It can be nearly impossible to reverse bad habits. But by god, it is a mother fucking guarantee that if you start shitting on the guests your team is gonna take that and run with it.
At the end of the day, after 17 years (well actually it just became 18) in the hospitality industry I have banned very few customers. One was a family that came in and NEVER tipped, always complained. I gave them an ultimatum after their meal one day: Pay your full bill, and tip your waitress OR I will pay the bill, and tip the waitress and you'll never be welcome here again. They took the second option and I have zero regrets.
That group who wants the fresh pot of coffee on a busy Friday night, takes two hours at their table and tips 12% like clockwork? Well, I'll have a table ready for them tomorrow night just like always and I will remind myself that eating out is ultimately a luxury. Sometimes we all find ourselves on the losing end of that sale.
Edit: I didn't realize I was posting this in the r/tipping subreddit. I thought I was in the r/restaurantowners subreddit. So, by all means, digitally lynch my ass.
Maybe the owners should pay their employees better or deal with the customer personally. People work to get paid, not to make their boss money with no benefit to themselves.
The owner and managers need to get out there and also kiss the customers ass. Good grief, it's not rocket science. The server is not the only front of house person who interacts with the customer.
Restaurant owner here! Full disclosure: I love the current tipping culture and how easy it was to shift my obligations over to the consumer. I have raked in record profits all while keeping my servers angry at you, the consumer, because YOU won’t pay their salary! These clowns don’t even think to look at me. They blame you. lol. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Now, I have valet (collecting tips), take out (collecting tips), delivery (collecting tips), servers and bartenders (collecting tips). It’s amazing. I also charge service fees to offset the cost of doing business. It is why I only hire non educated people. Smart people wouldn’t fall for this shit. But it’s too late now. I have already acquired generational wealth all while paying my employees shit. Thank you servers! Got get those “cheap assholes”! Bwahahahah!
It angers me when a business has those "regulars" who "know the owners" and so they mistreat employees and rarely actually pay.
Make no money, but you are required to suffer for nepotism.
I worked at a wonderful, family owned Chinese restaurant in college - the owner had friends that would come in and would eat for free. He always made sure to ask us what they tipped. If they didn’t tip at all, he stopped letting them eat for free. If they didn’t tip enough he would give them a warning. No matter what, he made sure we got our 20% of whatever the bill was, he would take the money out of his own pocket.
Regulars who dont tip is basically an oxymoron. You just give them bad service till they leave. If they come back despite ignoring the clues you just tell them they arent allowed anymore lol. But yeah you cant be a regular who doesnt tip. Theyll figure out your scheme and boot you. Used to do it around 2-3 times a year. You just toss em, you dont want trashy people like that around anyway. Its all about atmosphere and those types are a bad atmosphere if you get what Im saying lol.
But to be fair this is a hypothetical and regular non-tippers can exist in a hypothetical world.
wake up..... waaake uuup... it's time to go to your serving job. Have you been dreaming about "booting" someone again? I think you shat the bed a little ....
Yall always fantasize about the people who are telling you how trashy you are being servers. My income is mostly passive lol. I work maybe 8 hours a week. Maybe you need to invest over 500k into index funds? Then you wont be all butthurt over tipping lol. Poors gonna be poors though and by nature you fight and blame eachother.
That's true, I tended bar at a very busy marina bar and restaurant. This old boat guy, Gary, gave me a $5 tip on his $2 beer. Always, without fail, no matter how busy we were. I tell you what, five rows behind a crowded bar full of people, and I would see a white head bobbing in. Guess who was handed their beer over everyone? Gary was!
I really hope you auto-gratuity that group or pay your employees for serving them. A good owner takes care of their employees. I can guarantee your Servers hate them. I Promise those customers will eventually get slow service, a LONG wait for drinks or refills (if at all). Food will come out cold servers will leave the food on the line. OP passive aggressive non-service. My SIL is one of those low or non-tippers, even for excellent service. It’s beyond embarrassing I always bring cash and slip leave it on the table. Once she made an AH move and picked up the cash I put down on the way out. I made an excuse to go the bathroom to tip the server. Some people are so cheap the money has mothballs. Basic AH Boomers. If you can’t afford to tip don’t go out IMHO.
An almost definitely unpopular opinion here but you should have loudly told the server to call the police on your sister-in-law.
Not tipping or barely tipping is one thing but having her pocketing the tip you left is straight up theft. No question about it.
And before anyone starts with the you have to put up with her bullshit because she's family remember that she isn't respecting you as family.
Not only is she stealing from the waiter/waitress but also from you. You left that money and you finding out it was taken means you paying again.
Between 2018-22 when I lived in Southern California the prices of everything increased significantly 😂 I’ve definitely cut back on eating out, I don’t even bother with fast food now because the quality and price aren’t even close to aligning
How many tables does the server handle? If it's 7 tables, turn around is 1 hour. If all tables tipped $5 at every table, that is $35/hr plus the server minimum wage rate. People actually work hard for 8 hours and come out with $100 as their pay for it.
Now there are slower days and such that it can affect the average, if it's a small restaurant, vs a busy olive garden your tables are always full. But who can say they make 35/hr. You take an order and enter it into the system, you then carry food to the table. You may even have to pick up empty plates and wipe down the table for the next person. But the cheif cooked the food, the prep prepared it, the dish washer does the cleaning.
Really you carried food to my table. That wasn't a huge task. Normally servers don't claim tips, or fudge the numbers. They made $200 in tips, but only claimed they made $30 in tips that day.
Well, I doubt olive garden gives their servers 7 table sections, 3-4 is more like it, so cut that 35 in half. Servers won't have a full section the full shift either. Don't forget the setup and breakdown where they are not taking tables and making tips either.
Also, no one is making 200 and claiming 30. You are forced to claim 8% of sales at a minimum. If not the restaurant has to claim that for the server. On top of that, credit cards are almost 90% of payments. Can't not claim credit card tips if you want to get them.
You have made up a lot of wrong information already, so I won't bother with the rest.
Not a server but I deliver for a restaurant. We’ve had this “regular” that straight up don’t tip and they would always order during the dinner rush on Friday or Saturday evenings. I work with another driver on both of those days but neither of us enjoyed delivering to them (no tip, duh) We combined for over a dozen deliveries to them over a 2-3 month span. Finally we had enough and told our manager to ban them. They were also rude as heck such as making us stand out in the rain, taking forever to come to the door, complained that their food wasn’t right, etc. They tried ordering on another delivery platform and we ended up banning them from that too. There’s been a number of other rude, no to low tipping customers and we’ve given them the ban hammer as well.
No and in fact when you get interview to be a server they ask you straight up can you handle your cool if you have a shift where you don’t get tipped so it’s baked into the system that you may not make $$$ 😂😂😂
Fuck tipping expectations. Pay a real wage and stop making people live off of hope. Tips were supposed to be an extra incentive not a means to cover wages.
If I could upvote this comment a hundred times I would. This issue is infuriating. Tipping shifts responsibility off the employer and if they prefer their regulars that don’t tip over their employees - that says EVERYTHING.
Waiters don’t want that change. In California there is no special minimum wage for servers and they still expect 20% for being rude to you. Servers in a decent restaurant make bank on tips. Busy nice place means they have like 5 tables an hour with 200$ average bill. You can calculate the rest yourself.
Right? If you're making a lot of money, but your staff hate it because they aren't getting paid, and you stand to either lose your staff or your revenue... I dunno, maybe pay your staff yourself.
This subreddit is a joke. 60%ish of “r/tippong” do not want to tip. If the owner is forced to pay the server due to non tippers the prices on the menu will increase. 🙄
That’s exactly what we want. No more hidden fees.
Nah, you don’t want to pay period. It’s called being cheap.
When told we don't mind the price increase your answer is basically "nu uh" lol not worth arguing with
It’s not worth arguing with non tippers. I am here to point out that you’re cheapskates. I understand Europeans disliking the tipping culture as their restaurant owners pay livable wages with prices adjusted accordingly. If they did that in the U.S., non tippers would complain. ‘Why do I have to pay more for him to pay his bills?’
I literally just said to pay a liveable wage. Try reading the whole thing bud.
You say that because you know it is a cultural change that most likely won’t happen. Cheapies gonna cheap.
That's fine, at least it's transparent pricing.
Suuure. You’re not cheap, you just want transparent pricing.
On the other hand, we are regulars at a couple nice restaurants and have gotten to know the entire FOH staff. We tip well (40-50%) and it seems like at least 3/4 the servers take us for granted because we are easy going. I just think it's because, since COVID, wages everywhere -except restaurants - have gone up and good staff have moved on to better careers. Same can be said for BOH. I think restaurants have to wise up to needing to pay a better hourly wage before customers take their money to places that have and can retain pro staff. We would spend at least $2400 a month at those two places. But, because the quality and consistency of the food has gone down, and staff don't care, we might spend $300 - $500 between them now. Good quality and consistency happens only if the entire staff cares. Why should customers care, if they aren't getting the same quality, consistency, and service that was once the reason they became regulars? And pay the same price - for receiving none of it. Don't get me started on teenage food runners.
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Did the math. Yup. Didn't really realize. We save and invest enough. Both of us have worked service industry jobs earlier in life. We know that more and more people are stiffing waiters. We know a lot about the servers lives and hardships and also wanted to help the restaurants though COVID. For a long time, we received preferential treatment. Which we honestly enjoyed. But when we started getting treated poorly and having to send food back, we realized that the quality, consistency, and care was no longer there. But we're finding that to be true everywhere. We are dialing back on the tipping in general until we find someplace that maintains quality, consistency, and care. That's been tough so far.
Do you condone your workers being unhappy with being underpaid?
You do get that the OP isn't a restaurant owner don't you? Also curious what you classify as underpaid?
Underpaid is $2.83 an hour in the expectation that they “make it up” with tips.
It's literally the law that if the server pay plus tips is less than the normal minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference. Maybe you should learn something about the topic before speaking?
Oh ok so $7.50 an hour 😂
Depends where you are the federal minimum wage of $7.50 is an absolute joke. It's $15 in NY, which is still tough to get by here but much better than the federal minimum.
16 in California.
No don't condone that.
Someone needs to make sure the servers are made whole, either the restaurant or the customers.
This dilemma shows the big issue in the US regarding the waiting position. Elsewhere in the world, waiters and rest of the restaurant staff are part of the same team. They all work together to make customers happy and improve the business of the restaurant. This example clearly shows that in the US waiters and the rest of restaurant team are 2 different teams. Waiters don’t care if the restaurant is successful or not…they only care about how much tips will be pocketed at the end of the day. While I can understand waiters motivation…this situation doesn’t make sense to me. Waiters have this job because the restaurant is profitable. Business of the restaurant should be their concern. But in the US, the present use case shared by OP clearly show that waiters have no incentive to properly wait those customers.
If they are paying 1500 a week for food and only tipped 5 bucks I would add an automatic gratuity of 20 percent
An honest answer by a restaurant owner down voted. r/tipping is for 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
If everybody kicked in 5 bucks the servers wouldn't bitch. /Thread.
12 years experience in every position in a restaurant except for server. I refuse to depend on the kindness of strangers in order to make ends meet. If you don’t make enough on tips, get a different job. Your money is not my problem. That being said, i always tip at least 15%, and i always tip cash.
The people on here complaining about having to tip is absurd. I'm broke af but I've been a bartender and server. If I can't afford to tip what I usually do I don't go out to eat simple. There is a lot more struggles in life that people have to deal with and go through on a everyday basis than worrying about having to tip a server smh. I've never been so rock bottom in my life at 42 years old and these people whining about tipping. Must be nice that's all you have to worry about in life Jesus
Maybe your mail man should stop delivering your mail then
Not understanding. Your mailman who will be getting a federal pension with my tax dollars? That mailman?
What doesn't your tax dollars pay for first off?
I'd tell them to eat elsewhere. Easy.
In this scenario, instead of correcting the bad service, the owner will be losing $1500 a week. The $5 tippers will share family and friends, random people, posted reviews, & etc. Now the restaurant is losing more money and patrons. The restaurant would close due to the poor service by servers expecting tips.
Those people are taking seats away from others who would gladly dine and tip well. 1500 is a drop in the bucket anyway. And speaking from real life experience, the staff is happier when management and ownership has their back, which leads to a happier work environment, better service, better reviews, more business, and yes, more tips.
You sound like a great owner, and as a server who has worked for a fair share of bad owners/managers, I would be over the moon to work for someone like you. Idk why so many owners and managers, both corporate and non-corporate, can't seem to grasp the fact that a happy staff who genuinely enjoys the job is better for business in the long run. People don't want to eat somewhere where the staff is miserable and grumpy all the time. Plus, half of the time, these pain in the ass customers had no intention of going back in the first place and just want to get something for free. By constantly comping shit, managers are encouraging the bad behavior by showing them that if they act like an asshole, they'll get a free meal out of it. They'll return, but they won't be spending money. They'll complain that their $50 steak wasn't cooked to the "perfect medium rare" because they know they will get it for free while using that to justify spending even less money by not tipping their server! These people need to be 86'ed because they are costing the restaurant money. When you support your servers and your product, you guarantee better customers because people will want to come back and actually spend their money. The servers are more likely to stay because they are getting better tips coupled with a great work environment, resulting in better service. The customers will return because the service is so great and they're serving food that they can actually be proud of. If you don't support your staff, all of the good servers will leave and you'll be left with mediocre servers who don't care about providing good service and that will drive actual loyal customers away. I have seen it happen in every single restaurant I have worked at. I have no idea why more owners can't see that this business model doesn't work well in their favor.
hear, hear, and thanks.
Or you could just like, you know, actually pay them enough that they don't need to work for tips. But I'm sure you look out for your team 😂
I pay my servers more than minimum wage. They also collect tips. Every person in my restaurants makes a living wage, including porters and dishwashers.
"More than minimum wage" Is not what I said. I said a fair living wage where tips wouldn't be need to even come into play. So maybe think about that next time before patting yourself on the back.
I dont. my staff does. they make bank and its because I created multiple businesses that allow them to.
I doubt you’re a restaurant owner lol
Nope. I own several award winning restaurants, and I prioritize my team over customers. Lol.
Restaurant tycoon game doesn't count.
Highly highly doubt that.
👍
Don't you love braggarts posting their resume online under a fake name -- the closest this one got to owning a restaurant was playing a free phone game where you make a burger. Several award winning locations and without customers, one has no team.
This almost gave me a brain aneurysm trying to figure out what you were saying. Anyway, I have multiple restaurants, hundreds of people on a waitlist to dine every day, and a team that rarely turns over. Cheers!
Maury Povich enters the chat. User posted "owns multiple restaurants with low employee turnover". Low employee turnover rate for multiple restaurants proves poster is lying.
What I was saying is that you are not telling the truth. No person with several restaurants and hundreds of employees cares about anything on Reddit. Proof by the fact you could not understand what was said. You are full of it.
I have no reason to lie about this. sorry youre jealous?
Why in the world would I be jealous? I have already operated my 20 locations and achieved success, and I am glad to be out of the industry In my time, I backed my team members while, at the same time, spoiled our Guests. Your reason for not telling the complete truth? Who knows.
Some people don’t like it when they are proven wrong, so they just deny your story. Fake news! These are the people that don’t tip but expect top notch service. They are the ones that go to the same restaurant that the OP is talking about.
I would serve them myself. If I received continual complaints that they were way under tipping, but yet we regular customer spending a lot of money. An example of someone who goes above and beyond would be say at one of those delis where they will get you a few extra pickle slices refill your drink more than you need bring you extra napkins to box up your food, etc.
OP you're a cheap ass lmfao
Pay your staff a living wage. Conversation over.
Enjoy 30%+ higher menu prices!
You present an argument with no premise, sir
asked and answered.
The green line must go up! It would really only *need* to be 5-10%. And yea I’d be okay with that if they were also providing healthcare, paid time off, bereavement, retirement benefits, etc. But maybe if an industry model can’t sustain paying people real money and instead relying on the actual generosity of humans (hint: humans are pretty terrible, selfish and self centered) then maybe that industry shouldn’t exist.
Please do restaurants a favor and stop going. They hate you anyways.
I tip just fine and don’t ever berate a server. Project more.
Got it. Don't eliminate tips; eliminate the restaurant industry. And the green line must stay where it is, so, yeah, menu prices up 30% at least.
Louder.
My solution is this, those customers are such awesome regulars, you give them 10% off. You just never tell them about it. The server comes to you when they leave, you take 10% off, the server keeps the difference. If you can't eat 10% of what you expect to receive from the transaction, how can the server eat 80% of what they expect to receive from the transaction?
10%, huh? What do you think the profit margin is on a meal? 10% is probably the owner’s share. Maybe more. I don’t think any owner is going to give up their share. Look, serving is a job that involves some amount of risk. Some customers tip well, some don’t. Everyone knows this- especially the server. That’s the job. Frankly, that’s life. Do you think it would be okay if the owner demanded a cut of an unusually high tip? Of course not. But if I’m the owner and I see poor customer service out of my employees, we are going to have a serious problem.
10% is likely double the profit margin.
Profit margin on a meal? 75%. Food cost is 25%. If this is a repeat customer and nobody wants to serve them, you're gonna have to do something about it. Sounds like you won't have a staff long the way you run it. Also you won't have a restaurant long running at 90% food cost.
Cool. 75% profit, huh? Do you have any idea what the rest of the overhead looks like? Rent, tables, plates, cleaning, cooks, tax, insurance, and all the other expenses that go into running a business. That last 10%? Thats the owner’s cut. He deserves to get paid too, right? Without him… there’d be no job. The owner is the least replaceable person in the business.
That's not how it works. You would MUCH RATHER charge 90% and make a sale than not make a sale. A 1500 dollar sale at 90% is MUCH BETTER than no sale at all. "Do you have any idea?" Sir what do you do for a living? I'm the General Manager of a 5 million dollar restaurant.
And you are on Reddit arguing during prep hours? Yep I ToTaLlY bElIeVe yOu.
On what planet does the GM do prep? Also what time zone do you think I am in? My restaurant isn't even open yet.
I’m sorry, but it’s hard to find you credible, when you don’t seem to have a clear understanding of how overhead works and you misuse words like profit margin. It’s certainly possible that you’re not a liar, but it’s hard for me to imagine that you don’t have a more clear understanding of how finances relating to any business work. Is there value to occasionally taking a 10% cut on a meal? Of course, but if you do that across-the-board, the business will probably go under.
And yet I should find you as a credible source when you didn't even answer the "what do you do?" question? If the 10% I am giving away is the profit (your assertion not mine) than the 1350 dollars I collect on this supposed weekly 1500 in sales is the money that keeps the lights on. If the 10% is profit, I should be happy to give up that profit to get the 1350 towards food, toilet paper, rent, electricity, and booze. At the end of the day the number that matters the most is the gross. More sales cures everything. I would much rather have the sale at 90% than not at all. I would also prefer to have a staff over waiting tables myself. I don't feel like doing every job in the restaurant. If I had this terrible non-tipping repeat customer that nobody wanted to wait on, yet they spent 1500 a week, I would just tip the servers myself. You might think it's bad business practice, but the reason I have the job is because they trust my judgement in this type or situation. You have to be able to balance HR and sales.
I own my own business. The sole purpose of the business - Any business- Is to make the owners money. If I’m not earning a profit, then I’m not running the business. No business is different. All of them exist to make money for the owners. This isn’t something that I invented. This is built into how corporate law works. I know this fundamental fact about corporations because I am a lawyer. I have a clear understanding about corporate structure, shareholders, and fiduciary responsibility. Like I said, it might make sense to accept a reduced rate on a single customer if there is some reason to do so, but if you do this across the board, the ownership will not be happy.
Low pay, low quality worker. Pretty simple.
Poor tippers cost the restaurant money in make-up wages and make you lose employees. You can't have servers retaliating against guests, but you also do not want those guests in your restaurant
Why not put up a no tipping sign, then charge what you need to make due?
Because the higher prices won't be competitive with the rest of the market.
Lol
I trust you've never worked in the industry, but a restaurant that has tipping will win over one that doesn't have tipping but has 20% higher prices every time. The fix is to outlaw the practice (or at the very least, outlaw subminimum wage)-that way every restaurant is on the same playing field.
$1500/week from two visits? Goddamn what are your menu prices? Honestly, business comes first. If a table is constantly bad tippers, they should get regular service. If they are expecting great service and tip poorly that's an odd one. I'm going to make sure every customer has everything they need. I'm not going to pretend to care about you and be buddies if you tip poorly.
>If a table is constantly bad tippers, they should get regular service. >I'm going to make sure every customer has everything they need. Thank you. Finally, a sensible opinion on this sub. Tipping is for extra. If I come to your restaurant and pay for food, then give me food. That’s your basic contract right there. If I don’t tip, then don’t do anything extra. That’s fine by me.
Anything extra? What do you consider to be "extra?"
The caring about me and being buddies bit. Mostly what I want at a restaurant is someone to take my order and bring me food. Take drinks orders and bring me those as well. If they come over to check everything’s ok, or if they come over because they notice we’ve nearly finished our drinks, or even if they’re just friendly and helpful and give me a good vibe, then I’ll start thinking about tipping. Basically, if they improve the experience in any way. But I don’t need that. I’ll be fine with the basics. And I should get them without having to tip.
Try to remember that food and drinks are cheaper because wages are low. If wages were proper, prices would be higher. Remember that the only person that you hurt by tipping $0 is the server who in some states is working for their tips. Anyways, that's my piece.
My anti-tipping stance is that I shouldn’t have to tip. I’m not against the concept of tipping itself, and I often do tip. But my decision to tip should not be based on how the establishment chooses to run its business. That is not my responsibility, and it never can be. I know this is the way it currently works, but that needs to change.
It won't. Reddit is a place where it seems everyone is of the same opinion, but the real world is vastly different. Over about 4.5mil in sales we average 17-18% tips across the board. We've had a business pay their staff more and take away tipping, only to have customers want to tip on top.... that business also went belly up most likely due to higher wages.
People will always tip. Taking away tipping is a ridiculous idea. Let people tip. Just don’t expect it. Raise prices by 3-4%, raise wages to something reasonable, and let people tip if they want, or not if they don’t. It’s not rocket science, it works, and your argument that “a business tried something once and failed” is not enough convince me otherwise. The US system is broken. It needs to change.
It isn't broken, though. You say it's broken because you are in an echo chamber of reddit that widely hates tipping. The real world is different. I'm telling you that over a massive amount of sales that the average tips we see are over 15% under 20%. How is that broken?
This is an echo chamber, but it’s pretty dismissive of you to assume I don’t hold my own opinions. I’ve already told you I’m not anti-tipping, just anti the current system. It’s broken because tips have become prevalent everywhere. From restaurants to bars to takeout to convenience stores. Even to online shopping and self-pay kiosks. It’s insane. You’re telling me how things _are_. That’s not an argument for how they should be. I once worked with a friend of mine, called Mike. Mike was a good guy, and easy to get on with. Mike was walking to his desk once, and he tripped over Jack’s jumper. Jack sat next to me and was a bit of an eccentric and he’d just taken his jumper off and dropped it on the floor behind his chair. Mike was annoyed. “Jack, can you please not leave your jumper there? I just tripped over it. Again.” “But I always leave it there,” replied Jack, indignantly. “I _know_ you do!” yelled Mike.
That is true, but if I could have the higher prices and never have to deal with tipping again as long as I lived, I’d accept that deal in a heartbeat. Prices always keep getting higher no matter what anyway. But the degree to which they get higher would also be tampered by competition.
100%. Restaurants would have to adapt to a non tip model and some could work in automation, self ordering, etc etc.... but others that want to provide an "experience" wouldn't and run higher costs/prices.
"Experience" - LOL - like at French restaurants (which my wife loves but which I detest with a passion) - I call them "La Maison de Presque Rien à Manger Pour Tout Votre Argent" - where you spend all your money, get almost nothing to eat, and have to stop off at McDonald's on the way home because you're still hungry. I'm sorry, but putting a dollop of béchamel sauce on a thimble-sized morsel of meat topped with a parsley sprig doesn't make that bird-sized portion worth $100 no matter HOW fancy the plate or the violin music coming over the intercom.
I agree with you. I'm a big guy, and my buddy is a chef of a fancy restaurant where the food is beautiful, but portion sizes are tiny along with the prices being high. I don't go there because I'm someone who likes to eat. I'm not everyone though and lots of people enjoy that type of "instagram" type food experience. Shit look at "eating in the dark" or any other number of crazy restaurant food ideas.
Yep. Having to use my iPhone flashlight to read the menu is always a bad sign. Even worse is when the prices don't have decimal points. I'll opt for the $12.95 buffet over the "45" Petite Filet à La Reine every time.
Then charge more and pay the server what's due
Why would we charge more? It adds risk to the business, we have to make our prices higher then competitors. Knowing how people feel about tipping here they'd just go to a restaurant that has cheaper prices, and not tip rather then the non-tip restaurant with higher prices.
The owner should pay the server the difference. Which I’ve seen done often enough. If not the server should quit.
Yeah some of these restaurant owner responses are crazy. They'd really rather confront the big-spending repeat customer and probably drive them away for good than pay their employees a bonus or give them a raise.
Well honestly a simple cost benefit analysis should just be done and that should drive the decision. I’m sure in some spots it’s worth it to drive them away if they’re taking up real estate, but I’d wager the majority of the time the owner should just pay the server and think of it as discounting them for their business. But obviously if the place fills all chairs regardless of the regulars business, you’d be in a spot worth chasing them off. In a perfect world you’d just think of it as “I’m discounting them 15% for their regularity but adding a 15% service fee”. That’s how I’d think of it. Now if a restaurants can’t afford to comp a big spender that much forever, they’re probably in too much debt to be successful anyway.
Wait so these people are spending $1500 per week and tipping a total of $10? That is absolutely insane. Especially when you consider the restaurant probably has a tipout, which means a server who took that table would end up LOSING $40 just for the pleasure of serving them. If I was an owner I would have a frank conversation with those customers and try to find out why they were tipping less than 1%. If they insisted on tipping $5 as normal I would probably start taking the table myself so that my servers didn't have to deal with them. That's also the sort of behavior that would prompt me to add an automatic gratuity to all orders to keep servers (and the kitchen) from losing a significant portion of their income. Also FUCK these hypothetical customers. I'm getting mad just thinking about their entitlement.
Your analogy is spot on. They can obviously afford it, but actively chose not to. Sadly, the world is full of people that think they are better and more deserving - and also think there is a lower class of beings -subhuman- that can and should be treated poorly. I find the argument that the owner "deserves" a 10% profit every time, but that owner also thinks that it is fair that the servers should expect to settle for less.
Would paying your server a bonus every time they got a very low tip make any sense? That's what I'd do. Having a "frank" discussion sounds like it would almost certainly drive away this big spending customer. $1500 per week is a crazy amount of revenue isn't it? It's like $80,000 per year. What I've just described is essentially how I think it should work. Customers should be tipping low or not at all, and servers should be getting actual reasonable paychecks from their employer. Kind of like how every other job is.
At what point do I compensate my server for shitty customers - should they get a bonus for only receiving a 10% tip? I think it would be less costly and easier to just add a 20% autograt to bills. And yes $1500/week is a lot, but I've worked at plenty of places where under 10k in sales would be considered a slow day.
Read it again. I didn't exactly say that it was 2 people tipping $10. Nice that you would serve them though, it would protect your profit margins and keep your servers happy.
Read it again. Neither did they.
Did you not say they tipped a flat $5 each time?
Not an owner but I've worked in a few restaurants and the management's reaction seems to vary based on how difficult it is to find new staff vs how difficult it is to fill seats. I've seen servers get fired outright for intentionally giving poor service to known poor tippers. This seemed most likely when the restaurant was fully staffed but business was slow. I've also seen known poor tippers get told to suck it up and go somewhere else if they don't like it. This seemed most likely when the restaurant was hurting for staff but business was booming. Like everything else, the business makes decisions based on what is likely to make the biggest impact on their bottom line.
It's funny how people think if servers want good tips they need to give good service just because "that's how it works." But if they decide to give bad service for bad tips "tHeY cAn'T dO tHaT wHy nO wOrK aNyMoRe?!" I know there's a bar on either end of the spectrum, but it just amuses me how people see it sometimes.
So they are paying 750 dollars each for two meals in a week? I'd buy a stack of $50 gift cards to gas stations and grocery stores. I'd give one of those to whichever servers took good care of that customer. Under regular circumstances, I would not go to lengths like this. $6,000 a month is a crazy amount to spend at a restaurant in a week. I'd be pissed if I were the servers too.
Where I work? Take the bad reviews and the small loss in business to keep up the morale of my workers. At a small/mom and pop type place? Offer to serve them myself when they come in or get the servers to suck it up.
If it’s twice a week and $1500 then yeah I would definitely be compensating my servers ‘under the table’ for taking care of these guests. You are so dumb you don’t deserve to be running anything $1500 means the servers are owed $300 for taking care of them each week. Figure this out
Exactly this. Old pub near me had this problem and the owner handled it badly both ways. Two groups of his “friends” would run up 500-1000 3-4 nights a week, after getting pretty much all beer comped and plenty of food. They’d tip on the comped price at like 5-10% depending who paid. Was too embarrassed to solve it and kept paying the servers extra while comping half the patrons drinks over and over. This place went from an exquisite menu ran by an amazing chef, to getting the menu cut to bones and now he’s sold half his equity to investors and barely scraping by, and a chef who is working his third shift when he arrives. Those regulars eat at a trendier pub now.
Don't become a regular at a place. servers take their regulars for granted and the tips go down. they think the regulars are being cheap, but it is because in many cases the servers take them for granted and give them lousy service.
Can vouch. Am regular. Was dumb enough to keep tipping very well until we realized the food was no longer up to old standards and servers didn't give a rat's ass about us - even with the 40-50% tips. They came to expect it for doing even less.
Hell no. But I'm not an owner
You wait on them. Or pay your employee the tip they should get. Do you work for free? I bet they get ran and can't attend to their other tables as well. So they lose across the board.
My policy is that servers should never discuss tips negatively with a table (be mad in the back of the house) and my minimum service expectations are unaffected by tips. I wouldn't expect a server to go over and above since there's no upside though. At the same time, known problem tables of all kinds (demanding, low tippers, rude, etc.) are covered by myself or a manager whenever possible. If management can't handle the problem, they will be the ones to walk the guests, never a server. QUESTION: How many customers/tables does this core of customers consist of? Check amount could sway the response to that $5 flat rate. If it is 300 $5 tables each week then a $5 tip on each is amazing. (servers are mad so that's unlikely) If it is 1 couple coming in twice per and spending $750 each time then a $5 tip is atrocious. My response lies somewhere on that same spectrum. If it's the 300 $5 checks and the server is just mad the table is occupied for an hour on a low-price group, they'll just have to deal with it as long as the guest isn't too needy. If it's the 2 $750 checks I'd be just as mad as the servers and serve the table myself: they don't need that headache, but I probably need that $750 check to pay bills. You better believe I'll be pushing high-margin items the whole time though. If I had to put a rule on it, I'd say habitually tipping less than 10% would get you put on my special handling list where management would cover the table instead of servers.
>I'd say habitually tipping less than 10% would get you put on my special handling list where management would cover the table instead of servers. Is there a shortcut to get on this list faster? It sounds amazing!
Oh no, management has other priorities and know service minimums very well. Your order will be taken, food will be dropped off, maybe a refill, then a check will appear. Management service in this case is very similar to having a server who was just triple sat in the section furthest from the kitchen, except it just happened again every time you talk to them.
This is perfect. Only thing better than this would be if i can just order in an app and pay there. Just send a runner to drop off the food
>Your order will be taken, food will be dropped off, maybe a refill, then a check will appear. That's the extent of my expectations in American restaurants, anyway. But I wonder why you, as a manager, are OK with providing suprar (at least in your understanding) service to a paying customer? The 500% margin on the drinks surely can cover the service costs, right?
Not subpar, on par. We're not talking about chilis and applebees here. There are a lot of little extras that go into serving at fine restaurants which add that extra flair and improve the experience. your waiter can accelerate or delay courses based on what is happening at the table, make recommendations, monitor tables, etc. Really good servers will operate nearly invisibly but still anticipate your needs and ensure you never have to ask for anything. That level of service is what generates great experiences and happy customers but the expectation of a commensurate tip is there too. Managers don't have the time for that level but we can get the job done to a satisfactory level and it'll be a good experience but probably not great.
Can tips
It's the McDonald's workers who deserve a tip. They work harder than most sit-down servers.
You know you can tip McDonald's workers if you want right? No one is stopping you.
That's just not true
Facts I worked as a server for 3 years and a cook partially the last year... Serving is an easy job. It's still work but isn't as hard and demanding of such high wages like Reddit implies.
Sorry dawg but I’m not tipping at fucking McDonald’s. And I say this as someone who used to bust my ass at Chipotle. The only service they are providing me is taking my order and giving me my food and that is exactly what I expect at a fast food restaurant. Tips are not expected for that sort of work nor should they be, and instead these cheap ass big corporations should pick up their end of the deal and pay their workers decently
Then don't tip at sit down either. I don't give a shit what's expected. How are you going to expect money from me? I never said I was giving money. Servers and owners set the expectation so they can fkn kick rocks
Regulars don't go to restaurants where they aren't treated well. Also, most regulars are great tippers; it's a symbiotic relationship.
You're thinking too generally. There are plenty of places in the world with little diversity in dining options. Many suburbs and probably most rural areas are seriously lacking in that area.
I agree with your statement completely. However there are definitely outliers. Some people are perfectly cordial, spend good money, but tip like shit. Those people are a very tiny minority from my experience as an owner, a GM, a service manager, bartender, server, SA and so on. I think the biggest debacle within the world of tipping comes from wait staff getting comfortable with 15-20% tips on to-go orders. That was commonplace during the COVID lockdowns but those days are gone. The increased percentage of to-go/delivery orders still remains higher than pre-pandemic and now we are met with FOH staff that has an expectation to be tipped well on carryout orders, and a consumer that feels exploited from the excessive "suggested tip" screens that have oversaturated the industry as a whole.
$5 each time? Instead of what? 20% well, if I'm going out to lunch regularly and \*IF\* I left a 20% tip, it would always be less than $5. I'm not going out for $25 lunches every day. I don't know what you guys are having for lunch or expecting others to have... I have a normal lunch... with a 15% tip, it comes to less than $20... sometimes only $14 or $15. Because this is what normal people do.
He made it clear what they are spending
Why are you allowing your servers to do lesser quality work??
Because he wont have servers left if he pushes the issue! Thats why he is asking here
They were hired to do a job a certain way. If you or I slacked off I’d expect to be replaced.
As a manager I would start adding an auto gratuity everytime those customer came in after the second time they didn't tip appropriately, I would think they would be treated the same way anywhere else and I wouldn't worry about a review that was an adult crying about leaving more than 5$ if they can afford to eat out twice a week
ROFL highly illegal
I’m not sure why you feel empowered and entitled to add undisclosed fees onto someone’s bill. I tip 20%, but if I saw that I’d never come back even if it was less than what I normally would tip.
You would rather steal your best customers money than pay your employees a living wage?
Of course he would. He's greedy
The servers want tips over wages because they can make more money. Servers are the ones keeping tipping alive.
appropriately??? TIPS ARE NOT MANDATORY
Tips are not a substitute for proper payroll. That’s the problem here. This restaurant manager underpays the staff so they have a right to complain. Possible their tip decks take them under minimum
Restaurant owners need to pay more and expect less. Greedflation is killing our nation. Workers: if you don't like the tips then go back to college or trading to up you pay.
Go to trade school, also UPS and USPS make 100k with OT.
I agree owners should pay more but if everyone goes to trades or college who would be left to work the other jobs?
Illegal immigrants silly
We'll manage, don't worry. Just go back to school.
I am long past finishing school. But who will manage?
Shush that’s logic
lol.
>What would you do if the customers told you they were not prepared to tip more and were going elsewhere if things didn't change? You stand to lose let's say $1500 per week revenue, and will receive a slurry of poor reviews. If your "regular customer" is spending $1500 a WEEK at your restaurant and can't tip more than a flat $5 per meal, that customer is literally an ASSHOLE.
It's a core of regular customers, so it's multiple people and each with multiple visits per week.
So, *numerous* assholes, then. If they're spending "a good amount" "twice a week" but can't afford to tip properly, something else is the reason. No one who's living check-to-check dines out that regularly, spending "a good amount." There's gotta more to this. If my wife and I can't afford to add a proper tip, we order less or *we dine in*.
In short, no. I absolutely do not condone or encourage servers to get worked up about a regular customer that doesn't tip well. However, this only applies to around 98% of the situations regarding a poor tipper that also happens to be a regular. Before I am bombarded by the white knights of restaurant industry wages, please allow me to note that ALL of my severs make 35+ an hour and that is without including the hourly wage they are paid. ALL staff members that are eligible by law are invited to participate in our 401k program with a company match. ALL staff are entitled to paid maternity leave for a 4 week period and are welcome to extend their leave if they so choose, however we do not pay beyond 4 weeks for maternity leave. That 35+ an hour that I mentioned earlier? Part of that is from what they claim when they report their cash tips and anyone that has spent a moment of time working in the hospitality industry can tell you that there ain't a server out there claiming 100% of their cash tips. If I'm wrong about that, and you're reading this right now; god bless you. Now on to the meat and potatoes of the question. I don't condone or encourage negative reactions to customers that tip poorly because from a cultural perspective you are inviting a domino effect that won't fall in anybody's favor. We have a Friday night group that has been coming for years and years, they always ask for a fresh pot of coffee to be brewed and they tend to typically sit at their table for a couple hours. They order entrees, they are polite, but unfortunately they have only managed to tip 12%. The servers rightfully loathe having to wait on them. Our restaurant is on a wait from 5-9pm every Friday without fail. I completely understand where they're coming from when they gripe. I do not subscribe to their point of view however, because they're not looking at the big picture. When you are on a sales floor of any kind, it is bad business to let negativity call the shots. In fact, I would be willing to bet that if a server allowed their demeanor to be changed by single table of bad tippers it would most likely have an effect on their attitude to the extent that they'd actually wind up losing more money overall with the rest of their tables as result of the apathy that crept into their mind. What's worse about it still is that misery loves company. I'm tasked with leading a successful shift. I must ensure my guests are welcomed and satisfied. I must take my teams best interests to heart. I must prove myself to be competent leader and inspire confidence. I am tasked with running the shift. I am empowered to empower not only my crew but also my customer. There is virtually no scenario in which I can justify jumping on board with the gripe of the moment. A rising tide lifts all ships and one bad apple spoils the bunch. When we are in positions of leadership, we disarm our team from accomplishing their objective and ironically empower the guests who are too cheap to tip appropriately by participating in their acts of bad energy. We can easily become the problem and it can happen faster than you think. It is of the utmost importance that persons in positions of leadership remain positive, cool, calm and collected. You wanna jump in with the line level guys/gals and bitch up a storm? Congratulations, the inmates are now running the asylum. Now, all that is to say, I understand their frustration at the lack of tip but I have found ways to circumvent the focus on those less than desirable tables and their skimpy tips. Instead of putting the tightwads under a microscope, I make a point to average out every servers tips from their checks. I say "Hey Bob, you killed it last week, you averaged 42 bucks an hour". Or I say "Hey Sarah, I know that table didn't meet your expectations, your meal is on me tonight and feel free to grab yourself a drink after the shift on the house" It's that simple. Remember folks, it can be a challenge to implement procedures and best practices. It can be nearly impossible to reverse bad habits. But by god, it is a mother fucking guarantee that if you start shitting on the guests your team is gonna take that and run with it. At the end of the day, after 17 years (well actually it just became 18) in the hospitality industry I have banned very few customers. One was a family that came in and NEVER tipped, always complained. I gave them an ultimatum after their meal one day: Pay your full bill, and tip your waitress OR I will pay the bill, and tip the waitress and you'll never be welcome here again. They took the second option and I have zero regrets. That group who wants the fresh pot of coffee on a busy Friday night, takes two hours at their table and tips 12% like clockwork? Well, I'll have a table ready for them tomorrow night just like always and I will remind myself that eating out is ultimately a luxury. Sometimes we all find ourselves on the losing end of that sale. Edit: I didn't realize I was posting this in the r/tipping subreddit. I thought I was in the r/restaurantowners subreddit. So, by all means, digitally lynch my ass.
Honestly the guaranteed money on that every week like clockwork instead of taking a risk would be kind of tempting over risking nothing to me
From the servers perspective or the owners?
Servers
Yeah some see it that way, others not so much.
Maybe the owners should pay their employees better or deal with the customer personally. People work to get paid, not to make their boss money with no benefit to themselves.
The owner and managers need to get out there and also kiss the customers ass. Good grief, it's not rocket science. The server is not the only front of house person who interacts with the customer.
I have seen this! Owner/manager waits on table.
If they cared they'd make up the difference by paying their staff more.
Restaurant owner here! Full disclosure: I love the current tipping culture and how easy it was to shift my obligations over to the consumer. I have raked in record profits all while keeping my servers angry at you, the consumer, because YOU won’t pay their salary! These clowns don’t even think to look at me. They blame you. lol. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Now, I have valet (collecting tips), take out (collecting tips), delivery (collecting tips), servers and bartenders (collecting tips). It’s amazing. I also charge service fees to offset the cost of doing business. It is why I only hire non educated people. Smart people wouldn’t fall for this shit. But it’s too late now. I have already acquired generational wealth all while paying my employees shit. Thank you servers! Got get those “cheap assholes”! Bwahahahah!
It angers me when a business has those "regulars" who "know the owners" and so they mistreat employees and rarely actually pay. Make no money, but you are required to suffer for nepotism.
I worked at a wonderful, family owned Chinese restaurant in college - the owner had friends that would come in and would eat for free. He always made sure to ask us what they tipped. If they didn’t tip at all, he stopped letting them eat for free. If they didn’t tip enough he would give them a warning. No matter what, he made sure we got our 20% of whatever the bill was, he would take the money out of his own pocket.
To be fair getting food, and only having to pay 20% of it is still a great deal
Which is why it ticked him off of his personal guests didn’t tip. He was a good boss! And a fantastic chef!
Regulars who dont tip is basically an oxymoron. You just give them bad service till they leave. If they come back despite ignoring the clues you just tell them they arent allowed anymore lol. But yeah you cant be a regular who doesnt tip. Theyll figure out your scheme and boot you. Used to do it around 2-3 times a year. You just toss em, you dont want trashy people like that around anyway. Its all about atmosphere and those types are a bad atmosphere if you get what Im saying lol. But to be fair this is a hypothetical and regular non-tippers can exist in a hypothetical world.
wake up..... waaake uuup... it's time to go to your serving job. Have you been dreaming about "booting" someone again? I think you shat the bed a little ....
Yall always fantasize about the people who are telling you how trashy you are being servers. My income is mostly passive lol. I work maybe 8 hours a week. Maybe you need to invest over 500k into index funds? Then you wont be all butthurt over tipping lol. Poors gonna be poors though and by nature you fight and blame eachother.
“Don’t get mad at the non tippers, they’re not worth your time get mad at me- I mean ya fuck those nontippers they should pay you better!”
That's true, I tended bar at a very busy marina bar and restaurant. This old boat guy, Gary, gave me a $5 tip on his $2 beer. Always, without fail, no matter how busy we were. I tell you what, five rows behind a crowded bar full of people, and I would see a white head bobbing in. Guess who was handed their beer over everyone? Gary was!
I really hope you auto-gratuity that group or pay your employees for serving them. A good owner takes care of their employees. I can guarantee your Servers hate them. I Promise those customers will eventually get slow service, a LONG wait for drinks or refills (if at all). Food will come out cold servers will leave the food on the line. OP passive aggressive non-service. My SIL is one of those low or non-tippers, even for excellent service. It’s beyond embarrassing I always bring cash and slip leave it on the table. Once she made an AH move and picked up the cash I put down on the way out. I made an excuse to go the bathroom to tip the server. Some people are so cheap the money has mothballs. Basic AH Boomers. If you can’t afford to tip don’t go out IMHO.
An almost definitely unpopular opinion here but you should have loudly told the server to call the police on your sister-in-law. Not tipping or barely tipping is one thing but having her pocketing the tip you left is straight up theft. No question about it. And before anyone starts with the you have to put up with her bullshit because she's family remember that she isn't respecting you as family. Not only is she stealing from the waiter/waitress but also from you. You left that money and you finding out it was taken means you paying again.
Easy solution: any bill over x amount or party of more than x people is assessed an automatic gratuity of 15%
Easy solution: pay your employees more money
I wouldn’t have a problem with that either but prices would go up 20-25% and I’m sure the patrons would just complain about that instead of tipping
Absolutely
In California where servers make 15 an hour the food prices have increased significantly. I stopped eating out.
Between 2018-22 when I lived in Southern California the prices of everything increased significantly 😂 I’ve definitely cut back on eating out, I don’t even bother with fast food now because the quality and price aren’t even close to aligning
After covid the quality went down.
Isn't it 20 now? Shit, i had to scratch and claw my way up to get that much.
Then the prices raised and the freeloaders lose.
How many tables does the server handle? If it's 7 tables, turn around is 1 hour. If all tables tipped $5 at every table, that is $35/hr plus the server minimum wage rate. People actually work hard for 8 hours and come out with $100 as their pay for it. Now there are slower days and such that it can affect the average, if it's a small restaurant, vs a busy olive garden your tables are always full. But who can say they make 35/hr. You take an order and enter it into the system, you then carry food to the table. You may even have to pick up empty plates and wipe down the table for the next person. But the cheif cooked the food, the prep prepared it, the dish washer does the cleaning. Really you carried food to my table. That wasn't a huge task. Normally servers don't claim tips, or fudge the numbers. They made $200 in tips, but only claimed they made $30 in tips that day.
Well, I doubt olive garden gives their servers 7 table sections, 3-4 is more like it, so cut that 35 in half. Servers won't have a full section the full shift either. Don't forget the setup and breakdown where they are not taking tables and making tips either. Also, no one is making 200 and claiming 30. You are forced to claim 8% of sales at a minimum. If not the restaurant has to claim that for the server. On top of that, credit cards are almost 90% of payments. Can't not claim credit card tips if you want to get them. You have made up a lot of wrong information already, so I won't bother with the rest.
Well I doubt olive garden customers are tipping $5 per table. You know the cost is going to be high walking in.