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Why some US restaurants are banning tips

bbc.com

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Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#81

Post by ericpauley »

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #67
chung8123 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest they are paid a full salary. Tipped wage does not preclude the minimum wage. In addition there are many states like CA that do not have a tipped wage.

Actually not. In my state and others, when a business is designated as accepting tips, the workers can be paid less than minimum wage, while expecting that the tips they collect will make up for it. So it’s really a way to extort good tips from customers, because it’s understood that our gratuities are the only way they can make minimum wage!

In every state I am aware of employers are required to gross up to minimum wage if tips fall short. Yours is likely the same.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#82

Post by jmull3n »

KellyCriterion wrote: post #55

Very often regarding those articles, you read in the comments different varieties of "good service": - may I ask: What does this actually mean? I have never been to a "high class" or "fine dining" location, so maybe my expectations are in general not high. My expectations are just simple: Give me the menu quickly, let me order quickly, let me eat and let me pay quickly. Thats it. What do I miss? EDIT: Im located in E…

Good service is mostly invisible. Courses paced to how you're eating, not fired all at once or giving you 20 minute gaps between mains. Drinks refilled, plates cleared without asking. Reading the room and knowing when I want to chat or be left alone. Staff that know what their serving, whats in it, how it's cooked, what wine pairs well, etc.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#83

Post by bilekas »

jamisteven wrote: post #39
getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

LMFAO, have you ever been to a restaurant in Europe? The service is horrific. Sit down and wait 15 minutes for the menus, another 15 to place a drink order, another 10 for the drinks to get there, another 10 to place food order. Now you finish the meal, good luck getting the waiters attention to bring the check. European dining is the worst, every time I am back stateside I feel like im being waited on in the white h…

If you're upset that you wait then maybe something like McDonald's would be better for you. When you go out to eat, you're also going out to socialize and enjoy your time.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#84

Post by fendy3002 »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #14
sylvainkalache wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am french, living in the US: yes, service is always included in France, but service is usually not that good. At least, definitely not as good as in the US.

Many countries have far better service without tipping, China and Japan come to mind.

Japan is amazing in some places, that you can order with a tablet apps then you pick up your food yourself when it arrived. Very minimum interaction and employees needed.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#85

Post by niels8472 »

catoc wrote: post #64
jamisteven wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LMFAO, have you ever been to a restaurant in Europe? The service is horrific. Sit down and wait 15 minutes for the menus, another 15 to place a drink order, another 10 for the drinks to get there, another 10 to place food order. Now you finish the meal, good luck getting the waiters attention to bring the check. European dining is the worst, every time I am back stateside I feel like im being waited on in the white h…

> European dining is the worst Europe has 40+ countries with what, a million, restaurants… let’s conflate them all! Horrible! The whole continent! 1 star (and not a Michelin one)!

To be fair US states are like that, too.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#86

Post by javier2 »

jamisteven wrote: post #39
getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

LMFAO, have you ever been to a restaurant in Europe? The service is horrific. Sit down and wait 15 minutes for the menus, another 15 to place a drink order, another 10 for the drinks to get there, another 10 to place food order. Now you finish the meal, good luck getting the waiters attention to bring the check. European dining is the worst, every time I am back stateside I feel like im being waited on in the white h…

It happens, but rarely this bad, as they would lose customers.

Some extremely touristic areas can get away with anything.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#87

Post by mpweiher »

I always thought "paying" your staff via tips was primarily a tax dodge.

Yes, the staff are supposed to declare all their untraceable cash income, but...yeah.

So at least some of that income is untaxed, meaning higher net for same gross, meaning total prices even including tip can be lower.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#88

Post by getfacl »

jasode wrote: post #66
getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

>European restaurants typically use a team service model, American chain restaurants also use the team model. The server that writes down the order often isn't the same person bringing out the hot plates of food. Maybe less of team than Europe because the waitress taking the order will typically be the same one refilling the drinks. It's the white tablecloth high-end restaurants where the one waiter is the only perso…

What you are describing is not team service because the server "owns" the customer and are the one who will collect the tip from that table.

What you are noticing is that many chains have a "full hands" rule: if any server with free hands walks past a table with dirty dishes on the way to the kitchen, they are expected to pick them up no mater who's section it is. Also, if they are heading out from the kitchen with free hands they are expected to run out some dishes no matter what table they are for.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#89

Post by oldsklgdfth »

I grew up in a restaurant in the US. Tipping is a counterintuitive evolution in wages, I’ll probably dig in more.

Anecdotally, a waitress could easily earn more than minimum wage during a shift. Sometimes easy clearing $100 when minimum wage was $7/hr (it was $2.15/hr for wait staff). Add to that the tip reporting was lax and no there’s no tax on tips, waiting is on par with minimum wage.

An interesting side effect is that adding waitstaff is marginal cost to an operator.

Re: Why some US restaurants are banning tips

#90

Post by Conan_Kudo »

tdeck wrote: post #53
mschuster91 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Japan has a lot of the same things, but no tipping. Although the tradition of "checking in" to see if you need anything seems to not be very prevalent - instead people either press a button or call out for the staff if they need something.

I remember a few American restaurants experimenting with this when I was a kid. I remember the experience being a little inconsistent. I imagine the feedback wasn't particularly good.
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