Recently, we mentioned Celebrity Chef Tom Colicchio (of Top Chef fame) announced that he was eliminating lunchtime tipping at his restaurant, Craft. He's not the only one.
Today, Danny Meyer, of Union Square Hospitality Group, announced that he'd be getting rid of tipping at all of his restaurants. This is huge news for the New York City restaurant industry, and the restaurant industry as a whole.
How does this affect you? Prices are going to go up initially, but it's the first step towards fixing a broken American tipping system.
"The American system of tipping is awkward for all parties involved: restaurant patrons are expected to have the expertise to motivate and properly remunerate services professionals...
Servers are expected to please up to 1,000 different employers (for most of us, one boss is enough!); and restaurateurs surrender their use of compensation as an appropriate tool to reward merit and promote excellence," said Chef Meyer in 1994.
This is not a modern problem with the restaurant industry, but one that has been thrown around and argued for years.
Meyer is attempting to fix the American system of tipping by adapting a European or Australian system in which servers and cooks are given an hourly wage based on skill and not on customer opinion.
Fortunately, Meyer's new system will benefit the cooks and chefs who generally never see a portion of the tips made by bartenders, runners, and servers (which is legally theirs in the state of NY).
embraceyourface.nyc @embraceyourface.nyc photographer, @francescosapienza, gets to photograph a lot of faces! Check out his #portrait of @ShakeShack's @dhmeyer for the @Observer. #embraceyourface #portraits #headshots #photoshoot #DannyMeyer #photography #portraitphotography #FrancescoSapienza @francescosapienza #NYC
Most back of house personnel receive anything from $8.75 an hour (NYC's minimum wage) to just under $20 an hour.
When you add in the fact that many cooks are sitting on thousands of dollars worth of student loans from attending culinary school for the skills responsible, this wage is not enough to cover living expenses AND it's usually LESS than what their front of house staff is making when you add in their tips.
However, Meyer's system will focus on balancing the disparity between front of house and back of house wages while assuming the responsibility for dispensing monetary remuneration based on skill and merit.
And when you're quick to judge this step in righting a broken system, think of this- "we're going to as [diners] to understand that taking care of people [servers] is just as important as animals and ingredients and other stuff."
When prices jump due to a switch to ethically farmed meats or organic vegetables, diners typically don't grumble too much.
But when being told that a price jump is due to the attempts to right a systematical wrong, and that money will be going towards a fellow human's salary, people respond by saying that it's not their responsibility to pay for.
Regardless, diners will be paying for a service, but will no longer be responsible for deciding the monetary reward (or lack there of) for a meal.
Whether or not this step will succeed in fixing the tipping problem in America remains to be seen, but we're happy that restaurant chefs and owners are taking action to attempt to make a much needed positive change in the restaurant industry.
So There’s This Midtown Restaurant That Has Decided to Do Away With Lunchtime Tipping…
[via Eater]