Minnesota restaurant pros offer tips for navigating the new world of tipping

[question everything]

Gavin Kaysen added a 21% hospitality charge in 2020 to the bill at Spoon and Stable, the upscale Minneapolis restaurant he owns and where he is chef, to boost pay parity for employees. He includes an explanation and a pie chart of, on average, where the charge goes: 73% to the service team, 12% to cooks and other staff and 15% for business expenses.

So far, the James Beard award-winning chef's servers aren't quitting, and he has only occasional inquiries about the shift away from traditional practice of tipping 15% to 20%.

(snip)

One reason some restaurants are opting for a hospitality charge is that owners legally can't ask servers to share their tips. Under Minnesota law, a tip or gratuity is a transaction between the customer and server. Servers may choose to pool tips for other staff members, but it's ultimately their decision. A hospitality or service charge is a transaction between the customer and the restaurant, so the business has a say in how the money is directed.

(snip)

Spoon and Stable offers explicit language on its bill: "Should I leave a tip? There is no expectation to leave a tip in addition to the Hospitality Charge. The tip line is provided as an option to express appreciation for an outstanding experience."

More..

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-restaurant-pros-offer-tips-for-navigating-the-new-world-of-tipping/600192684/

[a kennedy]

1. We ALWAYS tip at least 25%. And more to our favorites. 👍🏻

[MichMan]

8. Even if the restaurant added their own 21% gratuity charge first?

Another 25% on top of that? I can't afford to pay 50% gratuity

[a kennedy]

13. No, no, not on top, just as our tip. If restaurant adds 25% then we are more then happy

to pay it.

[Ursus Rex]

2. Or they could, you know, raise the wages of the back-of-house workers AND servers ...

... instead of the customers directly being responsible for them via tips/"hospitality charges."

[question everything]

11. I have never run a business but I think that raising the wages would be considered fixed expenses

and if and when there is a downturn - too common in the hospitality industry - some would lose their jobs.

But tying the tips to the traffic of visitors is a variable expense and everyone would participate in the ebbs and flow.

[brush]

3. So let me get this straight. Does some of the hospitality...

Last edited Thu Jul 28, 2022, 02:11 PM - Edit history (1)

charge, included in the bill, go to the server, or do you have to reward the server with an additional amount?

[question everything]

4. Goes to the server but if you want to you can add, if it was an exceptional service

[luv2fly]

5. So if the service is just awful...

You still pay 21%? Not on board with that, tipping ought to remain discretionary and they can fix the parity issue through price adjustments.

[ret5hd]

6. How would you feel about a 21% price increase per item...

and the express explanation of “WE ARE A NO TIPPING ESTABLISHMENT”?

[MichMan]

9. It would be exactly the same, so I would prefer it that way

[ret5hd]

10. Yeah so would I.

I think some just want the opportunity to have a smidgen of power over an overworked, underpaid, overstressed worker.

[question everything]

12. Many years ago we dined in Copenhagen and as we were ready to use the usual tips, we were told: no

no no.

There was a limit on how much one could tip. I don't remember, may have been 15%.

[VGNonly]

7. What's the difference

between a republican and a canoe?









Canoes sometimes tip.

[inthewind21]

14. Personally

I'd like to see tipping go away completely. Pay your workers a decent wage so they don't have to depend on tips. It's BS to expect a worker to have to rely on the customers to supplement their pay. I know way to many people who are lousy tippers, if they tip at all. Figure your operating costs, set your pricing and leave it at that. Just like every other business on the planet does. ! I have never understood why the service industry, mainly restaurants and bars get away with this. If your business can't survive if you pay a decent wage or you have to low ball your prices (which I'm certain they do not) then you shouldn't be in business in the first place. Does anyone tip at Taco Bell? Why not, they are part of the service industry. What makes Chili's different?

[MichMan]

15. Couldn't agree more.

Not only that, people who are more physically attractive generally get tipped more, and tipping is based on the price of the meal.

A server bringing a $50 steak isn't working 4 times as hard as someone bringing a $13 burger and fries.