Say Goodbye To Restaurant Tips

According to a report published in the New York Tribune, Visitors entered Taverns during the 17th century, would get better service if they added some money in a special Jar that has a sticker which read "To Insure Promptitude" which later on went on to be called TIP. People who tipped received faster and prompt services from the waiters, as the name suggests. And slowly this practice spread across Europe. 

Earlier this year, California's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous 2011 ruling that bans restaurants from making servers and bartenders share their tips with back of the house employees. This brings up the question:

Why are we still tipping? And when will this strange social standard going to end? “To insure promptitude” should be a standard when dining at a restaurant, and not contingent on adding an extra percentage on top of the price of the meal.

You go to a restaurant, place an order, receive your food, the waiter comes to ask how the food is and at the end of the meal you give a tip. Why? Because they did their job.

However, the question lies: why are consumer paying for the employees at a restaurant?

Employees are the responsibility of the employer not the consumer.

You do not go to a doctor’s office, and give the receptionist extra money for getting the doctor for you because that is their job. Just like it is a waiter’s job is to serve you a meal.

It should be up to the owner to give a bonus at the end of the week or month or year to their employees and if an employee is not doing a good job, the owner can get rid of them. Owner’s should not rely on the generosity of a consumer’s tip to justify paying his staff less money. It should not be the patron’s responsibility to subsidize the owner’s business expenses which is essentially what we are doing when we tip.

Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer made a recent decision to eliminate tipping at all 13 of his restaurants.

In the coming year, tipping will not be allowed at any Union Square Hospitality Group restaurant. It was rolled out at The Modern in November, and in December, the restaurant’s profit was dramatically higher than any other December they've had.

So why do we keep tipping?

If we abandon tipping we allow a clearer standard for equal work for equal pay: Cooks, wait staff, coat check, and even the cleaning crew will all be in line with what they are actually worth to the employer. They will not have to worry about not making rent, the season or the weather (which all impacts how many customers dine out). Prices may increase in restaurants, but at least at the end of the meal you know what you are getting: honest service, great food and a bill.. exactly as you would expect it to be without feeling pressured to tip. It does not feel good, and the amounts do add up, especially since what’s considered “normal” for tipping keeps climbing.