Living & Working in Great Places

Your thoughts on tipping food & beverage staff

We have seen a few articles lately about how waitstaff / kitchen staff are tipped and are curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Some recent articles:
Alice Waters: Why Her Waiters Don't Expect Traditional Tips
Restaurant workers sue over tips

Do you believe that group pools work? Would you rather receive tips in cash at the time? Do you like the big tip at the end of the season or do you prefer to be paid along the way?

Tags: back of the house, f&b, food, front of the house, gratuity, restaurant, service, tips

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jon Tilley on March 23, 2009 at 1:28pm: As far a tip pools go, people tip based on the service they receive from the server, and the server should get the tip. It's pretty simple(though before I piss off all of the cooks, bussers and hosts let me preface this by saying that I have worked every position in a restaurant and FULLY REALIZE that each and every position is tough and keeps you busy as hell). 1.Did the host give you a table? Check; thank you host. 2.Is the table set? Check; thank you busser. 3.Is your food COOKED? Check; thank you cook. Everything else done by these positions isn't done to/with the customers personally. Every other aspect of the dining experienced is decided by the quality of service provided by the server. The personal touch, the timing, keeping track of everything, chatting, cheering up and bending over when the customer is pissed. THAT'S what the customer tips on. THAT'S why the customer leaves GRATUITY; because they're grateful. Once again let me stress that servers don't worker harder, they just do a different kind of job.

So as for Alice Waters.....
"The restaurant, located downstairs, is open for dinner Monday through Saturday, by reservation only. The dinner, served in two seatings from 6 to 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 to 9:15 p.m., has always consisted of only one fixed-price menu, of three to four courses."
There is no menu. On Monday, you get Monday food. On Tuesday, you get Tuesday food and so on. All of the food for the restaurant goes out at the same time(two seatings) so their servers are just food runners. Somebody gets their drinks; I have worked in restaurants where bussers do this. I knew that something was up when I read that article so I checked out the restaurant's web site. Servers don't do what they do because they love making people happy. If that were the case I would be a "Big Brother" or work in a soup kitchen. No, servers do it for the money just like anyone else and if you take away their tips you aren't going to have good service and your restaurant will suck. What Alice Waters has done is simply remove the servers from the equation and slap a mandatory tip(an oxymoron) on the guests and give it to the kitchen. "By introducing a service charge — currently 17 percent — Waters was able to increase income to the kitchen." Brilliant! By giving the kitchen more money she was able to increase the income of the kitchen. However, I'm not sure how the lunch service works. They have a menu but with less items than the Wendy's dollar menu. Here is a link to the site: http://chezpanisse.com/

And as far as the servers suing over the stolen tips, how else would they get their money?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by reggie on March 23, 2009 at 2:24pm: i think it should be up to the owners if they want to do that yeah it would be nice to get an tip from the servers for getting there food out to them quick and cook to they way they want to; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chefness on March 23, 2009 at 3:00pm: I agree that the servers don't necessarily work harder than kitchen staff. They do have a different kind of job, with different requirements. They all will say that they are more stressed than the kitchen staff, when in fact it is simply a different kind of stress brought on by different factors.

I like that Waters splits the gratuity between front and back. I see nothing wrong with this, and I also see no reason for anybody from the front to complain. Since in order for this system to work, those working in the front have to be paid a comparable wage to those in the back. This system encourages both the front and the back to work and communicate more efficiently with each other, and in an ideal situation the work environment would be above average, with less arguments over money and more focus on what needs to be done to make the guests happy, and thus make more money.

On the other note, I think it is pointless to even discuss lawsuits over lost tips and wages in the restaurant industry, because there are too many factors, too many opinions, and too many biases. All that will happen is plenty of baseless arguments with nobody listening to reason and everybody ending up on the short end of the stick. These lawsuits and grievances have happened plenty of time before and will certainly happen plenty of times again, so all there is to do is get through them and get back to work.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jon Tilley on March 23, 2009 at 3:06pm: I am thoroughly surprised that the servers won anything from the restaurant.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chefness on March 23, 2009 at 3:26pm: That's what I'm saying. They're unpredictable, those lawsuits. That's why I think that it's pointless to even worry about them. get through them, and get back to work. I think tipping is pointless anyway, just pay the front the same as the back, and any tips the guests want to leave behind go toward the restaurant's bottom line.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by reggie on March 23, 2009 at 3:27pm: if they had proof that they did go for it i would of thats money out there pockets; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dominic on March 23, 2009 at 4:53pm: I have served for ten years and with all my experience and how hard I work I make more money then most the servers I work with. I dont think pooling tips is fair, I like my job cause I get paid for what Im worth. If I am not doing my job well the tips will reflect that but my hard work always pays off. Cooks and back of the house should be paid for there experience and not get a cut of the servers tips. We are only getting 2 bucks an hour usually and after taxes theres nothing left. I always tip out my cooks and support according to how well they did there job. Serving is a very hard job and waitstaff deserves the tips they earn. I so no need for the employer to take the servers tips and pay out at the end of the season all tips earned by staff should be kept by them.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by reggie on March 23, 2009 at 4:59pm: do u think they should tip the dishwashers they got the hardest job in the whole place; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dominic on March 23, 2009 at 5:02pm: I dont think it shoudl be mandatory they should be paid for there hard work from wages. But I do tip out dishwashers though I dont think most servers do.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by akscootr on March 23, 2009 at 5:32pm: I've washed dishes as well as served/tended bar. Dishwashing is the EASIEST job in the place and requires a lot less than serving/bartending... a whole lot less. It simply does not require a lot of thinking like serving/bartending does.
Servers make 2-4 an hour plus tips (I think of them as sales commissions). Servers NEVER get pay raises like the back of the house. Servers are REQUIRED to tip out 30-40% of their tips already and are expected, by law, to claim all that they make. If the server does not, they are allocated tips by the employer/IRS and have to pay taxes on those tips, whether received or not. Many employers simply claim a percentage of the server's sales for them and sometimes, like this past summer, that number is unrealistically high. I paid on what I didn't make...
Servers/bartenders have extra responsibility and hazards required by law; See what happens when they are accused of over-serving or under-serving. There are very tricky stings specifically targeted at servers/bartenders.... Another hazard is mean customers who run you like a servant with no respect. If you don't go along, you get fired because "the customer is always right" regardless of their behavior. This in turn creates service problems with other customers.
Maybe if I, as a server, can make the same $12.00 (like back of the house) an hour plus regular pay raises plus the percentage of my sales that the IRS taxes me for, I would be more inclined to share my tips on an equal level. Until then, there is no employer worth working for that takes MY earnings and uses them to give someone else a raise (on my dime). The sharing of tips past busser and bartender is a recent phenomenon when employers realized that pay raises can be padded with a server's income; This is wrong. Many back-of-the- house employees have said "He** No" when asked if they would work front-of-house... Why? Because it is the most stressful job in the place; You can get fired in an instant over a customer complaint real or imagined.
I would not take on the stresses of server/bartender if it were not for the $$$ potential... Leave my paycheck alone. If you want to make tips, get a job serving/bartending beforemaking a claim on my tips; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by akscootr on March 23, 2009 at 5:44pm: come up to Alaska...Many friends of mine make that easily. !0.00 an hour is ridiculously common...; ▶ Reply to This