Recently I have been reading more and more stories about the possibility that tipping in restaurants will go away! That the price of food will include the gratuity and the server’s wages will dramatically increase.
One of the first restaurants to test this strategy is Joe’s Crab Shack, which has a no-tip model in 18 of its restaurants. In these selected restaurants, the front-house workers will now earn hourly wages of around $12-$14 an hour.
According to a new study from Horizon Media, 81 percent of adult restaurant-goers are not yet ready for built-in gratuity. But the group that is most likely to support a tipping ban is, unsurprisingly, millennials. Almost one-third of people surveyed between the ages of 18-34 feel tipping is an unfair and outdated practice. Conversely, the older the consumer, the more likely he or she is to feel that tipping offers them a sense of control over the dining experience.
For me, I hope tipping stays in restaurants. When I have great service or someone goes above and beyond I like to show that with a big thank you and a generous tip. My sense is a lot of that goes away if tipping is now built into the price of food.
What do you think?
- Tipping or no tipping – that is the question?
- Have you been to one of the 18 Joes Crab Shack’s that are testing this?
- Have you visited a full-service restaurant in the United States that has done away with tipping?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Tom McGoldrick says:
While I usually find myself agreeing with you on this I disagree. In Europe where tips are often small and inconsequential you usually receive great service. The service staff are professional and like all other professionals don’t need tips to do their job well.
The other advantage of a no tipping and profit sharing arrangement is the ability to retain quality back of the house staff. There is a huge disparity in income between the front and back of the restaurant which makes holding onto quality people difficult. If you have a crazy busy night the front of house staff benefits greatly but the back of the house just has to work harder for no incremental reward.
Freakonomics just did a well done podcast on this issue.
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/
As always I enjoy your blog.
Heather Krueger says:
I agree with you–I hope it stays. I prefer to reward good service and while I don’t ever stiff anyone, if they don’t provide good service they’re not going to get as much from me. I question what is the incentive for the server to ‘perform’? I used to wait tables and I liked that for the most part, I felt in control of my earnings. Did I have bad tippers from time to time? Sure – but the good far outweighed the bad. And from a restaurant perspective – I was always trying to upsell things to increase the amount of the bill to increase my tip. Those efforts helped the restaurant sales, so again, what’s the motivation of the waitstaff to do so and will it impact the bottom line? I would like to see the tip jars that have popped up everywhere go away….but that wasn’t your question. 🙂
Bethany Moffett says:
I think it is funny that now folks feel almost “guilted” into tipping counter service restaurants (because there are tip jars everywhere and especially when using a credit card, since often there’s a tip line) but the idea of tipping at a full service restaurant is potentially becoming outdated….some wait staff in other countries see tipping as offensive and I can tell you, I get the worst service in situations such as these….it would be so disappointing if that becomes the new norm in my dining experience here in the states.
Dan Krason says:
I like the no-tip development… I usually tip 20-25% regardless of the service… Don’t want to punish the cook if the server stinks, and don’t want to punish the server if the food isn’t great. Eliminating the tipping eliminates the hassle and guilt. Plus, no tipping seems to be half the reason why people love Uber.
I agree with Tim about front vs. back of the restaurants… I heard a story that in NYC the hosts and waiters make a lot more than many of the chefs — and in order to attract great cooks these restaurants need to pay the ‘front’ of the restaurant a little less, and the ‘back’ a little more.
Al says:
Do you tip great service when the clerk sacks your groceries? How about fast food personnel, inside and at the drive through window? Someone has to put that Happy Meal together.
More and more adult aged individuals are working in such positions because there are not enough manufacturing jobs to go around in the United States for those without college degrees.
Time to end the antiquated and subjective practice of tipping and get down to paying people a living wage for their efforts.