Posted on 06/11/2013 8:52:13 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Sushi Yasuda in New York City has maintained an excellent reputation for more than a decade, and now the restaurant is making headlines for banning tips.
All the restaurant's servers are now on salary with paid vacation and sick leave.
The high-end restaurant only seats 45 guests and the chef’s menu can cost more than $100, so the owners aren't worried about raising prices to make up for lack of tips.
But customers have been confused since the policy went into effect earlier this year. Managers put a note in both the menu and receipt explaining the no-tipping policy, but some diners continued to write a tip on their receipts even though there was no tip line.
The restaurant eventually started circling the explanation on the receipt in red to draw the customer’s attention.
"They’d look up at dinner partner or partners and say, 'There’s no tipping'" said co-founder Scott Rosenberg. "[There's] a moment of, 'Wait a minute, what?' and then, 'OK, that sounds good.'"
Rosenberg said the approach was meant to be more like traditional Japanese fine dining, where tippping isn't done. This way, the diner doesn’t have to "think about how much to leave and make calculations [after] a contemplative and special meal," he said.
Daisy Chung, executive director for Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, which supports restaurant workers, said she thought the practice of banning tips to provide a salary with benefits was a "good idea," noting that even inclement weather can reduce tipped income no matter how good the service.
"We definitely feel there shouldn’t be a separate system where tip workers rely on tips to subsidize their wages," Chung said. "Workers should be fully compensated."
You’re missing out on some good meals. Food at high end, Michelin starred restaurants is completely out of this world.
I tend to agree with you in lower end dining. A steak at Ruth Chris is only marginally better than a steak at Outback. But the comparison doesn’t work when you’re comparing Outback to the French Laundry.
Unlike some...including you,it seems...food isn't particularly important to me.At least not important enough to compel me to pay more than $15-$20 for an entrée.To me a juicy piece of sirloin...or prime rib....some broccoli and a baked potato is heaven.And a piece of chocolate cake for desert.About $30 at Outback...maybe $60 at Ruth Chris.Perhaps my disinterest in really high end eating is the result of my parents' working class upbringing,which was displayed nightly on our dinner table when I was a kid. ;-)
I let people choose their names once, everybody wanted to be Mr. Black.
I would argue that without the tip system there is no direct incentive for good or great service.
The waiter can make the meal and environment spectacular or the evening can be an epic fail.
Without the tipping system they get no direct feedback as to what their customers expect.
They also ensure I will never darken their door again. “Automatic gratuities” are just a way to jack up the bill without being honest enough to raise prices.
Amen to post #23 and #26.
I tended bar part time for a number of years at a Japanese owned country club at which very little cash changed hands because most members signed their house charges and wrote on a tip. Almost all of them tipped quite well. Some of the guys coming in after a round of golf would pay cash for drinks or pitchers of beer, probably so they wouldn't get flack from the missus about their bar bill. But most signed their charges and tipped on them.
When about to open after the winter closure one year, we were called to a meeting. We were told that everyone would be getting a big raise in wages, but now a 17% service charge would be added to the checks and members would be instructed not to tip. I checked my prior year's tip log and realized that I would be making about one third less than before.
The members assumed the 17% went to the individuals who had served them, when in fact it went to the house. When I began to inform the members that was the case, some of them started to pay cash for their bar bills. Long story short, I became a troublemaker in management's eyes, and was eventually terminated when they discovered that I had written out the tip situation and posted it at the bar in place of the NO TIPPING signs.
I’m now starting to see “discounts” where you can get a $50 or $100 dining gift card/coupon purchased at a reduced rate. Then you read the fine print and learn you are required to tip $20 on that meal before it has even been served.
So much for “discounts”. It’s just kicking the can forward is all it does.
Our beautiful blonde 19 year old granddaughter works Fri, Sat, and Sun for a total of about 22 hours at a Houston area Sports Bar/Restaurant. She makes between $400-$500 a weekend while going to college fulltime during the week.
That works out to be around $20/hour. If she lost her tips she’d probably go somewhere else. I doubt any place is going to pay her $20/hour with no tips.
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