Posted on 06/09/2014 1:28:05 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A restaurant in Newport, Kentucky is making national headlines putting a ‘no tipping’ policy in effect. Packhouse Meats‘ tipping ban may seem strange, but it’s way more awesome than you think.
The restaurant has ‘No Tipping’ signs posted throughout its facility, and when customers pay by credit card, there is no option to leave a tip on the order receipt. Bob Conway, the owner of Packhouse Meats, revealed in an interview that he’s been inundated with negative reviews on Yelp for what appears to be mistreatment of his servers. A closer look at the new policy reveals that it’s not awful–it’s awesome.
Here’s how it works: severs are paid $10 an hour OR 20% of their individual food sales during their shifts–whichever amount is higher. Anyone who has ever waited tables before knows how rad this policy is. It’s basically a guarantee that you’re going to make good money.
Let’s break it down: if you worked a 5 hour shift and brought in $500 in food sales (which is suuuuuuper easy to do at any busy restaurant; TRUST); if you earn 20% of that, you take home $100–that’s twice the amount you’d make at the rate of $10/hour.
I think Packhouse Meat’s ‘No Tipping’ policy is awesome because it works for the restaurant AND its servers; the servers are motivated to push food sales (which means more $$$ for the restaurant), and the restaurant takes care of its employees with a guarantee that they’ll make a decent wage (which means happy servers).
I also think the ‘No Tipping’ policy is awesome because it eliminates what I call the Jerk Factor. There are few things in life more infuriating than busting it to take care of a table who leaves a chump change tip. You hustle like crazy to make sure these people’s drinks stay refilled, their orders are delivered promptly and accurately, their every need is attended to–all with warmth and courtesy– and they repay you with a $5 tip on a $125 check. Thanks, party of six, you guys must all be greaaaaaat people.
Packhouse Meats has taken the Jerk Factor out of the equation and ensured that their servers get the pay the deserve. Their owner gets an A++ in my book, but what do you think? Is their policy a good idea? Tell me how you feel in the comments below!
The owners have Packhouse Meats determine that 20 percent of gross receipts will go to waitstaff and they menu price on that basis.
But in 5, 4, 3.... someone here will come along with a negative POV.
I’d be interested as to the relative cost of their menu items...
Of course, you have to take the tip into account when comparing to other restaurants.
Great way not to have any waiters. They make a fortune on tips here in NYC. An absolute fortune. Not one waiter here would agree to this deal.
THUMBS UP!!!
Where do the interests of the customer fit into the situation? Not trying to be negative, but part of the rationale for tipping is that it puts the customer in a measure of control over the server - the server is putatively rewarded for good service.
If the customers are satisfied, I’d be happy to see this become more common. But if the money to be made for pushing customers through makes service slip, I would not be a long-term customer of the restaurant.
I like tipping. It means the server also works for me, not just the house.
Okay, but if they are making a fortune, then their daily sales must be pretty significant, so the % deal would pay them well also. The information we are missing is whether or not the employer is adding the 20% to the server’s W-2. If so (and I would assume the IRS would require it), then the 20% just became more like 13% or less.
In NYC, some of the tips have skyrocketed to 40%. I’m not joking.
Then let me be negative for you! This is exactly my problem with this and it’s a horrible idea.
Why on earth would any self-respecting conservative give up their freedom to determine what tip they would like to offer? I nearly always tip 20%, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to be required affirmatively to pay for a meal that includes a 20% markup for the server who provides me with crappy service. This is definitely not a consumer focused solution.
Those waiters in NYC you speak of may bring in $2500 in five hours. That would net them $500.00. That's $100 per hour. Plus any additional tips some extra generous diner may give.
Still think those waiters would quit?
And it gets the Infernal Revenue Service out of the restaurant’s and its employee’s hair.
If the servers are paid $10.00 an hour, then why should they receive a tip? Just because they serve food?
I always thought servers were tipped because they only were paid about 2-3 dollars an hour.
That’s pretty impressive. My tax comment would make it even worse of a change for them then.
True, but there are also terrible servers with snotty attitudes and lazy, sloppy work habits. This forces me to tip them the same as the good ones.
I’m suspicious that this is just another way to get more European. Every single damn day in The Guardian there is an editorial on the evils of tipping waiters in America. It’s an obsession with them. Mostly because they are the cheapest SOBs in the world but also they resent the uniqueness of American habits and culture. So I’ll stick with tipping waiters. I enjoy tipping them, in fact.
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Agreed.
If they are guaranteed 20% of the food sales, what governs the server’s performance after your order has been taken? If the service from that point forward is poor, the customer is stuck. The server has made his money and has no further incentive to provide good service, unless it is the kind pf place that charges for all drinks.
The Customer can always alert management, and likely that server will be out of a job if they get too many complaints.
It's well known in the restaurant business that minorities are notoriously bad tippers, even NO-tippers while also being some of the most demanding and downright rude patrons. My family has been in the restaurant business for 50 yrs and have experienced it many, many times over the years. It's really weird, it makes you wonder where they learned not to tip from and why?
A policy like this eliminates that problem and should be welcomed by all servers. Other restaurants should adopt this great policy.
It’s been tried (and failed) in every service business imaginable. What happens is the level of service drops dramatically because there is no incentive to provide anything but the bare minimum.
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