FYI, the restaurant owner is screwing both the waiter and you. He charges premium prices for prepared food, then uses the custom to have his customers pay a share, usually a large share, of the waiter's wage, pocketing the amounts he doesn't have to pay of a wage other businesses pay. Tip pooling is just a mere extension of this despicable practice.
How do I know this? I have developed software for restaurants.
FYI, the restaurant owner is screwing both the waiter and you. He charges premium prices for prepared food, then uses the custom to have his customers pay a share, usually a large share, of the waiter's wage, pocketing the amounts he doesn't have to pay of a wage other businesses pay. Tip pooling is just a mere extension of this despicable practice. Considering the lifespan of your average restaurant, I doubt the majority are making huge bucks.
The ones that do well over the long term usually have a staff that likes it there because they make buckets in tips. And by definition, the restaurant that's doing well has lots of customers, so they're obviously pretty happy with the whole cost/benefit thing as well.
The restaurant business is so competitive that any place that is "screwing both the waiter and customer" will go out of business fast.