Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Restaurants respond to wage hike with dining surcharge
The San Diego Tribune ^ | January 1, 2017 | Lori Weisberg

Posted on 01/02/2017 6:57:54 PM PST by artichokegrower

The next time you wander into Sammy’s Wood-Fired Pizza for a burrata and pesto pie, indulge in a shrimp-filled bucket at Rockin’ Baja Lobster, or decide to splurge on beef tenderloin at George’s at the Cove, don’t be surprised to see an added charge when your check arrives.

Girding for the second minimum wage hike in six months and the fourth in 2-½ years, many of San Diego’s full-service restaurants are introducing for the first time an average surcharge of 3 percent of the meal’s cost to help cover increased labor expenses that some operators say amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year.

(Excerpt) Read more at sandiegouniontribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: california; economy; food; surcharge; wages
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-93 next last
To: SamAdams76

AMEN!!


41 posted on 01/02/2017 8:15:56 PM PST by Darth Mall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: HarleyLady27

Great way to get around this, eat at home, better food ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eating at home, I don’t have to worry that the cook may have spit on my food, plus I’m also allowed to pat the cooks butt if I want to.

(Behavior that would get me tossed out of most restaurants.)


42 posted on 01/02/2017 8:27:51 PM PST by Graybeard58 (+++)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower
$15.00/hr minimum wage ≠> $5.00 "value menu"
43 posted on 01/02/2017 8:33:24 PM PST by lightman ( Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Vas is das? TRUMPALUTION!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fungi

oh I’m mad at them too but I think it’s dishonest to post prices for a meal then add a surcharge.


44 posted on 01/02/2017 8:58:29 PM PST by sheana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: del4hope

Sometimes people really appreciate a kind server who does a good job. I received a $30 tip on a $58 ticket on New Years from a very sweet, quiet couple. I was surprised and immediately thought that’s too much! It happens every so often. We have several regulars who tip at least 25% every time. It seems that good service and good food is rare these days.


45 posted on 01/02/2017 9:00:41 PM PST by NorthstarMom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: ThE_RiPpEr.

That is unbelievable-I’m a server and the restaurant doesn’t have automatic gratuity on any sized party. And the amount of the tip, if any, is left entirely to the customer.

I would be embarrassed to work somewhere with that in place.


46 posted on 01/02/2017 9:06:45 PM PST by NorthstarMom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: WENDLE
I have the finest quinine from my micro wave and read FR and Drudge.

Quinine is a medication to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While used for restless legs syndrome, it is not recommended for this purpose. It can be taken by mouth or used intravenously. Malaria that is resistant to quinine occurs in certain areas of the world. Some quantities are also used in tonic water and gives it its bitter taste.

-Wikipedia

Regards,

47 posted on 01/02/2017 9:08:19 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Our favorite Fish and Chips place has been doing this for six months...your entree is at the listed entree price...and only if you look at your bill carefully do you see the upcharge that is NOT a tip. Most people just pay their bill and don’t even do the math. Sigh.


48 posted on 01/02/2017 9:35:09 PM PST by 50sDad (A Liberal prevents me from telling you anything here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

>>>How about for the property taxes?<<<

Funny you mention Property Taxes. In CA we have Proposition 13, which has kept Property Taxes affordable for both Business and Residential Properties.

Proposition 13 was passed as a Ballot Proposition, not by the Legislature. It has been the target of Liberal Politicians since the moment it passed.

Now that we have a Democrat Super Majority in both Houses in Sacramento, they will be going after the Proposition 13 Business Property Tax Break.

After they pull that off, the Residential Property Tax break will be on the table. They are salivating to get their hands on all that Money.


49 posted on 01/02/2017 9:46:22 PM PST by Kickass Conservative ( Democracy, two Wolves and one Sheep deciding what's for Dinner.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: OrangeHoof
Why tip at all if they're making $15/hr?

Why tip before they were making $15? The bank teller doesn't get tipped. The cashier at the department store doesn't get tipped. The used car salesman doesn't get tipped. The DMV person doesn't get tipped.

Homemade meals average $2.50. Tonight's was meatloaf, roasted potatoes and peach pie. Can't see wasting gas driving to a restaurant, wasting an hour or so, getting a huge bill and then the waiter expects a tip for merely doing the job he's already getting paid to do and later getting an upset stomach because the cook didn't bother washing his hands.

50 posted on 01/02/2017 10:23:15 PM PST by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Loud Mime
A waitress at a popular breakfast haunt confided in me that the owner soaked his potatoes in butter, along with the steaks and nearly everything else so it would taste better.

That's an UPGRADE. Butter is REAL FOOD. Half the places here in Georgia give me "better spread" or some such when I ask for REAL BUTTER. Many don't even have it. I have to BEG for it at the Panera. Georgia is an upgrade over Wisconsin. But Wisconsin has the butter thing right. Sounds like a good breakfast haunt to me!
51 posted on 01/02/2017 10:44:48 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: bgill
Why tip before they were making $15? The bank teller doesn't get tipped.[ . . . ] Homemade meals average $2.50.

Fine. Have your home made meal. Some of us want to grab a hot meal during lunch hour or are in the mood for a particular type of meal or want to give our wives a break.

All those other jobs you mentioned have a different pay scale, and except for maybe the car salesman, they are guaranteed to make more base pay, because the waitress's pay is based on YOUR judgment of her performance. If you don't care for that set up, then go to Wendy's or Golden Corral if for whatever reason you are on the road and can't make your home cooked meal. But don't sneer at people who provide honest work in a job that puts them at the mercy of the decency of the customers.
52 posted on 01/02/2017 10:51:36 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Nobody could have ever predicted this/ sarc


53 posted on 01/02/2017 11:13:50 PM PST by deek69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Some/most restaurants undoubtedly will just hide the higher minimum wage costs in higher menu prices. Those that opt to list it as a “surcharge” are the Conservatives. They want people to KNOW that the increase in prices is not their idea and this is their way of protesting it.

The surcharge is going directly to pay the higher minimum wage, so deducting it from the tip amount is appropriate.


54 posted on 01/03/2017 2:45:01 AM PST by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: sheana

I see it as the most honest way to let people know that it is not just going into profits, it is laws mandating higher minimum wages and/or benefits. It lets customers know that the servers are now making a higher wage and do not need to be tipped as heavily.

It may even be handy. Instead of calculating 15% of a bill, just multiply the “surcharge” amount by 4. That will give you a 12% tip and with the 3% surcharge the restaurant is supposedly giving the servers in higher wages, the server gets the same 15% total.


55 posted on 01/03/2017 2:50:13 AM PST by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: jeannineinsd

I am a big believer in tipping as an effective way of evaluating a server’s performance. Servers who do not perform cannot make a living and find a different line of work. Eliminating tipping means the only person a server needs to please is their supervisor, which is less efficient than the customers directly controlling the server’s income.


56 posted on 01/03/2017 2:59:14 AM PST by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: FrdmLvr

As it should. If servers are making a higher wage, they need less in tips. Expecting the same tips on top of the wage increase would just be greedy. And we all know how these OWS/SJW socialists hate greed, right ?


57 posted on 01/03/2017 3:04:44 AM PST by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: ThE_RiPpEr.

Yelp them out of existence.


58 posted on 01/03/2017 3:07:35 AM PST by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Kellis91789
...Eliminating tipping means the only person a server needs to please is their supervisor, which is less efficient than the customers directly controlling the server’s income....

Which directly benefits the restaurant owner/mgr. The clear proof of this are return customers asking for seat at a servers tables as well as the server refering to "my regular customers", establishing a direct relationship with customers. And return customers pay the nut.

Of course this doesn't apply to fast food joints.

59 posted on 01/03/2017 3:08:54 AM PST by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower
My wife says she asks waitresses, on the few occasions we eat out (here in WV and PA), how much they make. They always say that, since by Federal law food service is NOT covered by minimum wage laws since they are not involved in interstate commerce, their salary is $2 (two dollars) an hour, and they rely upon the goodness of customers leaving tips to be able to make enough to live on. This was always the case when I knew waitresses decades ago.

I don't see how raising the "minimum wage" affects things in restaurants. But IF for some reason the federal government has indeed taken over the restaurant industry and can actually force owners to pay waitresses $15 an hour, then that is the very moment that tipping becomes an obsolete and outmoded practice, since its economic justification would have disappeared. (But you can still be free to give a free gift to whomever you wish.)

60 posted on 01/03/2017 3:15:12 AM PST by wildandcrazyrussian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-93 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson