About time! Bring this change on.
Agreed. Hopefully this catches on – and I bet it will.
If trend setters do it others will kind of have to fall in line, or so one would expect. If so we can finally stop debating whether or not we have to tip 20% on ridiculously marked up bottles of wine!
this is huge.
Why is this a good idea? As a customer, don’t you want to be able to signal your approval or disapproval?
And, if you’re a waiter, don’t you like the cash component?
This makes me very happy. And more inclined to go to a DM restaurant.
As a customer I should speak up if I am not happy. Hiding behind the tip is the coward’s way out. If I am very happy I can also speak to someone about that. Heck, I even complimented a waiter in a Trip Advisor review once. Turns out the info got back to him in a good way, as I found out on my next visit.
For those of you in NY, can someone please find a menu pre this change and post it? Are we talking a 10% increase in food prices across the board? 15%? More?
Yes, I think the idea in general is a good one with regards to some of the restaurant staff, but then the customer really has no way to ‘signal’ bad service, do they?
And if I’m a server used to pocketing hundreds on a busy Saturday night, will I be equally compensated?
Lots of questions here . . .
I’m curious whether this is truly eliminating tipping or is just rolling some mandatory tipping into the bill.
I’d love to see no “tip” line on the CC receipt, at all.
For example, Per Se is often cited as a restaurant with no tipping, but that’s not true. There’s just a mandatory 20% gratuity and still a line for additional gratuity on the bill.
As a customer, tipping is highly annoying and it’s hard to see how the exercise benefits me. Rarely do I do any signaling unless the service is above and beyond or truly awful – and if the service is awful enough to result in a docked tip, I’m almost certainly not returning to the restaurant anyway (which is a stronger signal). 98% of the time I just tip ~20%. In any event, tipping is a downer. Individuals in a party regularly debate how much to tip, and it’s an unnecessary bookmark on a dining experience. Much simpler and smoother to just pay and be done. I don’t think service suffers in Europe due to lack of tipping – and it certainly doesn’t at places like Per Se that already have service built in (obviously, however, Per Se-type places are not mainstream).
As a waiter, you will hopefully see a higher salary. But the people who really benefit are the cooks, busboys, etc. who don’t get cash tips. They may see a bump from this.
Finally, I think the prevalence of people failing to leave any tip or just leaving a nominal tip is higher than many realize – and that’s probably especially so in NY where you have lots of foreign tourists, some of whom may be unaccustomed to the unique American tipping custom. Must suck to wait on a 6-top all night and then get no tip. This eliminates that problem.
Are you sure that’s true with Per Se? I do somewhat recall that you can add additional gratuity, but I don’t think it’s a mandatory 20% gratuity. My recollection is that the menus and wine are just a flat price that includes gratuity, and there is no gratuity line item or percentage on the bill. I even have a vague recollection of the bill or waiter specifically noting that gratuity is included so no additional tip is necessary, although I may be wrong about that.
It appears that he is totally eliminating the “tip” line from the credit card receipt to make it 100% clear that no additional gratuitity is expected.
As for the cash thing - how many people leave the tip in cash? I can’t imagine many still do that?
Ditto.
It was so nice not to have to worry about it while I was in Japan. I’d love to not have to think about it in the US as well.
+1 (to this and other similar points).
Tipping is a really poor signaling mechanism. First, the typical difference between good and bad service is maybe 5-7 %age points, probably less, which is a limited signal. Second, given the variability in tipping practices (whether from out-of-towners, or foreigners, or cheapskates, or high rollers) the “noise” from those variations means that the signal may be misinterpreted. Third, the signal is only to the waiter - if the service is bad or outstanding, a word to the supervisor would be much more effective and likely to garner results.
As for the cash component to waiters - if the purpose of tipping is to facilitate tax fraud, then it’s hard to justify.
I am a big fan of Danny Meyer as a restauranteur. Good for him. Restaurant owners should pay their employees, including servers, an appropriate wage and benefits. Tipping is an anachronism and leads to unprofessional service. What other service industry omits an important employee cost and leaves it to the whims of the customer? None.
I like the idea and it will be interesting to see how people respond. However, the devil is in the details - how much is he going to raise menu pricing and how much is he going to raise wine list/drink menu pricing? Is it less than 20% or perhaps more? The article mentions that the intent is to be able to raise salaries for other employees while keeping the servers income roughly the same - not sure how that works unless he is raising menu and drink pricing by at least 20%, if not more than 20%. At any rate, regardless, you know what you are getting in looking at the fully baked pricing and can take it or leave it - just like in France, Italy, etc. (though when I was just in Spain in was a bit confusing as to whether gratuity was included and when/where and how much).
This should be a poll.
I have tremendous almost unquestioning faith in Danny Meyer, but show me the breakdown before I approve or disapprove.
edit:
Eater article – I only did a fly-by – says Meyer was looking to raise prices quite a bit, not merely rolling the tips into the prices, but giving employees a different wage scheme – so he was apparently thinking 30-35% before his investors dialed back on the “altruism?”
I’m indifferent about this change. The concept of tipping is so ingrained in my psyche that I actually prefer it to any change. The system was never broke for me in the first place.
Huh?? Ingrained in me too… that’s why I’m not indifferent.
wonder if rapidly rising minimum wage laws in NY State have anything to do with it.