They gave it a good try. Le Pigeon and Little Bird Restaurants have returned to a normal tipping program –
Return to Traditional Tip Model
Last year, we implemented a gratuity-free payment model at both of our restaurants. While we are proud to have experimented with this format, it unfortunately, did not work as well as we would have hoped. Our hope was that it would enable us to better support all of our employees in different & better ways, and improve our guests’ experience. While it was successful in many ways for some, it was not so for all. Some embraced it and some did not. Starting on Monday (May 22nd) at Little Bird and Tuesday (May 23rd) at Le Pigeon, we will return to a traditional tip model for payments. We are and have always been, committed to supporting our employees and offering our guests the best service and hospitality experience we can. We will continue to welcome new ideas and try new things in order to provide even better experiences for our guests and our staff in the future.
One issue that these types of tipping models have, is the public perception that, by marking up a bottle of wine 20%, those who buy expensive bottles end up paying an “unfair share”. A few months ago, a reader wrote, “Why should I pay more if I buy a higher priced wine? It’s the same amount of work no matter what I pick.” I asked a few random people who they felt about this, and several others had the same concern. It seems to me, if this is the pervasive attitude, overall wine sales may have dropped.
These are not “gratuity-free” models but rather “gratuity mandatory” models. I cringe every time I see a restaurant that announces the policy – the incorrect name frames the policy as a benefit for customers (when it is the opposite). I don’t work in the industry: I’m curious to know the % of occasions where no tip or a low tip (under 15%) occurs, and if this type of policy really “fixes” the issue (when accounting for potentially fewer diners &/or lower spend per table, as the post mentions)
The real issue is that by and large, restaurant business models don’t have room in their budgets for paying employees much more than minimum wage without losing money. This is a very low profit margin business to begin with, and in order to stay competitive, restaurants (even those like Le Pigeon) need to keep menu prices in a place that keeps customers coming back, so that “annoyed restaurant patrons” with little concept of what working in a restaurant is like will continue spending their money there without complaining too loudly. It’s unfortunate that the general public takes for granted the hard work that cooks and servers do every day to earn their measly paychecks and then scoff at the idea they should be paid a reasonable wage for their (quite skilled) labor simply because it means their check will be higher. If you don’t want to pay restaurant prices, try this: go to the store, buy your food, take it home to your kitchen, and cook it yourself. Want to know what you’ll find out? Food is expensive anyway, and the price you pay for someone else’s labor at a restaurant is actually quite reasonable, especially if you compare it to a contractor who does work on your house these days (labor which is in many ways quite comparable).
I was speculating that the high-performing waitstaff may have been used to better-than-20% tips in some cases and may have felt that lack. If that were the case I’d expect to have seen some of their better waitstaff leaving – I don’t eat at either place often enough to know if that’s happened.
I wonder too if this just exposed some human behavior – maybe if patrons looked at the menu with a mandatory 20% tip in mind, they ordered the less expensive items in general, even if in reality they would have tipped the 20% at the end of the meal anyway.
Annoyed Restaurant Patron says
These are not “gratuity-free” models but rather “gratuity mandatory” models. I cringe every time I see a restaurant that announces the policy – the incorrect name frames the policy as a benefit for customers (when it is the opposite). I don’t work in the industry: I’m curious to know the % of occasions where no tip or a low tip (under 15%) occurs, and if this type of policy really “fixes” the issue (when accounting for potentially fewer diners &/or lower spend per table, as the post mentions)
ex-cook says
The real issue is that by and large, restaurant business models don’t have room in their budgets for paying employees much more than minimum wage without losing money. This is a very low profit margin business to begin with, and in order to stay competitive, restaurants (even those like Le Pigeon) need to keep menu prices in a place that keeps customers coming back, so that “annoyed restaurant patrons” with little concept of what working in a restaurant is like will continue spending their money there without complaining too loudly. It’s unfortunate that the general public takes for granted the hard work that cooks and servers do every day to earn their measly paychecks and then scoff at the idea they should be paid a reasonable wage for their (quite skilled) labor simply because it means their check will be higher. If you don’t want to pay restaurant prices, try this: go to the store, buy your food, take it home to your kitchen, and cook it yourself. Want to know what you’ll find out? Food is expensive anyway, and the price you pay for someone else’s labor at a restaurant is actually quite reasonable, especially if you compare it to a contractor who does work on your house these days (labor which is in many ways quite comparable).
bethh says
I was speculating that the high-performing waitstaff may have been used to better-than-20% tips in some cases and may have felt that lack. If that were the case I’d expect to have seen some of their better waitstaff leaving – I don’t eat at either place often enough to know if that’s happened.
I wonder too if this just exposed some human behavior – maybe if patrons looked at the menu with a mandatory 20% tip in mind, they ordered the less expensive items in general, even if in reality they would have tipped the 20% at the end of the meal anyway.
Wanda Ponder says
Very easy solution. Let the customer decide. Put two lines on the guest check. One for the front of the house and one for the back of house.