For years the rule of thumb if you got good service is 15% of the total bill. Now that has been raised to 20-25% even after the increase in cost to dine out.
Now theres moves to include a 20% tip automatically to the bill. I am dead set against this. Last year I was in a restaurant in NY that added 20% gratuity to the bill, the service was terrible and there no incentive to give good service if you are automatically making money. Besides that another point.
If you work in a restaurant that serves alcohol and in a 8 hr shift you serve a modest and I mean this is modest 1500.00 gross product at 20% gratuity you are making 300.00 whether your service sucks or not. In NYC a waiter can deliver 4,000 in product in a shift.
Im for a minimum gratuity of 10% because there are stiffs out there that wont reward good service they are cheap mutts.
I am a big tipper I realize these workers rely on it to make a living.
Is the Labor Department scheming to take away restaurant servers' tips? That's the message some labor advocates are sending in response to a proposed rule-making by the Trump administration that would permit kitchen staff in certain states to receive a portion of servers' tips.
More than 300,000 comments were submitted on the rule; many were copy-and-paste statements generated by labor groups. But mixed among these comments were reflections of genuine anger from servers who were concerned about losing their tips. As a 17-year veteran of the service industry, I hear their concerns. I share them. But I also know that they're based on a deep misunderstanding of what a tip pool is and why it can be necessary.
To understand this issue, you first need to understand how servers and bartenders get paid. In most states, we're paid a base wage below the minimum wage, based on the recognition that we're earning significantly more than the minimum wage when tips are included. (If we don't, the restaurant owner is legally required to top us off so that we never make less than the minimum.) The difference between the full minimum wage and our base wage is called the "tip credit," and it allows restaurants with narrow profit margins to properly staff and keep menu prices low for guests.
A few states have rejected this approach, including my home state of Minnesota. Here, servers and bartenders must be paid the full minimum wage in addition to their tips. This approach is harmful to the restaurant industry, and I've actively fought to change it where I work in Minneapolis. The evidence is on my side: In states that have passed a higher minimum wage without implementing a tip-credit, communities are seeing heavy restaurant-exit. Large shifts to counter service models are occurring, creating restaurants which employ fewer people who make less money due to higher labor costs.
Restaurants that are able to survive must pay their already highly-paid, tipped staff substantially more after the minimum wage rises. That means kitchen staff are left out from the prosperity in the front of the house, creating a larger gap in the wage disparity between servers and cooks.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/l...bolish-tipping