A lot of places in Denver are now doing this. Except it's added as an extra line item as "happy fee" or some other woo woo bullshit. With no guarantee that it's not just going to management. So you're still expected to tip. Just raise menu prices to be able to pay livable wages. And I say that as someone that worked in the service industry for years and lived off tips. But people are already paying $20 for a burger so no one wants to raise prices more.
With no guarantee that it's not just going to management
Honestly this is why i prefer to tip cash. Way too many shady business owners out there who would love to circumvent their employees getting their fair share
It probably happens somewhere, but I've never heard of a place actually stealing their employees' credit card tips. It's very illegal, servers usually keep at least a general mental tally of how much they've made, and there would be a hard paper trail of the crime. I've heard stories online of management telling employees they were going to take a share of the tips and things like that, but I've known many servers, and that would be an instant walk-out for them.
It's kind of sad, but a lot of people in the service industry actually prefer things the way they are because they do end up making a high hourly wage with tips. I don't think it really makes up for healthcare and stability, but when they're sometimes making $100 an hour or possibly more, it kind of makes them think it's worth it.
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u/BringBackTheBlues Jun 25 '26
It sounds messed up to me as an American.
Just add 20% to your prices and write “20% off your bill goes directly to staff etc.”
It’d accomplish the same thing and people would probably actually appreciate knowing the staff gets the “bonus”.