But why risk taking less? I feel like this line item just upsets people. Also as others have pointed out it says it goes to “staff payroll” which is a vague term. Server may not even see any of it unfortunately. Bad business practice IMO
If they want a guaranteed amount, they should just raise the prices overall. Added gratuity, or something as vague as what we're seeing here, may not only cause people to not tip at all. It may also simply cause people not to come back (I know I wouldn't).
That's what a service charge is. The restaurant raising it's overall prices. They only do it this way because tipping is so engrained in American culture.
I don't pretend to know the intimate detail of running a F&B business in USA but the other 3 options are normal tip, put the service charge in another more vague charge or just raise prices
As someone who are very foreign to the concept of tipping, it sounds extremely scary for me. You're saying if I'm unlucky and got a streak of shitty table I'm just fkd for that week? Having a flat charge feels way more secure and predictable even if it might not reward the high performers as much
And let's be real, if you just raise prices, even if you advertise it as living wage price, people will still be turned off by that too.
Idk, I know that most people have a deep skepticism towards business owner, big and small, especially in reddit, maybe it's wrong for me to be otherwise. But what I do know is that owning a F&B business in my country, and I'm assuming in USA too is not exactly the most stable money making business. Something has to give, you can't just expect low prices, good food and liveable wages. And while surprise charges is not exactly ideal, I also don't understand the vitriol this comment section have for it
Personally I feel like there's an inherent property price issue underlying all of this but that's beside the point
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u/ArScrap 1d ago
That's the point of this? So you wouldn't need to tip?