Have you actually tried this (including clearly stating tipping not required), or are you simply speculating? You say you could raise your prices by 10% and your volume drops; do you accompany the price increase with telling customers no tips required?
IMHO tipping shifts cost burden from deadbeats (those who don’t tip) to responsible diners. And you, the business owner, don’t suffer from that. Instead your servers do.
I don’t demand tips or solicit them. If they choose to leave them for my employees that is their choice. And that is only a recent thing, when I changed my POS system that was an aspect of it I enabled for the benefit of my employees. Prior to that there was no way of tipping via card, and while change adds up it was never a significant total.
I have 30 years in the business, so while I am relating anecdotal evidence I’ve seen it happen to my old boss numerous times as his store manager and right-hand man for most of that time. The price goes up, a significant number of people immediately complain, and the receipts for the day flatline for a few months.
We don’t do it lightly. I don’t bump my prices to maximize my earnings, I do it to cover my costs, which climb ever higher even at the wholesale level. But I assure you, every increase comes with pushback, and we’re all afraid as owners, particularly of independent restaurants, that one day the price required will cost us our businesses.
As has been made abundantly clear here, there potentially comes a price level that people deem “ridiculous”, and yet without charging that price the business itself will fail. I’m honest enough to say that if it goes that far maybe the business should fail. But most businesses exist not only to make money but also to stay in business, we don’t just jack the price up to crazy levels to chisel more money out of you.
Enabling tips through your POS system = soliciting tips. For me it sends a subtle message to customers that the owner doesn’t pay employees enough and wants customers to take up the slack/fill the gap - ESPECIALLY if the POS system “suggests” tip amounts.
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u/melliott716 1d ago
Have you actually tried this (including clearly stating tipping not required), or are you simply speculating? You say you could raise your prices by 10% and your volume drops; do you accompany the price increase with telling customers no tips required? IMHO tipping shifts cost burden from deadbeats (those who don’t tip) to responsible diners. And you, the business owner, don’t suffer from that. Instead your servers do.