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Danny's avatar

The problem I have with tipping, is that it only covers the front of the house (server) and not the back of the house (Chefs, bartenders, etc). In some restaurants in my city, servers make a lot of money off of tips in a mid-end restaurant while the folks that are creating delicious meals are working at or slightly above minimum wage. There truly needs to be equality in the hospitality industry. When there are a lot of customers the back of the house works harder for the same money and the front of the house makes more in tips! As for tipping, I think it is appropriate to tip for a delightful experience, only it should go to all that contributed to the delightful experience.

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Tim's avatar

I certainly don’t believe in eliminating tipping. If it’s left up to the owners, they are going to pocket the money. I work as a cook in Manhattan for perhaps the most celebrated restaurateur in the country and was there when wages were barely bumped after going tip free. The change was subsequently walked back.

This is not directed at you, but I’m sick and tired of the food writing world’s fake tears over unfair wages for back of house workers. If anyone has the power to change things, it’s you guys. If state legislation needs to change, then please focus on getting it done. I bust my ass every day and feed these FOH folks while they stand around doing f*** all and get paid six figures while I bring home $650 a week. I work 2 jobs, 7 days a week to provide for my family.

If you don’t want to hear it from me, the below quote is from Roy Choy on a recent “Andrew Talks to Chefs” podcast when asked about the much hyped "restaurant reset" during Covid. I cannot express the issue any more succinctly than he does:

“Paying people minimum wage that work in the back of house or in the dishwasher area that are working 11 12 13 hour days making minimum wage with no benefits no health insurance no sick days no vacation days, and then yet front of the house which speaks English can come in and work 4 hours and make $1000 a night in tips. That seems unbalanced if you just put it on paper…because that’s the fundamental flaw in our system. We have a system that is prejudiced and a bit racist based on who can ascend to certain levels of jobs and it’s partly our fault for providing our guests and our customers this old European kind of model as if we’re living in f***ing Brigerton or something.”

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