By Ian Froeb
St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 16, 2015
Danny Meyer, the St. Louis native who over the past 30 years has become one of the country’s most influential restaurateurs, announced on Wednesday that he will eliminate tipping at all 13 restaurants owned by his Union Square Hospitality Group. Menu prices at the New York City restaurants, which range from barbecue joint Blue Smoke to such upscale establishments as Gramercy Tavern and the Modern, will increase to account for service.
Meyer is not the first restaurateur to eliminate tipping, but his stature in the industry and the scale of his decision shine the brightest spotlight yet on the burgeoning movement to replace diners’ tips with automatic service charges or higher menu prices that account for servers’ salaries or wages.
Some of St. Louis’ most prominent restaurateurs applauded Meyer’s move.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Gerard Craft, owner of Niche and Pastaria in Clayton and Taste and Brasserie by Niche in the Central West End. “I see it as the way of the future.”
Chris Sommers, co-owner of Pi Pizzeria (multiple locations) and Gringo in the Central West End, said, “(My response) was ‘Thank you,’ frankly.” ...
In interviews with The New York Times and Eater.com, Meyer argued that eliminating tips would address one of the most crucial problems that restaurateurs face today: the pay gap between tipped and nontipped employees.
A separate minimum wage applies to servers, bartenders and other tipped employees. This is often significantly less than the federal and local minimum wages. In Missouri, tipped employees must be paid at least $3.825 an hour, which is exactly half of the state’s $7.65 minimum wage. Diners’ tips ... make up the difference.
In practice — and especially at busy, upscale restaurants — this can lead to tipped employees making considerably more per hour than cooks, dishwashers and managers. ...
(Meyer’s plan includes a revenue-sharing program that would keep tipped employees at or near their current pay.)
Sommers, who in 2014 raised the starting wage for nontipped employees at his restaurants to $10.10 an hour, said that over the past year he, too, considered abolishing tips but became “gun-shy.”
“We were still coming off (our) minimum-wage increase,” Sommers said, “and I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose staff that typically receives more than 20 percent (in tips).”
Craft agreed that a major step will be “getting the servers’ mindset into it.” ...
Craft, Sommers and [Kevin Nashan, owner of Sidney Street Cafe and the Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co] all pointed to one significant advantage that servers would enjoy if they gave up tips: stability.
“When times are lean in January and February, they’re still getting the same paycheck,” Nashan said.
“I think there’s a huge upside for servers if they have a little more guaranteed income,” Sommers said, noting (as did Craft) how his restaurants were considerably less busy than usual during Tuesday’s Cardinals playoff game against the Cubs.
“The most important thing is for all of us to do our homework,” Nashan said. “This is not a trend. It’s definitely a movement.”
Copyright 2015 St. Louis Post Dispatch