Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Service charge not passed on to staff
A young friend waits tables in a central London restaurant for a basic wage of £8 per hour. She receives only a tiny proportion of the 12.5% service charge that is automatically added to the bill - she has calculated it to be about a tenth of the total taken by the restaurant. Even if a customer presses cash into her hand personally, she is not allowed to keep it, but must hand it over to management.
Apparently this is completely widespread practice and not illegal - yesterday I asked a waiter in a small restaurant on Holloway road if he would get any of the added service charge and he said no, even if we left it in cash rather than add it on to the credit card bill.
While it is perhaps fair that some of the service charge is shared with kitchen and bar staff, who don't interact with customers and don't receive tips, this money is going straight into the pockets of the restaurant owners.
As a customer, I always assumed that the service charge was for the staff, to top up their poor wages and thank them for good service: I'm sure most people do. It seems a complete scandal that in fact it's just a way for the restaurant to charge more money, while continuing to pay terrible wages.
Tags for Forum Posts: service charge, tips
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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The practice of none or little of the tip, or the service charge that’s is often added to a bill, going to the staff is widespread. So widespread in fact that the government held a consultation on rules to make sure it goes to the restaurant staff rather than straight to the owner. That consultation closed in summer 2016 and still nothing has come from government.
The only option is to ask before you pay.
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Permalink Reply by claire taylor on
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It's over 10 years ago now but I worked in The Avenue, Prism and Che (which is no-longer there). The service charge always went towards our basic wage and we weren't allowed to keep tips. Common in the larger "better" restaurants most definitely.
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As people have already noted this is an ongoing problem. I have asked staff in local restaurants whether we should pay them cash or add it onto the bill and they are completed conflicted since they're clearly not allowed to say anything.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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If you want to tip but don’t want to ask, or you’ve asked and the staff are too shy to tell, the best bet is to tip cash. Some restaurants let waiters keep the cash tips but then divide the credit card ones using the tronc system or some other system, any of which can end up with the owner retaining some of those tips. The best tronc systems are fair. The worst are completely opaque and are a way for owners and/or managers to line their pockets. It’s probably fair to say that any restaurants that run a fair system are happy for their staff to answer any questions about tips honestly.
You should also be aware that tips and service charges are often different things. A service charge is a percentage added to a bill. A tip is a personal payment to the waiter over and above all other charges. Tips should always go to waiter, but of course may not. Service charges are less likely to, but may. All clear now?
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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Sounds a bit like the French system of charging for a 'couvert' - basically a set of cutlery and bread - for all sit-down meals. My issue is that I think most customers assume they are rewarding good service by the waiter when they pay the service charge, while I've seen it described as 'revenue' by one restaurateur...
It's quite complicated tipping cash if the service charge is already added to the bill and you want to pay by credit card - you need to ask them to remove it, which looks like you are not paying it, and then find the change to give to the waiter, who may not be allowed to accept it anyway. The system needs to be much more transparent.
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I agree. Let’s hope the consultation Michael points up comes to more than a page a scribbled lines.
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One of the issues that brought it to the fore was that one of the Roux restaurants (The Gavroche?) was taking 100% of tips/service charges as part of the profit. This in a restaurant where you can’t sit down for less than a hundred quid!
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Permalink Reply by Lauren on
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As a youngster I worked in some of the best (and some of the worst) restaurants in London. Before the minimum wage we were normally paid £10 per shift but got to keep 90% of our tips, 10% going in a jar for the porters. I went from earning a couple of hundred pounds on a good Saturday night to earning just above minimum wage, because we had to turn it over to the restaurant and it all got shared out. The old system was far better.
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Permalink Reply by Graham Charnock on
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Surely it depends how many people are employed at a restaurant. I have no problem with gratuities being split equally among all employees. There are backroom staff (chefs etc) who surely deserve an equal share.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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The solution is to do away with tipping and services charges entirely. Build staffing costs into the cost of the meal and pay staff a fair wage. That's what they do in NZ where I'm from, it works, and you get really good service three too without any expectation of a tip.
When my mum visits me she refuses to tip on principle... I have to make sure I have enough cash to slip onto the table to cover both of us. I can't take her to anywhere I want to go back to!
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Tipping is a way of personalizing what can otherwise be a depersonalized experience. It motivates people by making them feel valued, and not just a cog in a machine. In restaurants, in particular, people *serve* us and we should not dimninish their service by simply walking out without acknowledging it and taking it for granted. But then, I'm old fashioned.
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