My wife, Cindy, and I just returned from spending New Years on the beautiful island of Bermuda.
It's been more then 25 years since our Honeymoon visit and the island has changed a great deal, but it is still lovely, the locals extremely friendly and polite and genuinely appreciate the tourist trade.
During the first half of the week, the weather was ideal - mid 70's, sunny, low wind...the second half was a mixed bag of sun - then rain - then wind - then sun and so on. (For those who have not visited the island, tourist are not allowed to operate automobiles so visitors have one of two means of transport...Taxi's, which can get very expensive very quickly or the rental of scooters). Having opted for the latter, we did get caught several times traveling from one end of the island to the other only to find ourselves in the middle of a downpour. But that is a whole other topic.
It's been more then 25 years since our Honeymoon visit and the island has changed a great deal, but it is still lovely, the locals extremely friendly and polite and genuinely appreciate the tourist trade.
During the first half of the week, the weather was ideal - mid 70's, sunny, low wind...the second half was a mixed bag of sun - then rain - then wind - then sun and so on. (For those who have not visited the island, tourist are not allowed to operate automobiles so visitors have one of two means of transport...Taxi's, which can get very expensive very quickly or the rental of scooters). Having opted for the latter, we did get caught several times traveling from one end of the island to the other only to find ourselves in the middle of a downpour. But that is a whole other topic.
We had the opportunity to dine all over the island,from St. Georges to the Royal Naval Dockyard and we found that all but one of the restaurants we dined at added a mandatory 15% "Service Charge" to the tab (the Swizzle Inn was the only place we found that did not add the charge and they went out of their way to make sure that guests understood that fact!).
As I sat enjoying a pint of the Frog and Onion's Black Anchor Porter, it dawned on me that the USA is one if not the only country that does not impose a mandatory "Service Charge" for restaurant meals. Canada, France, Spain, Ireland, England, Germany, etc. all have an added "Service Charge".
I know that recently several big name restaurants in New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles have tried unsuccessfully to implement such a charge but patrons have threatened to boycott these establishments if they did not rethink this practice.
So, my question is this: Is it time for the US market to re-evaluate the whole Gratuity or T.I.P.S. (To Insure Proper Service) method of server compensation or not? Should we accept a standard percentage rate be applied to our final bill at the end of a restaurant meal? Should the food industry pay all their employees competitive wages and simply adjust their menu prices to reflect this change?
I have worked in restaurants throughout North America for the past 36 years and I can make the argument for or against a mandatory "Service Charge", but I want to know your feelings.
Please remember to keep posts positive and please, please, please keep your posts on point.
Thanks for your input,
Chef John
http://www.cookwithjohn.com/
john@cookwithjohn.com
As I sat enjoying a pint of the Frog and Onion's Black Anchor Porter, it dawned on me that the USA is one if not the only country that does not impose a mandatory "Service Charge" for restaurant meals. Canada, France, Spain, Ireland, England, Germany, etc. all have an added "Service Charge".
I know that recently several big name restaurants in New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles have tried unsuccessfully to implement such a charge but patrons have threatened to boycott these establishments if they did not rethink this practice.
So, my question is this: Is it time for the US market to re-evaluate the whole Gratuity or T.I.P.S. (To Insure Proper Service) method of server compensation or not? Should we accept a standard percentage rate be applied to our final bill at the end of a restaurant meal? Should the food industry pay all their employees competitive wages and simply adjust their menu prices to reflect this change?
I have worked in restaurants throughout North America for the past 36 years and I can make the argument for or against a mandatory "Service Charge", but I want to know your feelings.
Please remember to keep posts positive and please, please, please keep your posts on point.
Thanks for your input,
Chef John
http://www.cookwithjohn.com/
john@cookwithjohn.com
2 comments:
Good morning Chef,as a fellow traveler in foodservice I have seen both sides of the issue. Although I do not feel my guests should have to pay my staff,it seems to be the only way to motivate servers. We all miss windows, hope you decide to come back in the future
Chef Steve
Bangor
Chef Steve;
Thanks for the kind words regarding Windows...it really means alot to be respected by my peers.
I appreciate your feelings that dining guests should not have to pay our staff and that the concept of a 15 - 20% gratuity certainly helps motivate restaurant staff.
I do think it interesting that most other developed countries add the "Service Charge" onto the final bill. As a consumer, in some ways I like that it is already calculated for me and in other ways, feel that I would rather judge the level of gratuity based on the level of service.
It's a topic that US citizens are going to be hearing more and more about.
All the best,
Chef John
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