A number of prominent restaurants in the U.S. have decided to abolish tipping altogether, with the latest being Shake Shack, which made its announcement last week. Founder Danny Meyer says that the restaurant is eliminating tips in favor of paying servers a base salary, as well as additional employee benefits, according to The Huffington Post.
Another prominent restaurant, Bar Marco, has announced that it will be eliminating tipping altogether last January. The company fully implemented the change by April.
Despite the radical departure from traditional American restaurant culture, Bar Marco manager Joslynn Manges states that the elimination of tipping has not in any way affected the restaurant's operations or revenue.
"We have people coming in consistently who partially come in because of what we're doing, not just because of the service and food. They respect the general idea of what we're doing and they support it," Manges said.
The U.S. is among the countries in the world with the least paid waiters and waitresses, with a number of establishments paying its servers below the federal minimum wage due to tips given by customers. In extreme cases, some American servers only get paid about $700 per month whlie working a 40-hour workweek, reported Bloomberg View.
In order to offset the absence of tips, as well as the cost of giving employees a $35,000 base salary, benefits like health insurance, paid vacation time, and shares in the company, restaurants like Bar Marco have increased prices on their menu.
However, there are reports of customers who continue to tip despite the restaurants' new regulations. After all, tipping is a time-tested American tradition that has been around for a very long time.
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