Servers/Restaurant Owners: Why Tipping vs good salary??

[slk537]

So this is a genuine question...why do servers at restaurants work for tips? I am not making a judgment as to how much to tip, if you should tip, when you should tip more or tip less...I am just asking why the tips at all? Why don't restaurant owners/managers pay their servers enough to live on, so they don't have to have their income supplemented by the patrons?

Why don't they raise the prices of the food by 15-18% (or whatever) and raise the server's salaries at the same time? I don't understand why as a patron, I should judge the service and tip accordingly so I can get good service. The restaurant should pay enough so they can hire those who are equipped to give good service. If I go to the store and buy some new clothes, I pay the same regardless of if the person helping me with the fitting room, different sizes, etc. gave me excellent service or lousy. Why isn't that concept used in restaurants? Don't other countries have no tipping?

I am not saying servers don't work hard and shouldn't be compensated for it. Actually, I am saying they should. But why do restaurant owners leave that up to us as patrons? Shouldn't service and reward be based on performance evaluations by the business, not on the patron's food whim? IE: I pay a tip based on a percentage of my salad ($10) while my dining partner pays his tip based on a percentage of his steak ($25). Same server, same service. I just don't get it...???

DH and I do tip, and we tip well. I have no issue with compensating the server for a good job. I just want to know why it's set up that way.

I honestly am curious...

 

[Cool-Beans]

Pro-tipping.

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

A good server at an average restaurant can make about $100 a night in tips. To raise thier salary to equate to that and raising the prices to cover that would result in prices the public won't pay.

 

[barkley]

years ago i worked as a bookkeeper for a restaurant, and the law in our state had just changed such that the employer had to report all the tips each person got. the owner was livid when they saw how much their payroll taxes went up-as well as their workman's comp. coverage (minimum wage employee's were much cheaper to insure-people whose 'earnings' were higher and would translate into a larger wkly. benefit if injured cost more).

we have some restaurants around here that pay well above minimum wage for their servers and make it publicly known that tipping is not the expectation.

personaly, i'de rather a living wage just be rolled into the cost of the meal i purchase-good service in a restaurant is based on the entire 'team' of players-the bus boys, the assistant servers, the prep people in the kitchen, the cooks, some of whom see little or no benefit from the tip the server's receive (the place i worked at finaly instituted a percentage of the tips that had to be passed on to the support staff that kept the food moving and the tables cleared-our 'waiters' and 'waitresses' only took the initial food and beverage order-refills and the like were done by assistant servers who often saw only a few dollars passed on to them at the end of the night).

 

[barkley]

A good server at an average restaurant can make about $100 a night in tips. To raise thier salary to equate to that and raising the prices to cover that would result in prices the public won't pay.

if that's the case and a server works even a short shift (5 hours) that's about $20 per hour-most cover a minimum of 5-10 tables, so for a table it might increase the cost of their meal by $2.00-$4.00 dollars total for each hour they are there. still works out to alot less than 15 or 20% of the adverage restaurant bill.

 

[Poohnatic]

I worked as a server in two national chain restaurants when my younger son was a baby.

In my family, my mom and all my siblings had worked in restaurants-Mom for over 40 years. As a result, I knew the likelihood of an IRS audit was much greater, so I spreadsheeted the heck out of my days. (Very similar to mom's ledger book).

At one restaurant, the total tip amount was higher, but the percentage really was much lower (average check was 50 dollars for two). I'd tip out 3% of whatever sales I'd had-so if I had a 1,000 sales night, I had to give 30 dollars to the support staff. I averaged about 12% in tips. Yes, a good Saturday night could fetch about 150 bucks. That was for a 12-13 hour day. I think my spreadsheet salary average was 11.50 an hour.

At the second restaurant, the total tip amount was less, but I'd see about 18% of sales after my tip out (average check was 28 dollars for two). Also, the scheduling was much more flexible than the first place, so I could come in and work a 5 to 8 hour shift. It was unusual to hit 700 in sales. My average there was about 11.75 an hour.

That's why good servers do it. Many times, they can make tips far better than what they'd get as an hourly wage. The worst servers still can eke out a decent wage.

My mom was able to support a house and all her kids as a single mom on tips. When she moved to bookkeeping/accounting full time, her pay dropped by a third, and she was getting the going wage in our area for a non CPA accountant.

I'd love for a living wage to be rolled into a meal, but I've seen it firsthand that tipping, in the right place, can be very lucrative.

Suzanne

 

[slk537]

I can definitely see why servers, particularly in busy and/or expensive places would prefer the tips. That makes sense. I am not adverse to tipping as it is something I've always expected to do at a restaurant. I'm wondering though, why did this start? What made serving a tipping industry versus a clothing shop at the mall? To that matter, why do we tip a valet or mousekeeping at WDW, but not someone at the registration desk or gift shop? I accept it as our culture, but I was just wondering why?

Maybe it's historical, I don't know. Just idle thoughts on a lazy Sunday.