This New York chef is banning tipping. Will Boston chefs follow suit?
New York restaurateur Danny Meyer is getting rid of tipping. Well, at least for the 13 restaurants run by his Union Square Hospitality Group.
Meyer — whose sit-down restaurant roster includes New York City’s Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, and Blue Smoke — announced Thursday that he’s eliminating tipping in all of his full-service restaurants by the end of next year. Meyer also founded Shake Shack, but don’t worry, your Harvard Square burger buys won’t be affected.
A big part of Meyer’s move has to do with how cooks, maitre d’s, dishwashers, and other service employees behind the scenes aren’t getting tipped in the current system. He wrote a letter on his website explaining:
“There are countless laws and regulations that determine which positions in a restaurant may, and may not share in gratuities. We believe hospitality is a team sport, and that it takes an entire team to provide you with the experiences you have come to expect from us. Unfortunately, many of our colleagues — our cooks, reservationists, and dishwashers to name a few — aren’t able to share in our guests’ generosity, even though their contributions are just as vital to the outcome of your experience at one of our restaurants.’’
This struggle is echoed by other restaurant owners. High-end restaurants in California and Chicago also experimented with ending their tipping policies, according to The New York Times, but no Boston restaurants have yet followed suit.
“I have long struggled with the dynamic between back of house and front of house when it comes to pay, and things absolutely need to change if we — especially independent restaurant owners — want to attract talent and provide a career path that can support a decent lifestyle while also making the numbers work to keep these restaurants open and thriving,’’ Barbara Lynch, Boston’s celebrity chef behind No. 9 Park, wrote in an email.
Lynch was previously on a panel with Meyer to talk about problems with the tipping system, which can include servers actually making more than those who prepare the food Meyer had previously tried to ban tipping and faced opposition from his servers, according to Bloomberg.
Jamie Bissonnette, chef and owner of Coppa and Toro in New York and Boston thinks more discussion needs to happen before Meyer’s policy is adopted by other restaurants.
“It’ll be interesting to see how that shapes out. It makes me really nervous, but it’s easier for their level,’’ Bissonnette said of Meyer’s move. “It’s difficult for me to make any generalizations from high end to low end restaurants, but my gut tells me it’s going to be really difficult for the mom and pop neighborhood.’’
Bissonnette also noted that New York’s labor landscape is changing more dramatically than Boston’s. A shift to tip-free dining will happen easier in cities like New York and San Francisco, he said, because their labor laws and the promise of a higher minimum wage are catapulting these moves.
But if a server is salaried, Bissonnette said, it could lessen their options to do things outside of the restaurant, and will probably dissuade people who don’t want to be professional servers from entering the business.
Bissonnette is meeting with other restaurateurs who have done research on the subject to continue the discussion.
“We have such a strong community [in Boston], we depend on each other a lot, so why not share knowledge,“ Bissonnette said. “We want to do what’s right for our staff.’’
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