I’m copying this from a comment I dropped in other post about Boeufhaus 22% tip mandate, as it’s an observation on how the industry is adopting Chicago’s One Fair Wage policy. Spoiler alert…. YOURE PAYING MORE.
So, as posted here, Boefhaus introduce a 22% enforced tip this month. That’s all good and fine to pay workers well, but let’s do a little digging.
They introduce this after the Chicago One Fair Wage started July 1. This will be phased in with increases over 5 years until they get to $16.20 hourly.
That’s all good and fine, but…. you can see on Yelp photos that Bouefhaus has recently increased their prices quite a bit (link to current menu)!
Escargot: $16–> $21
Ceci Bean Cavatelli $18–>$23
Steak Frites $34 –> $37
Rack of Lamb $59 –> $67
Sure, there’s always inflation and some of this could be MP driven, but it’s all within at least 9 months (most recent Yelp menu photo) and seems like the reality is that they’re double dipping….. owners are increasing prices to account for hourly wage increases, and servers are enforcing a 22% tip on top of their already increased wages.
Again, I’m all for a the no tip movement and just paying a working wage + added tip for excellent service (e.g. how the rest of the world does), but I’m just going to stop dining out at places that enforce a tip if they’re also getting the hourly wage increase + menu price increase. We’re all still early to this (the hourly wage has only increased about $1 so far) but the industry is going to need to balance out.
The current writing on the wall is I expect they’re all gonna have their cake and be gourging on it in the kitchen too.
by teaa86