– I notice this on the pay slip. Before, those who worked as waiters got most of the tip, but now I also get the appreciation, says Kiara Brennan. She is standing in the frying pan at Brassica restaurant in a suburb of Boston, mixing chili flakes she has roasted on the grill with cucumber and other vegetables cut into pieces. Kiara is a grill cook here, and before she didn’t get much of the extra money left by the customers. They went to the waiters. Kiara Brennan notices on her payslip that the restaurant where she works has introduced a new tipping system. The chef was not used to getting so much of what the customers left behind. It went to the waiters. But after the pandemic, Rebecca Kean and the other owners of the neighborhood restaurant instituted a new regime: 23 percent in tips on all bills. – We add an administration fee of 20 per cent and a kitchen fee of 3 per cent to all bills, explains Kean. – It is easy. If you eat and drink for 100 dollars, you pay 123. Rebekka Keane and bartender Anna Puiia enjoy Friday night at the neighborhood restaurant. Photo: Meira Valtonen / news – Abominable system There is a long way between the 1 May slogans in the USA. Instead, restaurant owners like Rebekka Kean have started a kind of rebellion against an outdated wage system. The fees of 23 per cent are distributed between chef Kiara Brennan and the others in the kitchen and those who serve. That to make it fairer. Rebecca Kean is a restaurant owner and has introduced a mandatory tipping fee to bring the tipping culture to life. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news – The tipping culture in this country is disgusting and unfair. It is discriminatory and is often about the muzzle factor. In this way, we try to bring the culture to life, explains Rebekka Kean. She believes that the restaurant industry itself must try to create changes in the wage system in the United States. Legacy of Slavery Brassica is by no means the only restaurant in the US to do this. In several states, restaurants feel forced to introduce such fees because the minimum wage for employees is set. An example is Washington DC, where on 1 May a new law was introduced which will gradually increase the lost wages for workers who receive tips. In the state of Massachusetts, where Brassica operates, the minimum wage is barely $15. But if you receive a tip, the employer only needs to pay you $6.75 an hour as long as you make $15 when the tip is added. If you do not do so, the employer is obliged to pay the deposit. Restaurant owner Kean believes the system must go. Down in the basement, Philip rolls out Ciabatta. He also gets tips now. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news – This started because some industries did not want to pay their employees a salary they could live on. And it is a legacy from slavery, she believes. At the same time, it is impossible for the restaurant to simply increase the prices of the food. – Then we wouldn’t be able to compete. In addition, the system we have introduced is more transparent. Tipping 35 percent Americans tip more than most other nations, and the guests we meet at the restaurant do not mind that they have to pay an extra 23 percent. – We would have left 20 per cent anyway, says Liz Kendrickan, who eats in the bar with her boyfriend Brian. Liz and Brian remember what it was like to work in a restaurant and will always tip, even if it makes eating out more expensive. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news They leave more than the obligatory tonight. Liz calculates that they tip about 10 percent in addition to the 23 included in the bill. – I once worked as a chef and know how little you earn without tips. We would like to show that we appreciate those who prepare the food. It’s really good here, says Brian Donovan. – Won’t it be very expensive to go out to eat? – Yes, but we don’t do it very often. Meg Delsey got everything the customers left extra before. Now she has to share the tip, but many leave even more than the 23 per cent fee. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news Waitress Meg Delsey previously received everything the customers left behind. She thinks it’s okay to share the tip, but says that many leave even more. – Yesterday there were six people at a table here who left 100 dollars in addition to the 23 percent which is mandatory. More expensive than in Norway? It is expensive for Norwegian tourists to go to a restaurant in the USA now. Often more expensive than in Norway with today’s dollar exchange rate. At Brassica, a main course costs around NOK 260. With a mandatory tip of 23 per cent and VAT of 6.25 per cent, the price is NOK 336 at today’s dollar exchange rate. Deep-fried chicken with oatmeal is one of the dishes guests can order at Brassica in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news The American guests also think it is expensive, but that it is still better with a mandatory tip. – But I wish they just increased the prices of the food, says Peter Ricor. Meg Delsey has delivered the bill to Peter Ricor and his wife Beth. They also like the new system at the restaurant and say they would have tipped 20 percent anyway. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news Tablets cause tip chaos New payment solutions also contribute to Americans feeling obliged to tip more and more in more and more places. Many shops, cafes, taxis and hairdressers use payment solutions where the customer signs with their finger on a tablet. The tablets give companies the opportunity to enter automatic tip suggestions. We go into a bakery and buy two slices of banab bread for eight dollars. The screen asks if we want to tip one, two or three dollars. For a purchase for eight, there is a 12.5 per cent, 25 per cent or 37 per cent tip. And the only thing the man at the checkout did was put the banana bread in a bag. Such screens with requests for tips are appearing in more and more places in the USA. Also in stores. Photo: Nam Y. Huh / AP – At 7-Eleven they ask for tips on those screens now. It’s a shop, after all. Still, I feel guilty if I don’t leave someone behind, says Leslie, whom we meet on the streets of Boston. Georgie has bought a cookie in Boston and left a tip. – I tip everywhere they ask for tips or might need a little extra, she says. Photo: Meira Valtonen / news The prices of most goods in the USA have risen sharply after the pandemic. With the tip culture, they increase even more. The restaurant in Boston is full every Friday. The new tipping regime was introduced after the pandemic, and the employees feel that customers are happy in restaurants like this one. They share what the customers leave behind, and know it will be more than before. Photo: Meira Valtonen / news
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Introduces a 23 percent mandatory tip – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
