Originally Posted by
cepheid
So you think it's OK to make the employees suffer for your principles, just because you're doing it ostensibly on their behalf, so they aren't working for "slave wages?"
I would also love an answer to my other question: if tipping were banned but prices were raised 15-20%, would you be happy even though you'd be paying exactly the same amount? If so, why?
I guess my answer is 'sort of'. In the UK tipping is not the norm, and all staff (kitchen, bus boys, servers, bartenders) are paid a wage (normally minimum wage given the high volume of staff to a lower number of jobs) The difference between the current wage paid in the US in some states (around the $2 mark) and the minimum wage for servers [am I right in thinking kitchen staff etc are already entitled to minimum wage most places?] ( $7.25 although I know some states are higher, some lower) would not justify a 15-20% increase on the menu prices across the board on a mid-level restaurant menu. So an increase of, say, 5% that would cover the difference between the sub-wage at the moment and the minimum wage would be reasonable. That is what UK restaurants do without making the conscious calculation, full staff wages are part of the overhead so taken into account on the pricing.