Originally Posted by
CarolynUK
Surely it ends up being a totally stupid system as wait staff in high end restaurants end up with a hefty income from their 20% plus tips just because the prices for the food and drink there are higher than in a fast food joint. Why should they be "paid" so much more than someone doing the exact same job in a cheaper establishment?
At higher end restaurants it's
supposed to reflect a higher level of service (in terms of services offered, staff skill, and staff-to-patron ratio), as well as as
ThePointsCollector mentioned in many cases it reflects a greater degree of tipping out to other staff (although some of this does occur at plenty of casual places.)
In the case of high-end places, odds are very good that in a non-tipping system, they'd pay higher-end wages/benefits to attract more reliable and better-qualified staff.
In some other cases, it's purely a matter of local cost of living, or outright "tourist pricing;" for an example that's about as casual and low-end as it gets while still having table service, compare Denny's prices in
(to pull a small midwestern city out of my a**) Topeka to suburbs outside San Francisco
(higher cost of living) to the one at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francsisco proper
(location, location, location... as a local I'd call it gouging.)