Revenue sharing is taking off in restaurants in cities like Boston and San Francisco. The model varies from place to place, but the idea is simple: funnel a percentage of sales to kitchen workers.
Viewed for decades as capitalist exploitation, tipping is now encouraged at some upscale urban restaurants catering to wealthy young customers. Restaurateurs insist it's strictly voluntary.
It's customer and staff complaints that did away with the model to start, but that's also what's bringing the tradition back to restaurants that've been experimenting with the policy to even out pay.
Small businesses in Seattle have to pay a minimum of $15 an hour starting in 2021. But chef Renee Erickson has adopted higher pay for employees of her restaurant group ahead of schedule.
Imported from Europe, the custom of leaving gratuities began spreading in the U.S. post-Civil War. It was loathed as a master-serf custom thatdegraded America's democratic, anti-aristocratic ethic.
At fine-dining places, white workers overwhelmingly fill jobs with the heftiest salaries, while Latinos, blacks and other minorities have jobs with pay closer to the poverty level, a study finds.
Meyer says "something fascinating and completely unfair" plagues the restaurant industry: Waiters' incomes have risen far faster than other staff. To balance salaries out, he'll charge more for food.
Writer Steve Dublanica found himself a little lubricated at a country fair in backwoods Pennsylvania. After using the temporary restroom, he found an attendant with a tip jar.
