Restaurant Went Tipless and Says Service and Wages Got Better – Is This the Way to Go?

Friends who lived or visited different places in Europe have told me about the no tipping lifestyle over there, and from an experience with a bunch of drunk Brits at a Ricky Hatton fight in Vegas, I experienced it a bit.

I know tipping is how wait staff gets their money, and businesses pay them less per hour because of it.  This guy, Jay Porter, got rid of tipping in his restaurant.  Completely.  He replaced the tip with an eighteen percent "service fee", which he can then distribute evenly amongst the staff, including cooks.

According to his story, not only did the service improve, but the food got better, the employees were happier, and the customers more satisfied.  Apparently, the motivation to work hard for tips isn't widely regarded as a good thing.  Once the servers were free from the tip, they became better at their jobs, as Jay says:

Servers are motivated to do a good job in the same ways that everyone else is. Servers want to keep their jobs; servers want to get a raise; servers want to be successful and see themselves as professionals and take pride in their work. In any workplace, everyone is required to perform well, and tips have nothing to do with it.

via Slate.com

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