Doc Crows tip pooling

Tip pooling is ok when you have people that work together and play the game. We do it on special parties, but that idea always comes from the servers themselves. They know thier coworkers are going to pull thier weight.

Truthfully, I want my servers to own thier station like a business. I want them hungry and enthusiastic- not entitled and lethargic.

'Remember when you declined that last duece last night, because you wanted to go home? I took it and made $20. Don't gripe at me because you aren't making money.'

If i do that once a night x five nights a week = an extra $400/month = another tax bracket.

PS. That's nothing against Doc Crow's, they're darn fine restauranteurs and made this decision for a reason. It's not up to me to judge- I trust thier move.

I would say that the servers in the top and even middle restaurants do very well on the tip system. No one is walking home making minimum wage. At my place they averaged $25-35 per hour. I know a few places where the servers are making $60k per year. Given the choice I bet they would want to stay on tips verse hourly.

I remember an old article about the "21 Club" in New York. The writer surveyed average tips, and also anonymously surveyed patrons who had made reservations at the restaurants on those nights. They discovered that the average waiter made more money on an annual basis than the average customer!

Can someone explain to my who tipping helps?

It seems to be a pain from the governmental, employer, employee, and consumer perspectives.

Worried about incentives for the workers? Pay them true minimum plus some determined percent of sales if you want. Commission on sales is similar to tipping but without the variance. If you want to give waiters X% and bartenders Y% and bussers Z%, then do that. I much more rational system than the tip system.

This subject has been discussed in depth several times here. It's the way it's done in Europe and many other regions and it works well there. They don't have the commission as part of their pay, at least in the places where I've discussed the issue with the waitstaff. Overall, I would say that American waitstaff is more attentive than waitstaff in Europe. This is probably because they have much more influence on how much pay, they will receive. I don't think you'll ever see the system change here without some major push from the IRS for tax reasons.

Love this forum (a true guilty pleasure) and am usually quiet unless I may have information that can be helpful. Well here it goes again:

I too have been wondering why there hasn't been much attention to this. Not because it unfortunately fell behind the Lynn's issues but because the tip pooling/tip sharing is really occurring and sometimes has the tendency to not be practiced correctly - whether legal or not.

Boyfriend worked at DC's. There was (and up to his departure ) nothing stated in any employee manual, hand out, poster, post it note or even during training that stated that 35% of one's tips had to immediately come off the top to go to support staff (at DC's this includes food runners x 2 for both lunch and dinner, bussers, drink runners-only at dinner, bartenders x 1 for lunch and up to 4 for dinner). The first he was told of this rule was at the end of his first shift after training when he turned his money in to management.
He too was contacted by the attorney and asked to join the class action lawsuit. The issue was/is most certainty not in regards to tip pooling in general but the simple fact that 35% came right off the top and was distributed amongst the entire support staff EVEN IF they provided absolutely no assistance during that shift. Case in point: Boyfriend worked many lunch shifts where no service was given by the bar staff during the entire shift (keep in mind that the bar staff also shuck the oysters) yet a portion of that 35% was shared with the bar staff. What made it worse is that management never shared back with it's employees how their tips were rationed out.

Being in the biz myself, I have and never will have issue with tipping out those that help make me and the company money but I do have a problem tipping out someone who didn't provide me any assistance as well as blindly handing over money while not able to view any record of what happened to it.

And just a little more info, on average he made $30-$50 for a non stay through lunch shift, $65-$100 for a lunch stay through and $85-$130 for a dinner shift. This is all before tip out. If he worked an event, 30% was taken first from whole gratuity to go to event planner then the 35% to support staff with the remaining being dispensed amongst the servers who worked event.

I hope this helped.

[Robin Garr]

Love this forum (a true guilty pleasure) and am usually quiet unless I may have information that can be helpful. Well here it goes again:

Thanks for your post, Sara! Now that you've broken the ice, I hope you'll join in more often!

I've never heard of an event planner getting a cut of the gratuity! Any that I've worked with were always paid an upfront fee for providing the service. Do you know if their cut of the gratuity was in addition to a fee? That certainly sounds unusual to say the least.

That certainly sounds unusual to say the least.

exactly

That certainly sounds unusual to say the least.

exactly

Just a side-note:

I Love your Avatar!

Just saying)

And just a little more info, on average he made $30-$50 for a non stay through lunch shift, $65-$100 for a lunch stay through and $85-$130 for a dinner shift. This is all before tip out. If he worked an event, 30% was taken first from whole gratuity to go to event planner then the 35% to support staff with the remaining being dispensed amongst the servers who worked event.

I'd be interested to hear what people see as a standard tip share. In the restaurants where I worked it was more in the realm of 10-15%. If servers are sharing 35%, I can easily see food runners, etc. making as much or more than the servers.

My understanding of this issue is that much of the backlash against tip sharing stemmed from situations where managers were getting a cut of tips. An event planner taking 30% would certainly fall under that category.

He too was contacted by the attorney and asked to join the class action lawsuit.

I too, at a different establishment in Louisville, had been part of a Class Action Lawsuit involving Tip Share/Pooling; never was much clear on either one. However it did , in the lawsuit, list an amount each Server/Buser/Bartender was owed as a result of said practice. I was never REALLY clear on the entire Suit, but was happy to get $. The amount was not a large amount , $60 I believe. But there were Servers awarded thousands in withheld wages/tips.

Very similar to this lawsuit: http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2011/09/outback_steakhouse.php

That certainly sounds unusual to say the least.

exactly

Just a side-note:

I Love your Avatar!

Just saying)

awwwww...thanks!!

Boyfriend worked at DC's. There was (and up to his departure ) nothing stated in any employee manual, hand out, poster, post it note or even during training that stated that 35% of one's tips had to immediately come off the top to go to support staff (at DC's this includes food runners x 2 for both lunch and dinner, bussers, drink runners-only at dinner, bartenders x 1 for lunch and up to 4 for dinner). The first he was told of this rule was at the end of his first shift after training when he turned his money in to management.

Hence why mandatory tip sharing/pooling is illegal.
So for those who say they doubt any owner is supporting the wages of the support staff using servers tips, well here you go.
Hopefully the servers win the class action law suit. Im a business owner myself, but believe in paying a fair wage.

My experience with this...was just that....voluntarily.....but it was done by all....at the end of the day you are screwing over your co-workers....that's no good.

My experience with this...was just that....voluntarily.....but it was done by all....at the end of the day you are screwing over your co-workers....that's no good.

I completely agree.

If you have a busser, a food-runner, a drink runner- all of this support staff, you get to become a salesman and make a bunch of money. You should take care of these people.

Now, I have an exceptionally credible source at Doc Crow's and I have been told thier tipping proceedures. They are in-line with industry standards. The servers designated the percentages during the opening months, mind you.

Once again, the management cannot dictate tipping proceedures. The restaurant does collect the tips at the end of the night, as a service to the staff. Most all restaurants do.

As a manager who writes your schedule, if you feel like shorting your busser or food-runner, I have to wonder where else are you shorting people? The guests? The restaurant? So then I have a generous server who takes care of thier people. Who do you think I am going to trust to take care of our people- our guests?

Who gets the shifts and the best tables? It's kind of a no-brainer.

Dead on Stephen....