Canadian Restaurateur Bans Tipping at New Restaurant

A Canadian restaurateur is adding his name to the growing list of people who want to abolish tipping at restaurants. According to the Times Colonist, David Jones will open his new Parksville, BC restaurant Smoke and Water in June and will not allow customers to tip their servers. The Globe and Mail notes that Jones believes there is a "gross unfairness" when servers and other front of house staff make 20% of the tips and the back of house staff "has to make do with the small percentage that waitstaff kick to them at the end of shift." He will place "no tipping" signs on tables across the restaurant and he will even eliminate the line for tipping on credit card receipts. If a tip is left and the restaurant cannot get it back to a customer, Jones will donate the money to charity.

To compensate for the lack of tips, Jones has upped menu prices by around 18% and plans to pay servers "a living wage." This means servers will make between $20-$24 CAD (USD $18.37-$22.05) an hour while cooks will make between $16-$18 CAD (USD $14.70-$16.53) an hour. Jones notes that, "paying them this way allows them to carve out a career."

Tipping has become something of a hot topic lately. Some have argued that when servers make more than cooks, they are discouraged from staying in the kitchen and performing well. Plenty of restaurants have banned tipping altogether, including Brand 158 in LA, and Restaurant Riki and Sushi Yasuda in NYC. Restaurateurs like David Chang, Tom Colicchio, and Danny Meyer also have publicly discussed getting rid of tipping. To avoid the tipping problem entirely, some high end restaurants like Next in Chicago and Trois Mec and Alma in Los Angeles have switched over to a ticketing system which includes a service charge in the price.

· No Tipping Allowed at New Parksville Restaurant [Times Colonist]
· Have We Reached a 'Non-Tipping' Point with Gratuities? [Globe and Mail]
· All Tipping Coverage on Eater [-E-]