In San Francisco high end restaurants? That’s disappointing. I think I’ve seen that at Zuni and Perbacco in the last month, and we still tipped okay. I thought at least front of the house did okay. They are almost all grown men!
OTOH, if fair wage means you can afford to live where you work, who can afford to live in San Francisco? I can’t. If I did, I wouldn’t be eating at Zuni and Perbacco!
So the restauranteur won’t pay his employees a fair wage & adds a “ wage surcharge “? That’s ridiculous & I would call over the owner & explain why I am not paying it & never ever come back.
Also would hand to both the waiter & busser a cash tip .
No sure I’m following the plot on: “We won’t pay our employees a fair wage so we are adding another surcharge to make up for it.”
The fee is so they CAN pay their employees a better wage (current minimum is $16.30). They are telling you that they are (or trying to compensate employees fairly), just breaking it out in a fee based way. If they didn’t charge fees and just upped the menu prices accordingly, employees would get paid exactly the same.
the back of the house would like to do ok, too
It’s not the consumers responsibility for a fair wages for an establishments employees last time I checked.
The NY Yankees pay their players huge amounts of money.
They charge their customers huge amounts of money, if the product is worth it the business & employees thrive.
No fees
This week, all sorts of businesses in my region in Canada have started tacking on extra fees for using a credit card.
4 extra dollars on $80 of cigarettes, 2.95 % fee at my mechanic for charges over $5000.
I get that business people feel that they pay too much money in credit card fees & feel entitled to pass the fee onto the customer
I also get that I need to know it’s their policy
I also have the option to not do business with them or pay cash.
I will most certainly avoid any business that tacks on any type of fee that is an employee wage enhancement fee. It’s not my responsibility to pay their employees a fair wage.
I’m a former business owner who always paid my employees well above the national average & always had employees who lived well
I was in a very low margin business btw & it wasn’t that long ago.
Of course! Which is why I thought some of the fees were added.
I think that everyone is talking about this issue, in one form or another. My local grocery/deli (which I really like & know the owners) currently has a tip jar by the cashier counter. Why am I tipping an employee for ringing up my order? Isn’t that the employer’s responsibility - to pay a decent wage?! And, my receipt showed a 3.35% surcharge for me using a credit card (cant remember the exact wording for the charge). Isn’t that an owner/management cost of doing business?! As I said, one example and at a place I will continue to frequent. But I’d feel better if they just raised the prices a little (5%) and took responsibility for their overall business without involving me in their specific cost issues. The owner doesn’t see it that way (there’s probably a tax issue there somewhere but I don’t have a clue).
Okay, a digression, but a story I’ve told for years: in the '80s there was a semi-famous East European place in the East Village, NYC that made great pirogi. At lunch, 8 potato pirogi cost $2.50 (I’m making up the exact pricing here because I don’t remember it). Cabbage pirogi were also $2.50 for 8. So were the cheese pirogi. Meat pirogi were higher priced at $2.75 for 8 - understandable, because, well… meat. However, if you wanted a combination plate, it was $3.00 for 8 (2 of each). Why? Ahh, the mysteries of life. And the fact that not all owners are mathematicians or good public relations people.
Which are also obnoxious. We will provide you certain things, because we are a hotel that provides these things, and then we will charge you a “resort fee” because you didn’t realize that you were in a hotel vs your own house. If you want to have a separate line item, make it optional. If everyone pays it, then why break it out? Just to annoy people who think they know what the cost of their hotel stay will be, only to be unpleasantly surprised with the end bill.
The employment laws for restaurant staff need to be entirely overhauled. It is currently legal for restaurants to pay servers and whatnot well below minimum wage, sometimes only $4-5/hr, because there are tips that theoretically make up the difference. Restaurants are following the rules as they currently stand. I agree that it is ridiculous. In any other industry, you do your job well, you keep it. You do your job poorly, you get fired. Why would waiters be treated differently? Pay them a full salary and don’t put them at the mercy of the whims of the diners.
I used to follow which NYC hotels were tacking on resort fees from 2015-2019. The Algonquin Hotel, being a 4 star Autograph Collection hotel under the Marriott umbrella, had a resort fee, but they also gave a $25ish USD daily food credit that sort of canceled out the fee if you are at their restaurant. I tried to use it- towards breakfast one day and a late snack another day, but the restaurant charged something like $10 for a pot of French Press coffee (not selling a single cup), and a soft drink with my $18 before-tax-salad was $6, so I’d still end up paying $10-$20, in an attempt to use that $25 credit.
I realized for me, I’d rather take the loss and eat somewhere I want, than try to use that $25 credit at the hotel.
The 3 star and under Hotels, under the Marriott brand, such as Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn didn’t charge a resort fee, but they also feel like a basic business hotel, so they don’t have the ambiance that come with the hotels that are usually charging for a resort fee in Manhattan.
The most ridiculous resort fees were at the Westin where I stayed in Kauai, for a dated resort. Even the Courtyard on Kauai charges a resort fee. The Courtyard was transparent about their resort fees on their website, whereas there was no mention of it on the Westin’s site. I based my decision to stay at the Westin thinking there was no resort fee. It was a surprise when I checked out.
Completely agree. It’s your business. Pay your costs. Leave me out of it. Charge me for the overall service or good you’re providing.
Depends on the state. I believe close to half do not use the tip credit, don’t know about NJ.
All of the west coast requires paying FOH minimum wage, and we have some of the higher ones.
A server in Seattle or SF makes at least $15/hr before tips. No, that’s not enough to live on but it’s also not so little. Cooks might make $25/hr still well below median income.
I didn’t realize that WA and the west coast required min wage for the front of house. This is good info - thanks.
It’s all over the place. Add in the difference between working at a diner with a check average of $15 and fine dining with a check average of $100 and … 
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped
As for credit card charges, I have a small business and understand the urge to add a surcharge for credit though do not so far (except on wholesale where the margins are lower).
Ditto. It sure beats mailing invoices and “the check is in the mail”.
I have to keep reminding myself that this is a New Jersey sub-forum.
NJ restaurant, countrywide issue.
Of course. but it seems like some locations handle it differently. It’s easy for me to assume everyone one does it like San Francisco, or California,with a $15.00 minimum wage, and some kind of access to health benefits, etc, but I am reminded that is not so.
