Michael Prue to resurrect his attempted “tipping-out” ban for restaurants
Next week, Beaches-East York MPP Michael Prue will be resurrecting his bid to end the practice of server “tip-outs” to management. The single-sentence proposed amendment to the Employment Standards Act legally forbids employers from reaping any of their employees’ gratuities. Prue created much controversy when he first tabled the private member’s bill back in 2010. Tip-out rates (usually anywhere from 0.5 to 5 per cent) and tip sharing arrangements vary by restaurant—sometimes they’re used by employers to cover the cost of rent, and sometimes they’re used as a means to help out invisible but crucial back-of-the-house staff members, like line cooks and service bartenders (the kind that never get to lend an ear or toss and twist a tequila bottle in search of an extra loonie). Last time around, Prue’s bid carried at second reading but was referred to a standing committee, where it died. Prue will table this second attempt on Monday. It’s a pretty safe bet that many servers across the city will be cheering him on.
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Next week, Beaches-East York MPP Michael Prue will be resurrecting his bid to end the practice of server “tip-outs” to management. The single-sentence proposed amendment to the Employment Standards Act legally forbids employers from reaping any of their employees’ gratuities. Prue created much controversy when he first tabled the private member's bill back in 2010. Tip-out rates (usually anywhere from 0.5 to 5 per cent) and tip sharing arrangements vary by restaurant—sometimes they’re used by employers to cover the cost of rent, and sometimes they’re used as a means to help out invisible but crucial back-of-the-house staff members, like line cooks and service bartenders (the kind that never get to lend an ear or toss and twist a tequila bottle in search of an extra loonie). Last time around, Prue’s bid carried at second reading but was referred to a standing committee, where it died. Prue will table this second attempt on Monday. It’s a pretty safe bet that many servers across the city will be cheering him on.){kind=link}
I’d like to know where servers are tipping out so little. My resto makes us tip out 7% (after tax, whether a customer tips or not), and the kitchen staff doesn’t see a dime of it.
What restaurant is that??
I own a restaurant and we have a 5% tip out. All of which goes to the kitchen staff and the bussers. I believe they deserve more than that but industry standards dictate that the servers get the lion’s share of the gratuities. I have been a server. I have been a manager. Now I am an owner, and find it outrageous there is not a better system out there. Most servers are not remotely hard done by and frankly tip out grudgingly when they owe so much to the kitchen crew who in all honesty work much harder than the servers. Do owners deserve a cut? Depends on the owner. I personally work my butt off on the floor and believe I contribute greatly to my customer’s experience and am a vital support to the floor staff. I’d love a cut. But the 5% doesn’t go that far when you split it between everyone, so I don’t take anything.
It is not a fair system, but eliminating tip out all together will only punish the very deserving back of house.
There is a serious error in this article. The tips legislation does not effect support staff. Only owners who practice the policy like that top one – large percentages which go directly to owners. Of which there are many.
Service bartenders, hosts, bussers, cooks, bar backs are NOT going to be touched by this legislation. Shame on Torotno Life for not doing the basic research.
I’m a server and we tip out 10’s of thousands of dollars a year. It is used to pay overtime hours and managers bonuses in cash. Not all establishments are equal in how they spread it out. If a table walks out with out paying I’m liable for the bill. If the kitchen screws up the order and I get a worse tip or not one at all I’m now paying the restaraunt out of my own pocket. Tip stands for to insure proper service, so if I’m giving the service and being judged by it, then I should reap the sole benefits! If the guys in the back were being judged by the customer in a form of gratuity you would probably have the best and tastiest food every time, but u don’t and all but the servers are guaranteed the percentage. Waiting is a profession and most of us are treated like garbage so screw the owners and corporations, I’ll have no remorse. Go Prue!!!!!
hey , politico stay out of business , its not your business!
politicians cant even run the governemnt and now they want to meddle in private business!
get a job!
Owners and managers stealing from their employees is exactly the sort of thing the government should be working to stop, George.
I’ve been serving customers for 10 years now, I would say that serving is a big part of my life.. There is no server out there that truly believes the tip out goes all to the support staff. A typically busy place, can generate 12,000 a day, at 3.5% tip out the house is taking in $420 of the servers tips. We, (the servers) fully know the support staff is not seeing that whole amount, at best they get 30-40% of that. The house takes the rest. Can this unfair practice really change? I do not think so, It’s a great idea, and servers across Canada would be in shock if the industry would change.
However what I think will end up happening is that owners will come up with additional charges to their serving staff to collect that tip out, Let’s be honest, 3.5% cash undeclared income is too lucrative for restareaunt owners to give up.
However a law to change the culture of restaurant owner gauging of tips would need some serious bite to actually enforce, and in these tough economic times, there is not a real political will to make a fair change.
So for now, the best thing I could hope for is next time you go to a restareaunt to eat, and the server did provide a service to you, tip properly please this is how we make our living!
Thank you
Jack
Last Wednesday we attended a dinner for a niece’s graduation in a private room at Terroni on Adelaide. Party of 12.
Waiter was great at the beginning of the evening but virtually disappeared towards the end. Took twenty minutes to get a second cup of coffee. Real problem was the kitchen.They forgot to cook one entre,waiter showed us his computer input for all 12. The party who did not get his entre had to cool his heels well the others ate their dinner. No management type to say sorry or offer any “perc” for the kitchen’s screw up…and when the last guy finally got his dinner it was incinerated fish. Their was a manditory 18%, not a typo,18% tip!…total tab almost $1100.00
How do you chose not to tip, without making a scene, when you are not getting great service & and the”food” is garbage & tip is manditory? Waiter deserved some tip, but played CYA by showing the order printout,didn’t make manager aware of the problem, kitchen staff deserves nothing for producing garbage late, ownership & “management” should have their asses kicked from one end of Adelaide to the other for not giving a damn.
Great service staff should get great tips, backroom/kitchen/bar support staff should be tipped out by the waitstaff/bartenders. Management should not be allowed to take more than 1% for acccounting & processing creditcard/debitcard tips.
Being in business means you take on risks. If you serve food on dishes, some of the dishes get broken, in my mind ownership should not charge staff for broken dishes.
If they want to charge for broken dishes, then a set price should be put in writting & signed by staff before employment starts.
Just a (former) Customer
As a server I absolutely agree that the BOH should be getting a portion of the tip out, but when you have greedy restaurant owners such as mine who take 3-5% of our tips and not give dime to the kitchen is ridiculous. These owners are keeping the tip out to pay the staff wages. Theres no reason i should be paying my own 8.90 an hour paycheque.
Tipping should be done away with completely as it skews the true cost of a meal to consumers and allows for misallocation of rewards to labour. Under current practices service staff reap the greatest rewards for a restaurant’s performance event though they work the least and risk the least. In Japan service staff either work equally long hours to kitchen staff or if part-time an hourly wage 8-10% above minimum age is paid out. Tips are allocated evenly between service, kitchen and owner.
Some servers have negatively noted above that owners are taking a portion of the tip. The profitability of a restaurant is being squeezed in recent years by rising food and energy costs on the supply side and recession-stung consumers on the demand side. It is hardly a negative that those risking the most seek to protect their return. The term “greedy owners” may apply to software and hi-tech companies with 45% profit margins but most certainly does not for the thin profit margin of a restaurateurs.
Perhaps all parties deserve a per cent of the tip out in equal parts.
Having been in FOH and BOH, I have tipped out and the guys in the back got nothing,and been in the back I know the guys were tipping out and I got nothing.Most restaurant owners are douche bags.Very few pay the BOH what the should.Wait till I am king of the world.
The kitchen staff, if doing such a great job should be reimbursed through their hourly wages, keep in mind servers make $8.90 an hour for a reason. If the kitchen staff is so eager to receive tips then become a server, not a part of the kitchen staff. The kitchen and others in bars and restaurants work very hard, but when it comes down to it the person is tipping based on the servers personality and ability to serve and satisfy, and even if the food was exceptional, and the service wasn’t they don’t tip. It’s based on the servers front line SERVICE and it is no ones right to, especially an owner or mangers to pocket it. I agree tip out is fair for kitchen staff and security staff in bars but a regulated percentage and managers and owners should see none of that in their pockets.
There is a place in the beach that charges servers 4% on holidays. 2% the rest of the time. The only person that sees this is the owner .Is this FAIR ? The kitchen staff work so hard and so do the servers. They have no benefits , no breaks,pay full price for there meals and drinks. If you don’t tip properly he takes it off your check and if you argue he takes you off the schedule. Good luck trying to change this sleezy owners will always find someone who needs a job bad enough to agree to unfair standards.
Bottom line to all you restaurant owners … the cost of doing business is your responsibility NOT the servers. There is a little invention called the tax write off. The clothing shop down the street can not ask for a tip out to cover their miscellaneous costs and support staff. And why is it again you get away with paying a server less than minimum wage when your neighbour shop owner has to pay their staff full wage ????? If you want to be a chef … chef. If you want to be a server … serve. If you want to be a busser … bus. Don’t expect the servers who have the ability and who have spent usually years honing their craft tip you out because you can’t or chose not to serve. Yes serving is not rocket science, but not many can do it well. How is this practice even legal ?!? I’m looking for a word … oh, yah. It’s called EXTORTION.
Thank you! Extortion is the right word. Go to any major Franchise in Chatham Kent Ontario and it’s par for the course. Sad.
I worked for a corporate restaurant. (full story @http://areyoukidding40.blogspot.ca/) the owner abolished a tip pool wherein the back of the house would get a portion of the tips. He redirected those tips to himself. Servers began hiding their tips, so he changed the rules…now they pay 2% of their gross sales figure, daily, to him. Sometimes their tips don’t even cover that payout, and they’re not allowed to start their next shift until they pay it. This is where it becomes all out illegal theft! I went to my local MP, and even the Ontario Minister of Labour, and got NOWHERE! Restaurant owners know that they can stomp all over their staff.
Most of the servers pay on average, $100.00 weekly to the owner from their tips. This crap has gone too far! Oh, the restaurant in question, Crabby Joe’s, Chatham ON.
I agree %100
In addition to paying out 2.5% to the owners,I have never been paid stat holiday or been paid time and a half for working stat holidays, which in the restaurant industry is every holiday. When I approached the owners about stat holiday pay they said they couldn’t afford to pay us for it!! That’s a lie, cuz they all have huge houses and expensive cars. He then replied with well we might have to up the tip out to house to pay for those costs. I’m screwed either way, and without any rules on tipping out to house, they have every right to do it. I only stay there because I love the other servers I work with, as well as the customers. Which is a rare find in the industry.
In a large Spa in Down Town Toronto, Managers taking tips out from the servers, possible 80% go to their pocket before any worker can see the money.
Do not ‘leave tips on the front desk’, Don’t feed those thieves.
Put cash in the hand of the server, before the service or after.
In a large Spa in Down Town Toronto, Managers taking tips out from the servers, possible 80% go to their pocket before any worker can see the money.
Do not ‘leave tips on the front desk’.
Don’t feed those thieves.
In Toronto, always put cash in the hand of the server.
In Toronto, The manager only care about their job promotion and steal the money and goods from the server and from the owner.
In Spa business in Down Town Toronto, Managers taking tips out from the servers, possible 80% go to their pocket before any worker can see the money.
Do not ‘leave tips on the front desk’.
Don’t feed those thieves.
In Toronto, always put cash in the hand of the server.
In Toronto, The managers only care about their job promotion and steal the money and goods from the server and from the owner.
Police,politicians, newsman can be bribed too.
This is a rotten land. Amen.
Let me put my two cents on this as a previous server, busser, runner, expo, line cook, bartender, chef and now owner. As I have mentioned there are lots of positions in a restaurant, back and front of the house. Any good server realizes that this is a group effort and not a mere “look at me and my skills as a server”. The experience starts with a great host/hostess greeting the client, and leading them to a clean table that has been bussed by a busser; Often a sommelier appears in the scene to offer wine; the order is taken by the server and a bartender makes drinks often run by a runner; food gets punched in and often expedited by an expo and run by the runners; more orders get in and they all follow this same pattern, dishes are cleared by a busser between appetizers and main courses. So far I have counted The Host/Hostess, The Sommelier, The Server, The Busser, The Runner, The Expo (thats 6 people so far only in the front of the house without counting the Owner/The Manager). In the back there are Line Cooks, Prep People, The Dishwasher, The Sous Chef, The Chef, The Chef Departie.
Imagine that! all the people that get involved so we can enjoy a delightful evening, not just of great food but an atmosphere and a great experience from the small details of flowers to dimmed lights to clean washrooms and chocolate mints with a folded bill.
What do we tip then? who should get this generosity of ours? As I said a good server realizes that this is a group effort and gladly shares this generous tip. There are many forms to split this tip from counting points attributed to each employee to fixed percentages per position, in either way the generosity of the customer gets shared as everyone did their part to make the experience.
When does the manager or the owner even gets to participate on this sharing? to me the one and only time where this is allowed is when they play the roles(s) mentioned above. If the manager takes over the position of a runner because it didn’t show that night, or the post of the expo or even the hostess then I am ok with them participating on the sharing as they performed the duty aforementioned, otherwise obviously they do not get to share as they did not contribute to it.
Obviously the split is shared depending on the efforts made, some restaurants place very little expectation on the server other than to take the orders and they let the sommelier do his/her job and so the runners and bussers. How to split the gratuity is a topic for the circumstances of the particular restaurant yet it is clear that it is a group effort and therefore must be split.