The cynic in me is thinking “what is their definition of a living wage and what percentage of the revenue share do the employees get?”
$25+/hr would be okay.
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Apropos Jon & Vinny’s service charge, the Kismet owners discuss their expansion and new investors…
“[We] are growing this organization in alignment with our values,” says Kramer. “We got rid of the service charge at Kismet when we changed ownership. Anyone who is working an hourly position in any of our restaurants gets the same share of tipped earnings based on hours worked.”
My totally unsourced, rank speculation was their split was about this issue. Who knows?
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Im having a littke trouble with the quote from the owners. Anyone working a hourly position gets the same share gets the same share of earnings based on hours worked .
So a slacker who takes alot of smoke breaks gets paid the same .What ?
Tips are pooled and distributed in proportion to hours worked.
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Ok
With the service charge in California, owners can keep/distribute whatever amount of said charge even if most consumers view it as a tip and assume it goes directly to the server. If classified as a tip this would be wage theft.
My reading: their quote directly addresses the service charge issue at Jon and Vinny’s and implies that they were not happy with how that money was or was not distributed.
That’s odd that they mention Pitfire as part of Karpreilly -Pretty sure it’s part of American Gonzo? Maybe I’m missing something
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Looks like American Gonzo is the parent company of Pitfire and KarpReilly is an investor in Pitfire.
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Most places I’m familiar with that pool tips pay them out based on hours worked as a percentage of the day’s tips. I’ve never quite understood that, since tipping is typically a percentage of the bill -, which would be larger at dinner time than breakfast. A server working breakfast only would benefit; one working dinner would be hurt. The opposing view is, I suppose, that a plate is a plate, whether it is of waffles or filet mignon.
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Aren’t tips commonly pooled by shift?
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Some places yes; others no. Shifts overlap. At least they did in my experience.
Okay, so, we had lunch at Jon & Vinny’s in BH and I decided to take a chance and straight-up ask our server her thoughts on the service charge. She was open and quite forthcoming. She said she likes working at J&V. They wear what they want, it’s low stress and management is chill (work environment was rated high on Glassdoor even by the dissenters). She said she likes the service charge overall because she does make a higher wage than at non-service charge places she’s worked. And though some customers do complain and treat the service charge as a tip (which it’s not) she still makes good tips. Does she wish the whole service charge went to her? Yes, but understands that’s not how it works. She also noted that the service charge is why all the pizzas, most of the pastas and quite a few other dishes are still under $25.00.
They do have a low cost insurance plan that some employees benefit more from than others but everyone is entitled to and have some or all taken out of their check. She wasn’t completely sure of the details because she doesn’t like their plan and has other insurance. She looked young enough (under 27) to possibly still be on her parents insurance.
So there’s one server’s story. 
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Did she expect a 15-25% tip on top of the service charge?
This is good info. Glad you did actual reconnaissance!
Does this mean most people leave more money aka tip above the service charge? Philosophically I’m still uncomfortable with a system where owners can siphon whatever percentage of ‘intended tips.’ Tbd if that’s the case and if service charges replace tipping more broadly.
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Unless you count the service charge, in which case every dish listed on the menu at $22 or more costs over $25.
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I can’t say if she expected a tip. She didn’t say. She said some customers tip and some don’t. We did. What she conveyed was a contentment with her job. Others’ mileage may vary. That’s all I got.
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According to a review by the Times, the company’s payment and accounting system treats the service charge as a revenue line item on checks, and there is no way to directly track the flow of service charge revenue to payroll. Instead, the revenue functions just like revenue at any other business, contributing to total revenue …
So it’s not a service charge. It’s just a general surcharge.
High service fees — north of 15% — aren’t unusual and are normally used as an automatic gratuity, said Janet Lowder, president of Restaurant Management Services in Rancho Palos Verdes. But Lowder and other experts said it was unusual for such high service fees to supplement base hourly wages.
“That just doesn’t seem right,” Lowder said. “It’s bizarre that it’s used to offset the hourly wages, which is the cost of doing business.”
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Yup as much as I love the food there that’s why I’ve been boycotting. Those are some shady ass business practices and it puts their servers in such terrible positions.
Hopefully they get sued for a lot of money.
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As a result, servers earn the highest average hourly wages among staff, at just over $39 at one location and $42 at the other, while these tips and other bonuses bring dishwashers over $21.50 and $22, cooks up to $23 to $24, bussers and baristas to just over $25, hosts to over $29 at one location and over $34 at the other, and sommeliers to $38-$40.
the article could have done some more journalism and told us how those numbers compare to other similar restaurants that use normal tipping system. otherwise it is hard to judge whether or not to take the below in good faith
Since labor costs can be the largest chunk of any restaurant’s budget, the precise flow of revenue from the 18% service fee is sort of moot, the restaurant argues, because overall payroll is far greater than 18% of what it brings in.
Its service charge system allows the restaurant to increase wages for its hourly employees, including for workers who are not present in-house during service hours — and none of it went to management or salaried employee payroll, the restaurant said.
i still don’t understand why they just don’t raise prices by the percentage and avoid the whole rigmarole…
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