Some do because sometimes the screen shows the final total and if it’s higher than the original total, they know you tipped.
Personally, I tip (although not as much as sometimes recommended), but if you don’t… you won’t the only one, so don’t feel bad.
Average consumer : “Oh wow it goes to all employees, how amazing!”
Me: huge eye roll “Oh wow they found a way to word it so it goes towards the PTO/Healthcare for salaried employees/owners!”
Granted this isn’t California so not sure how well tips are regulated in Chicago but owners somehow always find a way to dig into that gratuity you leave for the staff.
Disclaimer at bottom of menu at Wes Avila’s new place (emphasis added by me):
A 5% wellness fee is added to all checks in support of health benefits & workers comp premiums for our staff, which includes non-managerial and managerial staff alike, but it is not a fee or service. If you’d like this fee removed, please Iet us know.
Am I a complete idiot for not understanding these two sentences? If it is called a “wellness fee” AND the diner can request “this fee removed”, then what’s with the “it is not a fee or service”?
Edited to add this thought:
If they changed the wording to something like, “A 5% wellness surcharge is added to all checks in support of health benefits & workers comp premiums for our staff, which includes non-managerial and managerial staff alike. This is not a fee or service, is completely discretionary, and will be removed at your request” maybe it would be better?
I just left Poltergeist after my first (and sadly last) meal there, and I love their take on surcharges
You’re certainly not an idiot, it’s totally mumbo jumbo. Whether it’s purposefully or accidentally obtuse, it’s not a good look. Whichever it is, when I dine at the restaurant - which will probably be soon as I like Wes - I’ll request to remove it and then tip a full 20%.
Why can’t the owners/investors cover that? Every employer does this for their employees
I think this is them
Maybe to pay for all the ad placement in print
My guess is “fee or service” came from some regulation or legal document they’re trying to comply with or avoid getting sued over. But clearly it IS a fee.
I mean…they can call it whatever they want in different restaurants but it’s essentially a “help us with our bottom line” fee.
For example Budonoki (Virgil Village) has a 4% service charge that goes to healthcare and ‘operational’ costs. Is it 50/50? Do they put 1 percent of that towards operations or 1 dollar? Or do they funnel it all into healthcare or even bonuses for just salaried employees? We’ll never know unless we see their P&L!
At least city of Santa Monica and San Francisco have laws in place (specifically for healthcare surcharge) to make sure that the extra % goes is accounted for and actually goes towards the employees. People will always try to get around these rules though it seems like, makes me sad…
As discussed above, breaking out a separate charge for healthcare can reduce gross receipts and thus in many cases payments to the landlord.
It’s not so much “help us with our bottom line” as keeping their menu prices in line with competitors that don’t provide health insurance.
State law requires that fees be used as described. San Francisco just added a reguatory framework. SF also requires larger employers to provide health insurance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DAtX-zrNYyb/
Even in the right part of town, those would be huge accomplishments in that timeframe for any operation. The fact that we all did this at the ugly butt end of a desolate convention center suck hole in the post-panny apocalypse, is nothing short of a small miracle.
Lulu used to get a lot of business from conventions at that location, but it was a more mass-appeal kind of place.
Didn’t I read that he’s funded by his billionaire father? They reportedly have a whole second fully decorated and furnished restaurant on 12th Street that has never opened.
https://www.7x7.com/palette-soma-serves-food-art-community-2639154226.html
