New York restaurateur Danny Meyer is banning tips at all his restaurants
A BRAVE new plan is about to be trialled in the US, but doing away with tips at restaurants could forever change how people dine.
VISIONARY restaurateur Danny Meyer is doing away with tips at all his restaurants — with the new policy rolling out in November at his poshest place, The Modern.
By the end of 2016, Meyer plans to overhaul all 13 of his eateries under the umbrella of his restaurant group, Union Square Hospitality Group, to a European style of dining where the menu’s pricing is all-inclusive.
“I’d see nights where waiters were crying because somebody from Europe would walk out without leaving a tip,” Meyer told Eater.
He’s been thinking about changing the way Americans tip for decades, writing in a Union Square Cafe newsletter back in 1994 that our system is “awkward for all parties involved.” But this week, he made it official.
“Restaurant patrons are expected to have the expertise to motivate and properly remunerate service professionals,” he wrote. “Servers are expected to please up to 1000 different employers (for most of us, one boss is enough!).”
In late November, Meyer will test out his revolutionary idea at his most expensive restaurant, The Modern, an elegant eatery inside the Museum of Modern Art.
Patrons will see some menu items increase as much as 35 per cent.
“We’re going to have to be highly strategic,” Meyer said.
Sabado Sagaria, USHG’s chief restaurant officer, added, “We don’t want to see someone get sticker shock from seeing an $8 cup of coffee.”
But while the prices may seem bigger at first glance, the only extra charge on the bill will be the sales tax — meaning that the overall increase will be closer to 10 per cent for diners.
Part of his tipless plan stems from the recent movement to increase fast-food workers’ pay to $15 an hour by 2018.
“Fine dining has an obligation to lead fast food in everything,” Meyer told Eater. “We can’t have a situation where we are asking someone to pay $40,000 to go to the Culinary Institute of America to then work for $12.50 per hour, when they could work in fast food for $15.”
USHG will analyse data from the two-month trial at The Modern in January and plan their next moves for the other restaurants accordingly.
Union Square Cafe is closing at its current location in December and will convert to the new system when it opens down the block. Blue Smoke, which has two locations in the city, will likely switch at the same time.
Meyer is hoping his plan is successful and triggers a change in the American dining scene.
“Fundamentally, the cost of going out to a fine dining restaurant is false,” he told Eater. “I feel that the prices on menus, for a restaurant that’s really trying to offer good value, don’t accurately express the true picture of what it costs for the people to make that happen.”
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