PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Customers to Girard Brasserie and Bruncherie might be in for a surprise when they read the note attached to their bills: “Tipping is not necessary.”
That’s food for thought in an industry where servers depend on gratuities for the bulk of their pay. Yet staff at the French-inspired restaurant earn about $13 an hour, and they get sick time, vacation days and health insurance.
The economics aren’t easy, said Girard co-owner Brian Oliveira. Ideally, though, the provisions make for more loyal and content employees, who then create a better experience for customers, he said.
“We had to make less money as owners and sacrifice some of that, but in the end, it created a better environment and everyone’s happier,” said Oliveira, who is also the chef.
The unusual model highlights a debate about pay and conditions in an industry that employs 10 percent of the U.S. workforce, according to the National Restaurant Association. The group doesn’t track the number of no-tip models among the nation’s nearly 1 million eateries, but examples have popped up over the past year in Pittsburgh, New York, Los Angeles and near Cincinnati.