Toronto restaurants trade in tipping for automatic gratuities

Written By

Emma Kula

over 4 years ago

As the service industry changes day by day due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so does the traditional way restaurants are run across the city.

Besides the lack of "regular" dine-in service, a few popular Toronto restaurants have now implemented a new strategy for adjusting to our current reality. The pandemic has affected all Canadians in varying degrees of severity, but it is no secret that the service industry has been hit particularly hard during this time. Restaurants were forced to close for a minimum of a few months while still having to cover rent and expenses with zero customers, and staff very suddenly found themselves out of work. Now that they are slowly reopening, many are trying to ensure that staff get fairly compensated for their time and treated well, especially with the added risk being endured.

Ten Restaurant, Burdock Brewery, Big Crow and Richmond Station have all announced a mandatory 18% hospitality fee that goes directly to their staff. Burdock Brewery cited the need to "provide a predictable living wage for our servers and kitchen staff during these unpredictable times, to avoid the race and gender prejudices that often come with tipping, and to limit back and forth with credit card machines for a safer patio experience." Richmond Station echoed similar sentiments, wanting to make up for the usual cash gratuities staff would receive during typical restaurant capacity. Anthony Rose's Big Crow added an automatic gratuity of 18% on dine-in and 15% on takeout orders to ensure everyone, from dishwashers to cooks to servers, is adequately compensated.

View this post on Instagram

IT’S PATIO BURGER TIME ! It’s official, our side patio is finally back open! You’re going to notice a couple of sweet new changes when you come by. First, there's no tipping! We’re going hospitality included for several important reasons: to provide a predictable living wage for our servers and kitchen staff during these unpredictable times, to avoid the race and gender prejudices that often come with tipping, and to limit back and forth with credit card machines for a safer patio experience. Second, we are on top of the safety guidelines: all staff will be wearing masks, a bounty of hand sanitizer is available, contact info is taken at the door, and we’ve built some lovely dividers between booths and seats (thanks Blair!). We've also launched a brand new super special short and sweet patio menu! Highlights included JUICY BURGER & FRIES (both meat and vegetable based) and ICE CREAM SANDWICHES! Come over! (no reservations - walk-ins only!)

A post shared by Burdock Brewery (@burdockbrewery) on Aug 7, 2020 at 1:54pm PDT

Eliminating tipping and implementing automatic gratuities is an effective way for restaurants to guarantee that their hard-working staff are well paid during these times, even if it may deter some guests (which it shouldn't). Many believe that the system of tipping has been flawed for a while. This new practice allows restaurant staff to earn a more predictable portion of their non-taxable income while making sure they are receiving fair wages for their new way of working.

We’ll see you in there.