Duluth Restaurant Owner Shares Frustrations On Poor Tipping For Staff
Things have been different in the last few years in the restaurant business. COVID-19 really turned things upside down, causing some restaurants to close and many people to leave the food service industry. Even three years since the beginning of the pandemic, businesses are struggling with worker shortages. Inflation has caused problems for restaurant owners with food prices, equipment prices, and also paying more competitive wages to attract workers. It's just been a tough few years for restaurants and their staff.
The economy has been struggling recently. People are feeling the pinch of rising prices. Some people have been cutting back on expenses, and unfortunately maybe on how much they tip.
Jamrock Cultural Restaurant recently relocated to 1st Street in Duluth, Minnesota. The owner of Jamrock posted on their Facebook page about the frustration he's had with poor tipping from customers, and how he's had to forward tips from the buffet run to his servers to make sure they feel appreciated. He says he pays his staff well, but the tipping has been so poor that he may need to add in gratuity. In some cases, people only have been tipping $2 or $5 on a $50-$60. That's around 4-8% of a tip.
He says he appreciates the business, but if you can't afford to tip, please don't come in. When he cashes out at night he says it ends up being only a 2% tip for his servers.
The post received hundreds of comments, most of them positive, supporting the need to better tip.
Some people ask what the etiquette is for tipping on a pick-up order. There also have been some businesses that have been adding a tip line for their kitchen staffon top of the wait staff, causing some confusion among customers.
The majority of people weighing in applaud Jamrock for standing up for their staff. Some have even offered to Venmo money to help out the staff.
What are your thoughts? Some people say tipping is getting out of control. Personally, I think if you are going out to eat, you should be able to afford a tip, especially if you have a server at a sit-down restaurant.