WHNetwork Blog

 The Tipping Point: Tipping on Expensive Wine II

Well I guess I struck a nerve with last week's topic of tipping on expensive wine!  I heard from a lot of you, with many varied opinions.

One important topic that was brought up was the huge difference that location makes in what a server can earn. In some states tipped employees are only paid $2.13 per hour, often with no benefits. Contrast that with San Francisco, where servers are paid the minimum wage of $9.79/hour, plus they are covered by the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance which, among other things, mandates that covered employers make minimum health care expenditures on behalf of their employees. 

Another interesting fact is that the popular theory that tip is an acronym of "to insure promptness" is not true! Jesse Sheidlower, Principal Editor in North America for the Oxford English Dictionary, says that's wrong, because acronyms weren't popular in English until the 1920s. "'Tip," says Sheidlower, "began as a verb in the seventeenth century, used in the language of thieves, meaning 'to give'." By the early eighteenth century, the meaning included "to give a gratuity to a servant or employee."

I do believe that savvy restauranteurs should be listening closely to what their patrons are saying, as the recession has put a dent in the number of restaurants in the US. Here is an except from Nation's Restaurant News, regarding this years restaurant closures:

"The hardest-hit categories were fine-dining independents, which saw unit counts fall 7 percent. Smaller family-dining chains were close behind, with a 6-percent drop in locations among chains of between 50 and 99 units and a 5-percent drop in locations among chains that numbered between 100 and 499 locations.

"It’s clear that independent restaurants and smaller chains have been most impacted by the slower economy," said Susan Kleutsch, director of product development for foodservice at The NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. "The recession appears to have weeded out restaurants performing poorly prior to the economic downturn, and this seems most true for independents and smaller chains that are likely having a hard time competing with the resources and marketing power of major chains."

To view all the comments on the topic of tipping, click here and scroll to the end of the blog post.

If you want to know what your patrons are thinking call me at 707-933-0687 or email me about designing a custom survey for you.