Restaurant bans tipping. Guess what happened?

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

So in essence are you saying that you're making more than $8-$10 per hour on tips?

And have you noticed that your tips go up if you work harder? Have you developed any strategies to maximize tipping, such as turning tables over as fast as possible, or giving disproportionate attention to people who are known high tippers or suspected high tippers?

And do your regulars tip you more if you're having a good service day than if you're feeling lethargic that day?

These are legitimate questions, by the way. I have no agenda with the answer despite the fact that I would prefer a non-tipping world with correspondingly higher prices.

Not posed to me, but I'll answer. I didn't ever notice a particular difference in tips if I felt like I was kicking ass as opposed to when I felt like I was falling behind. Sometimes, if something went wrong with a table and I fixed it to a point I looked like the hero or if they had some special need that I made an extra effort to accommodate, I would see a benefit. Even then, however, it wasn't at all assured and these situations were clear outliers.

Also, most good tipping regulars tipped well regardless because they loved being treated like friends when they came in. We would know their name and/or favorite drink/dish. That kind of thing.

The only thing that really drove up profit for the servers was volume and alcohol sales. And cleavage. Don't forget cleavage. Even that, however, only really seemed to make a difference with certain groups or, especially, those eating/drinking in the bar area. A lot of attractive girls in the regular dining room didn't seem to much better than myself. (An average-ish looking white dude)

Hope this helps.

[kindra68]

kysirsoze you speak the truth!

Originally Posted by kysirsoze

..
Also, most good tipping regulars tipped well regardless because they loved being treated like friends when they came in. We would know their name and/or favorite drink/dish. That kind of thing.

very true. ((It's funny to have my boss tell me "hey your ladies just came in"))

Originally Posted by kysirsoze

The only thing that really drove up profit for the servers was volume and alcohol sales. And cleavage. Don't forget cleavage. Even that, however, only really seemed to make a difference with certain groups or, especially, those eating/drinking in the bar area. A lot of attractive girls in the regular dining room didn't seem to much better than myself. (An average-ish looking white dude)

Hope this helps.

also true. but i'm old, fat and don't show any cleavage.
i bust ass and turn tables. I just make sure none of my tables feel like i'm hurrying them.