The business should roll it into their operating costs and raise food prices if it needs to. As it stands, this is a bitch move -- unless they are also breaking down other costs on the receipt, like the cost of electricity or garbage removal.

But costs are being raised and they're telling their customers why. Why is that a bad thing?

They say they pay their employees MORE than minimum wage ... yet they're instituting a "minimum wage fee" to cover an "increase in labor cost"?

Am I missing something?

Plenty of other places break down where the $ goes, just look at a phone bill, hotel bill, airplane ticket and you'll see a list of the different gov't added taxes and fees passed directly to you.
Why should this business not do it?
it is far from being a bitch move, it is being honest. Frankly I'd love to see peoples faces if they saw an honest breakdown of the cost of a gallon of gas.

"They say they pay their employees MORE than minimum wage"
No, they don't say what they pay servers, they say how much they make after tips, not how much they pay them. Since it is usually the servers who push such laws through legislature, it is perfectly fitting that they be the ones there, when people look at the bill.

Much of this comes about because people wanted more for the same work through tips. They eventually find out it's a trap, since when tips become expected they become part of the total compensation, and the overall compensation stays the same as what your work is worth, so salary tends to drop. Eventually becoming the main part of the salary.

And yet the cafe doesn't reveal how much money the owners are taking home?

Odd.

"The business should roll it into their operating costs and raise food prices if it needs to. "

I disagree. Since it's a cost imposed by government, it should be separated. We keep taxes separate... same principle. It would be interesting to get something on the bill that lays out other government-imposed fees, taxes, and costs of compliance.

"And yet the cafe doesn't reveal how much money the owners are taking home?"

My guess is: not a lot. What I've observed about restaurant owners and managers is that due to the number of hours they put in, on a per-hour basis they are usually compensated rather poorly. You have to love the restaurant business to own a restaurant.

I think it's fine to break down a "minimum-wage" fee -- as long as they are also letting customers know when prices change because other fees and expenses went up. Otherwise, it just puts the minimum-wage staff in a tough spot. It comes across as the owners venting their crabbiness onto the staff.

I really wouldn't mind knowing what people are making. It would help me know what to tip. I was mortified when I found out that the people busing tables at a cafeteria were making less than minimum wage because we were expected to tip them. On the other hand waitresses and waiters are sometimes expected to come in early or stay late for other dities for which they are paid less than minimum wage. It would help us know how to compensate workers fairly.

I worked at a retail store for minimum wage. I was helping a customer who offered me a tip. I refused. It just wasn't done in retail. Well in these days of non-commission sales- people who go above and beyond, why shouldn't they get a tip?

Personally, I like a set wage for doing a job and like the idea of tips for extra great service for all jobs. Perhaps teachers and doctors who go the extra mile could get tips too. It certainly might help bedside manner or help out the teachers come in early and stay late to tutor students. There are a lot of people that go out of their way to do great things! Think of the air conditioner repairman that works in the heat until 10:00 when there is a heat wave!

Am I missing something?

Wait staff are almost always paid minimum wage[*], plus tips. If they have a good shift and do a good job[**] - lots of customers, good turn over on tables - they'll make way more than minimum.

I know and have known a number of wait staff. Most of them are happy to walk with $100 for 3 hours of work at lunch, and a higher amount for a dinner shift. Bartenders make much more. Of course, our cost of living isn't so high, and that helps.

[*] minimum wage for tipped employees is often much lower than for those who are untipped.

[**] that also depends on the kitchen. You can be a fantastic waiter, but if the kitchen is turning out schlock, your tips will reflect that. One way to keep the kitchen in line for the wait staff to tip them if they're doing a good job.

I really wouldn't mind knowing what people are making.
Jen,
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

I'm not sure if the page has been updated recently (for instance, MN just raised the state minimum wage as of August 1) but it does show which states have a tipped minimum wage, and what that is. There is a vast difference between, for example, South Dakota, where servers are expected to earn $2.13 per hour before tips, and Minnesota, where servers now earn at least $6.50 before tips, and large chains a la Applebee's will have to pay $8.00 an hour.
That doesn't solve the problem of not knowing a position is tipped, but it can at least help when you are dining out, and know that a tip is expected.
It's also something to keep in mind when someone posits that waiters are severely underpaid. Some are, absolutely, but as just an example, I made between $400 and $800 per week between tips and wages while waiting tables at a TGI Fridays in MN 8 years ago. Not exactly high end, but because there is no tipped minimum in MN, I was making $6.15 an hour plus tips, and working between 35 and 40 hours each week. That's not exactly Bill Gates money, but it's not poverty level either, even at the low end. And before anyone comments, yes there is a great deal of variance in wages week by week because of differences in tips, but that doesn't negate that, as a single person, I could live just fine on the low end, and save the extra during good weeks.

Unless the law has changed, it is still a requirement that wait staff must be compensated at least at minimum wage rates, one way or the other. I think it's still legal that base pay for wait staff can be about half of minimum wage. At the end of the shift, the wait staff then declares their tips. If the base pay plus the tips add up to less than minimum wage for the shift, the employer must award comp pay to make up the difference. Employers and the IRS both hate comp pay. Employers don't want to pay it, of course, and the IRS nearly always suspects that a waiter who is declaring less than minimum wage is under-reporting.

The pendulum can swing both ways. Some restaurants require that wait staff share a percentage of their tips with the cooks and scullery staff. The restaurant I used to work for was not one of them. On busy evenings, it wasn't unusual for the waitresses to walk out at the end of the night with over $120 in their pockets (this was back in 1979), while we cooks got paid $45 for the same shift. On the other hand, the waitresses who had to work the day shifts often didn't clear minimum wage, which caused a lot of pressure to be put on them. Plus, they usually had to help do prep work for the evening shift, for which they of course earned no tips.

If I want a political argument, that's what I read this blog for.

I don't expect Amy to send me pancakes, I don't want to read a political point, valid or not, on my restaurant receipt.

Here wait staff get minimum wage ($9.15 or $9.25 now) plus their tips. I have friends making $30-$40 an hour serving food at places like Red Robin and Olive Garden.

I would like seeing breakdowns on all my receipts for all regulatory fees and regulations. It might actually motivate more people to get pissed at how much government has their hand kn everything and their hand out taking.

But, are they in fact giving that "fee" to their employees? I'm not so sure they are.

If they want to break out that "fee" why not break down the whole bill and show the expense of everything, raw food, cooking gas and electric, dishwashing detergent, plates, napkins, and, most importantly much they, the owners, take home?

No, this is about broadcasting a political message. If they want to do that and their customers agree so be it. But, if many customers get turned off by it - well, then is was a bad business decision on their part.

I, for one, would find it annoying when looking at a menu and thinking how much I am willing to pay for something, only to find another "fee" not mentioned on the menu showing up on the final bill. Now, that would make me an unhappy customer; and one who most likely would not return.

> But costs are being raised and they're
> telling their customers why. Why is
> that a bad thing?

☑

> I don't want to read a political point,
> valid or not, on my restaurant receipt.

Well, you could always shop elsewhere. I mean, listing TAXES on a receipt is "political," right?

I'm quite sure there are forces in government today who read comments like yours and would LOVE to remove that information from your life, as well... I mean, if you'd prefer not to know how much they're being paid, they'd prefer not to tell you.

> I would like seeing breakdowns on
> all my receipts for all regulatory
> fees and regulations. It might actually
> motivate more people to get pissed at
> how much government has their hand
> kn everything and their hand out
> taking.

☑ ☑ ☑

Bunnygirl! Bunnygirl! You even sound cute... All fluffy and hoppity an non-carnivorous.

> why not break down the whole bill and
> show the expense of everything

You aren't serious, but you could ask that could certainly demand THAT of your vendors, as well, though few might want you as a customer.

Twenty years ago, this article in the LAT saved me a BUNCH of money on my first (bachelor) new car... And it did it with the first of its ten recommendations. Cathy Seipp later reported that the article had enraged many of the newspaper's most reliable advertisers, the dealerships.

This is very, very small piece of information about the restaurant you're visiting. If they also said "We support Israel [or don't]," or "We hate it when furriers club baby seals on the North Pole" or "Our busboys think The Houston Astros totally suck," would it really ruin the meal? I think it could be fun... It's the kind of thing that increasingly corporatized restaurants won't do. It's why Appleby's is kind of a joke to most people, even those who like to go there.

Remember Phil Donahue? In the 1960's and 1970's his daytime TV show was really daring and blunt. (I'll never forget the look on his housewife-audience's faces when he showed them what AIDS does to a human being... I'll always think that moment meant more for gay rights than anything in media before or since.)

In the 1980's, he got chased out of the ratings by Oprah and by a bunch of less-tasteful programs, things we'd now call reality TV.

But he was thoughtful about it. Paraphrasing: Well, I wouldn't watch a show like that, and I don't want to produce one, but they're really just more sources of information....

I thought it that was as sensible as it was gracious.

Why complain about a small source of information, especially if you're likely to ignore it anyway?

"I'm quite sure there are forces in government today who read comments like yours and would LOVE to remove that information from your life, as well."

Right. And hence the value-added tax, which European governments just loooooove. Because it makes it damn near impossible for the consumer to tell how much tax they're really paying.

"when you consider what they earn in tips"

In other words, you pay them less than that, and on a perfect day where nothing goes wrong and they serve nothing but whales, they'll make that.

How kind of you.

"In other words, you pay them less than that, and on a perfect day where nothing goes wrong and they serve nothing but whales, they'll make that."

You're reaching. There are millions of examples in the industry of waiters who, depending on where they work, how good they are at their job, and what shifts they work, make far more than the non-wait staff who work the same hours. That's why a lot of restaurants require the wait staff to split a percentage with the cooks, busboys, and scullery workers.