In a big shock to the hospitality industry, Danny Meyer, the man whose name is synonymous with Union Square Hospitality Group, has announced that all his restaurants will eliminate tipping.
Reports are all over about Meyer's decision to eliminate tipping across Union Square Hospitality Group. As reported in Forbes, his decision to do away with tipping is the first ever move made by a major U.S. restaurant group. He is not budging in any way with his decision. All of his restaurants will no longer include additional line on checks for "additional gratuity". The group is also said to be adamant about this stand, will actively discourage all who feel obliged to tip.
However, in a move to keep the balance in scale, prices will be raised across the board. All checks and menus will be marked as "Hospitality Included". Meyer has chosen the word "hospitality" because he believes what they provide is more than a service.
The new policy will be institutionalized first at The Modern, Meyer's Michelin 2-star restaurant within the Museum of Modern Art. Then Meyer hopes it will quickly become standard throughout the Union Square Hospitality Group's food empire, from trattoria Maialino to fine-dining Gramercy Tavern and beyond.
Meyer is best known for his dedication to hospitality and this announcement definitely came as a surprise. However this is not the first decision that Union Square Hospitality Group has made based on social trends. For years, they have introduced several policies in advance of everyone else, realizing that it's actually a right decision. For example, Meyer has banned smoking at Union Square Cafe for over a decade before the city implemented its restaurant-smoking ban. If Meyer decides that tipping is doing more harm than good, then he has a good reason for it. He has actually been thinking of this one since 1994.
He also points out that under the new system, everyone will get a fair stake especially the cooks. Waiters at full service in New York restaurants are receiving 20 percent o most cheques and will give them a yearly income of $40,000 or as much as $100,000 in some of the city's top servers. Sadly, mid-level to high-end level cooks are only earning not more than $30,000 annually.
"We've never faced a shortage of talented cooks like we have this year," Meyer told Eater. "We're in a day and age where there are more talented cooks than there ever have been, but fewer of them who want to live in New York to start a fine dining career."
This issue has been plaguing not only the cooks but also their employers especially in high cost of living areas. So it is more than time to start paying the cooks more.
Do you agree with Meyer's radical move? As Meyer pointed out, it will be less awkward for all parties involved to just pay everything stated on the price.
