Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
Read the link I posted earlier. According to the evidence, there is very little correlation between the amount of the tip received and the quality of service rendered.
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It's interesting, although, I don't think it's correct to say they ran a "tipless" restaurant. What they did was convert from a voluntary tip system to a fixed percentage service fee.
He doesn't really explain how the staff was paid, but from my understanding of it, the staff received a fixed hourly wage plus a predefined share of the collected service fee. Presumably, if the restaurant had a better than expected night, all of the staff would reap the benefit, and conversely, they would all take home less after nights where the restaurant didn't do as well.
Essentially, he converted his servers to a partial commission. From the restaurant's perspective, that's great because a waitress can't increase her tip by just putting a smiley face on the bill. To increase her paycheque, she has to sell more food and drink.
When you look at it that way, it makes sense that a system like that will attract high-performing servers because it guarantees that upselling the customer will lead directly to a higher service charge and a higher take-home for the server, with much less uncertainty.
To have a truly tipless system, you need to have one where the servers are paid a fixed hourly wage with no potential gain or loss based on their own or the restaurant's performance.
Tipping is pretty much non-existent in Australia, and service in restaurants and bars is also virtually non-existent.
It's possible that the poor quality of service in Australia isn't because the servers don't care but because the owners try to save money by understaffing and overworking the few employees they do have. From the customer's perspective, it amounts to the same thing. If you compare the experience in Australia to a similar dining experience in North America, it's easy to conclude that you'll end up paying the same price at the end of the meal (after tax and tip) but receive significantly better service in the tipped service culture in North America.
I'd be interested in seeing a study comparing quality of service and server performance between Australia, Canada, and the US. Australia is at one end of the tipping spectrum; the States is at the other end; and Canada is right in the middle.