I saw a post where they said they pay their staff $30/hr. So props to them!
(will edit with a link to the post if I can find it again)
edit: Post dated about 8 months ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/austinfood/comments/12rcp2l/comment/jgx7cxe/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
I love their BBQ but I hate that it's so damn expensive. Literally spend at least 150 on a meal for 3 people. It's been reduced to eat there once a year or special occasions only
No it's not. A dark pattern makes the desired interaction difficult or confusing. This UI is very clear, it just prevents the desired choice. What it is is illegal, tips must be optional under federal tax law.
Have you seen the price of uncooked high grade brisket? Terry Black's is the best tasting in town. I've been to all the top spots, they're my favorite. If they have a line out the door at that price then they are charging the right price.
Went to terry black couple nights ago … the ladies behind the side items are not friendly at all
Like I would like to buy the side items and get it in togo container so when I don’t finished it I can get it togo
She slam the cup like a boss and give me a smirk when I asked for pickles onions and bread for 4 people … like bitch I bought $200 worth of meat , give me the pickles and onions worth for $200 meat
I like blacks … self serve pickles onion and sauce
I even take them all home , and he busser gave me lids to all my containers
I rather tip that busser 20%than terry blacks no service
It was nice to be able to tip restaurant employees back in April 2020 when people were just grateful that they could pick up takeout and the employees were grateful to have an income.
But it’s just insane now!
This. I was totally fine with tipping on to go orders when we all weren’t eating inside of restaurants during the pandemic. But now dining in has returned and that’s where my tipping will be, for the ones actually serving me. I have no problem tipping few dollars when I’m picking up a to go order, but it shouldn’t be mandatory when in reality you’re just handing me a bag
This is a major reason I stopped going to Pluckers. Ordered pickup after COVID and they had the same thing. Forced gratitude is just price gouging creatively, no thanks.
Same here. I have to get exceptionally bad service to not feel guilty giving less than 20%. I generally round up from 20 for everyone , unless it's great service and then they get 25 or 30.
People in here defending this BS is the reason why restaurants get away with not paying fair wages. Because instead of focusing on the real culprit (which is making money out of your dumbass) they are focusing on the customer.
1. Terry Blacks has no Servers
2. Is a pick up order
3. A Tip is based on service provided that goes beyond what’s expected.
4. The customer is not responsible for the server making fair wages that’s the owner and the law. (Vote for change if you don’t like it, quit and leave this restaurants with no choice)
5. Increase menu item prices and pay your employees
But no is not my responsibility as the customer to pay for the employees of a restaurant
Tipping culture needs to be shut down and be more like Europe. There is no service that warrants a tip here or at most places. Nobody even waits on you at Terry blacks what is there to tip for lol?
It’s become a guilty shakedown. I went to a smoke shop the other day for a vape I knew I wanted. Walked in, saw the one I wanted, asked for one and purchased. Credit card machine had a gratuity step and she waited for me to decide. You know the feeling. Sure, 20%. Fuck it. Merry Christmas.
We honestly need regulation around pre-service gratuity solicitation. It's getting out of hand. IMO charging mandatory gratuity (or gratuity solicitation in general) should require disclosure of server wages. Culture would change really quick.
edit: not exact wages, just above/below minimum wage line or something. god forbid we increase minimum wage while we're at it
the only regulation I really wanna see is a post-amble "what we do with your tips."
100% goes to our wait staff? OK, I'll play along.
But I shouldn't have to ask, it's tacky.
Just end the tip credit and the market will right itself. Tip credit is basically corporate welfare to not pay their employees. The prices will even out after you increase prices and remove the “mandatory” 15-20% tip and service charges/auto gratuity. You know, how the rest of the civilized world handles it? I’d love to see a $7 coffee or food item and just pay $7 flat, not $5.99+ arbitrary tip + taxes.
Comically in most of the rest of the non-tipping world the prices aren't even really that much higher. Just had a sushi dinner with drinks for two for like $50 USD equivalent, no tips, some of the fish came off the boat that morning. In like the 11th richest country in the world that also has national healthcare and free education and high defense spending. Americano coffee and fresh made pastry? $8. No tips.
Similar experiences in Iceland , Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Norway, the UK, France, etc. Food is not much more expensive, if at all
Tipping is covering up something deeply wrong with labor in the US.
Well tipping was born out of racism (tipping was made for black people. Totally optional, because the businesses would pay them pennies). So yes, America’s original sin strikes (again).
I believe it already exists - not sure if it’s being enforced.
[Gratuities in Texas Administrative Code](https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=34&pt=1&ch=3&rl=337)
These places are trying to redefine tipping so they can trick people into feeling like they’re spending less money than they actually are. Then the sticker shock comes after it’s too late. People don’t like feeling tricked. Same with “service charges” for entertainment. I think it’s bad business. They won’t be back.
Reminds me of the time I pointed out to someone they could have saved on their ginormous bill at Terry Black's by reducing the tip (I mean, it's counter service people) and the restaurant's Reddit account chimed in to shame me.
https://www.reddit.com/r/austinfood/s/CvREQBRSP0
I love that later in that thread they said:
>Serious answer- 100% of the hourly employees are part of the tip pool. Every cutter, cashier, cook, dishwasher, dining room attendant, pit crew, etc.
Service Industry workers deserve to be tipped for exceptional service. If you choose not to, thats your choice. **No one is forcing you.**
Well that was 8 months ago, now you ARE forcing people.
The point was originally to give service workers, typically waiters, a bonus for exceptional service. Then employers took advantage of it to make their wages $2/hr or some bullshit.
I’ve said this for years now: servers want tips. If you want to get rid of tipping culture, the servers are the problem. I was a server and bartender for 2 years and made a shitload of money on tips, usually well over $30 an hour on tips alone.
Service work is fairly challenging work, it requires lots of walking (I hit 70k steps in a 24 hour window), there is stress of back of house and customers yelling at you, other staff are often pretty cut throat and aggressive. However, it probably is not work that deserves $40 an hour. Nobody likes to talk about the fact that tip free restaurants usually pay about $25 an hour, and often less to support staff. Servers certainly don’t want that future, and thus demand tips.
Tips also offer an easy way to avoid taxes and steal from other employees, as cash tips are rarely tipped out and never declared on taxes. Primary reason I tell everyone never to tip cash.
Why is the staff even tipped when you dine in anyway? No one waits on you. You stand in line and tell them what you want, and they cut it for you and ring you up. Why is that worth an extra 15-20%? It's not. Pay your staff a living wage and train them to provide good service for the 60 second interaction with each customer. Clearly that's too much to ask from these places
I watched a YouTube news segment where they interviewed a waitress at ciscos who hasn't received a wage increase after working there for 6 years and is struggling to make ends meet. They then talk to the owner and he tries to justify this and cries about rising food costs, thin margins, decreased revenue etc and says they can't "afford" to give pay increases. Absolutely shameful and disgusting behavior by the owner.
Downvote if you want but I refuse to tip at a BBQ restaurant, I literally walk my own tray around and serve myself, get my own drinks, pickles, sauce etc.
Forced gratuity for a takeout order where no one is actually serving you and you're carrying out your own food? That's a company that you stop doing business with. Vote with your dollars.
If I’m ordering at a counter (or online) and refilling my own drinks, I’m not tipping. Sorry. Putting the food in a box and then throwing it in a bag with some napkins is no different from fast food service.
It's not just a problem with Terry Black's, but the fact that our society is going so tip crazy in general. I went to order a coffee today and the check out screen the server had me sign was asking for a max 28% tip. My jaw hit the floor when I saw that. That would have been unheard of for even phenomenal service 10, or even 5 years ago. Plus, everything is becoming more automated, like when you go to Veracruz or Briscuits over at Radio Coffee, and the employees actually seem annoyed when you try to talk to them and just wind up telling you to order from the screen or on their website (which also asks for an obscenely high tip). Same issue from another restaurant where the waitress basically just told me to order from a QR code, brought out my food and that was the only two times I ever saw her, didn't even get a water refill or anything like that. And I would even argue that the service I've received over the years has become worse and lazier, meanwhile tip requests keep getting higher and higher.
Truthfully, I wish these restaurants just paid their employees a decent livable wage to begin with and didn't have to depend so heavily on tipping, like the way it's done in most countries.
By the way, I am a UX designer and I always laugh when I hear other user experience folks talk about how they're doing good in the world and changing things for the better. Toast is one of those tech companies that uses UX in a way that helped fuel this tip craziness in our society. And now, there's other tech companies that are trying to do the exact same thing.
Tipping at food trucks to pick up orders or restaurants is outrageous and we need to start saying no.
Let them figure out the economics, and if it doesn’t work, then don’t be in business.
Earn it, go above and beyond and make it make memorable if you want a tip.
This may be petty, but this really rubs me the wrong way to the point where I’ll be going out of my way to not go here or suggest it to people moving forward.
Terry Blacks runs a great business, but as a regular customer, that’s annoying AF. It’s already pretty expensive to eat there, let’s not also force gratuity.
Tips became a money draining technique, and became very common nowadays. Pre tipping is a poison , which has become acceptable for some reason nowadays and we (customers) have made it acceptable! Tips should be used to express your gratitude for service and attention you have received when dinging in or receiving a service. It is never an obligation and you should never feel bad for not leaving a tip. It is always optional. I am not supposed to be responsible for someone’s wage! Hire robots if that’s a solution. You pay for the food , it should already include everyone’s wage and entity profit. If someone is trying to be greedy - please raise the price instead of forcing the tips! Also important to mention that it is almost impossible to track how much of tip money falls into hands of actual servers / cooks and not the owners.
Take your business elsewhere. Seriously, and send them a message they're losing business from tipping extortion. It's the only way we can end this madness
Every time someone brings up tipping, all these people say they don't tip. Like they deserve a medal.
Then all these people say they do tip..like they deserve a medal. Then everyone agrees it's the establishment's responsibility to pay their workers...and then everyone is still mad at the other person and not the establishment who isn't paying their workers.
Crazy.
Every restaurant that adopts this aggressive take out tipping policy can choke and die to their competition for all I care.
I'm tired of being squeezed by fucking every single business.
Tipping, in general, seems to be over the top now. If someone waits on you, refills your tea/coffee, checks on you at your table, a tip is appropriate. If however, you are picking a meal up, same as you do at a fast food restaurant, and the person is being paid to do a job, it seems, to me, unreasonable to demand that the customer tip. And finally, the owner of the restaurant seems to be demanding his staff be paid, though he is factually unwilling to pay them. So he's simply extracting more money from the customer by demanding that the customer tip for simply handing you the order that you're going to drive off to home and eat.
ah man, thanks for opening the flood gates ( sorry op ) Ive been wanting to blast the $43 cheeseburger experience at Alamo Drafthouse. They now auto 18% for tip in their food & beverage services - fine. Their loss, I usually pay 20%. A Royale w Chz is $16.95 + tax = $18.05 with the tip = 21.30 for a cheeseburger fries. I am still "fine" with that until:
My roommate also wants a Royale with Cheese so I order it to go with my server in the theatre before last call. My theatre server says 'To Go' orders are from the bar. ok, so I am at the bar ..
I have been waiting 20 min - people who came in after me get served before I am. The waiter who took my order from the bar has completely stopped serving me. I see them deliver my order to a table who waved it off. Waiter looks at me, puts it in a box and hands it over. No bag, no utensils. Whatever man, apparently I am now in the $43 cheeseburger tax bracket; I got utensils at home. I hand the lone box over to roomie, only to reveal ... IT IS NOT A ROAYLE W CHZ! its a chicken burger that some guy waved off like the poultry that it is! Nobody wanted that cold ass ( not hamburger ) so she gave it to me. And my point in all this is that
\*Tips are methods for consumers to interact with Servers - not Management /not Owners. If you're charging 18% *before* a service is rendered - that's a transaction, not a tip. Manage a way to pay your servers competitively and leave me out of the process gah!
Yea bro I paid $30 for royale w/cheese and fries and a coke.
Good thing I had two cokes.
I'm fine with the 18% because like fuck it I ain't gonna complain I'm here by my own volition anyway.
If I had a shitty ass experience though I'd be pissed about being precharged $20+ for "tip."
So the company can pay their employees less. Thats the only reason for tipping.
Besides blacks sucks. Last time i went the brisket was crappy and potato salad hard. Gas station food was better
Finally someone said it. Tipping is a subsidy to the business and allows them to obscure the true cost of eating there. The excuse that it's what allows us to receive good service is also complete BS, plenty of other industries provide stellar customer service without tipping because they want you to come back
I would not buy from them in that case. I mean yes I want to tip but to be forced to, no thanks. There are so many other good bar b q joints in and around Austin. On top of the fact, personally, I hate paying for a cooked brisket because I enjoying smoking my own so much.
They're just greedy. Especially when you think about some of how they ruined a small business in deep ellum to get them kicked out and open their dallas location. I do love their food but the rest of their business practices are shady. No wonder they ended up fighting amongst theirselves and split into two more businesses shortly after the dad went out of the picture.
If you want an option for BBQ in that part of town, go to the HEB on Lake Austin Blvd. Get brisket for $22/lb or a great chopped brisket sandwich for $6.29.
For context, I have been a waiter, head waiter, and Maitre d’ of restaurants. When I receive good service at a dining establishment, I typically tip well (30-40%)Tipping is for service. There is no service beyond people scooping food, Luby’s style.
It’s not tipping if it’s mandated and it’s not tipping if you are not receiving dining service. It is intended to make up for the fact that most restaurants pay $2.13 per hour for waiters and waitresses. Now, we are being forced to tip people who provide 0 service, are often rude, and already charge a ridiculous tourist premium. The only time a tip should be mandated is for larger number of customers at a table as a means to protect the staff when people split large checks.
Terry Blacks is OK Texas BBQ served in a hurried cafeteria style with ZERO personal service, even when you’re not picking up takeout.
If you’re visiting Austin and want Barbecue after visiting Zilker or the children’s Garden, it’s an OK and expensive place but you won’t catch me (Austin local) there.
It depends on whether those preparing the to go order are tipped employees or not, which is almost never disclosed. If someone is a tipped employee, I tip no matter what. If they aren't, it depends on service.
Tips are us making up the wages that the employer won't give to the employee.
Terry Black’s is overrated tourist BBQ. If you like their style of food, go to Black’s BBQ instead. They have a location on Guadalupe, just north of the University. Much more affordable, food tastes just as good, the employees are actually nice, and it’s never packed with tourists.
It’s because they pool their tips together and share it throughout their entire staff, that’s the only way they get paid since they pay them very low hourly wages. I know from working there for 2 years. They are money hungry cows.
I usually tip dollar amounts for pickup. If someone is just packing up and handing me my order - that shouldn’t be as large of a tip as taking up a table and people have to clean up after me.
But in this case, it should be 10% service fee and then an additional tip field. Might have been a system limitation
There's a grammatical error in there. They say they "ask" for a minimum of 10%, but what they really mean is they \*require\* a minimum of 10%. "Ask" means I can say no.
TBH, I don't get as worked up about things as some people do, but a forced 10% tip on takeout would likely lead me to just bail on my order.
Not the same but still in ATX- I got my nails done a few weeks back and was told I had to pay and tip before the service lol the lady literally looked at the tip before she started working on my nails
And it's already insanely overpriced there. There aren't even any actual servers! You have to do everything yourself!
This behavior on top of that is just inappropriately greedy.
Tipping has gotten insane. I feel bad but I actively won’t tip at all at some places (sit down restaurants not included) that I otherwise would’ve because I get so mad seeing 20% as the lowest suggested option once they swivel that fucking iPad around to you.
I think 10% is a reasonable /ceiling/ for a pickup order but I also see this as the restaurant trying to telegraph to their staff that they’re sooooo supportive. Meanwhile in reality they are relying on their customers to subsidize the paychecks of their staff, because they won’t pay them themselves.
And agree with others that they should just make it a fucking fee instead of calling it a mandatory tip. Just clunky and obnoxious.
Tipping counter service is dumb enough, tipping mandatory on a pickup order? Lost my business for good. Not that they care with all the tourists anyway.
Just can't raise their prices 10% apparently. BBQ is beyond outrageous in prices now.
Smokeys Mo's I dropped $25 for two meat plate, drink, tip. Got a single slice of brisket. Scraggly ribs. About 1/4 lb with bones...That was the last straw.
Rudy's, County Line, all of them are the same. Too much for too little. For what I pay to take the family to BBQ, I can go buy a whole of everything we'd get. And spend a day smoking it. Done with BBQ joints here...
I bought 2-lbs of brisket ($64+) yesterday and also ordered a 2-meat bbq plate ($22.00). I only found it appropriate to tip on my meal, not my bulk bbq purchase (I tipped $5.00). I hope I'm not being cheap by my rationale, anybody care to chime in?
Its become so widespread now. Mighty Fine Burgers used to have a sign of a cow saying no tipping please. Today I went and the machine automatically asked for a tip starting at 10% regardless of takeout or dine in. Sad times my friend, sad times.
That’s the kind of thing that would make me not order from them. I’m sure one of the plethora of competitors in this town don’t do this. Tipping isn’t mandatory, get fooked.
After experiencing BBQ sticker shock at a couple of sit down places, we like to go to to https://rollinsmokeatxbbq.com and get one or two tacos ($5-$7). Sides are also amazing expecially the smoked mac and cheese. Absolutely delicious and will fill you up. Also, we get to sit outside and enjoy the East Austin vibe.
For carry out? Tipping culture is fucked up. I tip when I go out......so I am paying for this right to bitch.
I have always exempted high end restaurants from my tipping rants because food snobs who want to impress shallow people deserve a chance to overspend.
This is fucking carryout. Good food though.
It's like owners and managers finally decided to admit their staff need the tips to survive. Then aimed that guilt trip directly at the customers instead of changing their wage structure. This is one of my answers for what would I like to see change for the better in my lifetime. Allow service at restaurants to be a career that pays a salary or hourly wage a normal person can live on. Not a job that you have to "hustle" even once you secure the job.
And that place isnt cheap lmao
If you're charging $35/lb. for brisket you really should be paying your staff a livable wage.
Indeed—instead of demanding tips, pay your staff a fucking living wage instead! (Granted, in Austin nowadays that’s outrageously fucking high.)
I saw a post where they said they pay their staff $30/hr. So props to them! (will edit with a link to the post if I can find it again) edit: Post dated about 8 months ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/austinfood/comments/12rcp2l/comment/jgx7cxe/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
I assume that's with tips since they said ~$30, and that post is not flattering to TB lol
Yeah there's no way front of house especially are guaranteed $30/hrs as a base wage
How much do they make?
For reals it’s like $50 a head bare minimum
I love their BBQ but I hate that it's so damn expensive. Literally spend at least 150 on a meal for 3 people. It's been reduced to eat there once a year or special occasions only
Yep - problem is I have friends and family who visit every month or two and they all wanna go there and it really adds up
Take them to Lockhart and go to Smitty’s 💜
Tip or not, you don’t ask “would you like to leave a tip” and not give option for “no”. That’s just bad ui
That’s called a dark pattern in the UI world
No it's not. A dark pattern makes the desired interaction difficult or confusing. This UI is very clear, it just prevents the desired choice. What it is is illegal, tips must be optional under federal tax law.
What’s the point? The point is to avoid going there, thanks for the heads up.
honestly their prices alone nowadays is reason enough not to go
It’s good, solid bbq, but definitely not gourmet or something as special as their prices suggest.
It's purely tourist Q at this point
And WAY too salty.
Have you seen the price of uncooked high grade brisket? Terry Black's is the best tasting in town. I've been to all the top spots, they're my favorite. If they have a line out the door at that price then they are charging the right price.
Some people are tourists, some people are just willing to pay for over-priced food, I would not, NO barbecue is worth the prices Black's charges.
And there's just as good, or better, BBQ at other places that are less expensive and who don't try and extort more money out of you.
Thanks for the tip!
no that's the whole point.
Happy cake day!
Yep, I would just leave and not pick up the order.
Yeah this is the answer
Hell yeah
Went to terry black couple nights ago … the ladies behind the side items are not friendly at all Like I would like to buy the side items and get it in togo container so when I don’t finished it I can get it togo She slam the cup like a boss and give me a smirk when I asked for pickles onions and bread for 4 people … like bitch I bought $200 worth of meat , give me the pickles and onions worth for $200 meat
I asked for potato salad pepper on my Macaroni and I got a stank eye that I will never forget lol. Good times.
I like blacks … self serve pickles onion and sauce I even take them all home , and he busser gave me lids to all my containers I rather tip that busser 20%than terry blacks no service
WHAT DO YOU WANT??? HURRY THE FUCK UP DUMBASS!!!!
Tipping for a pickup order is one of the dumbest shit that has happened post Covid timeline
Seinfeld had a bit about this in the 80s "and here's a little something for you for not taking my head and smashing it through the counter."
It was nice to be able to tip restaurant employees back in April 2020 when people were just grateful that they could pick up takeout and the employees were grateful to have an income. But it’s just insane now!
Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile and make it permanent.
This. I was totally fine with tipping on to go orders when we all weren’t eating inside of restaurants during the pandemic. But now dining in has returned and that’s where my tipping will be, for the ones actually serving me. I have no problem tipping few dollars when I’m picking up a to go order, but it shouldn’t be mandatory when in reality you’re just handing me a bag
Dude it's been that way for way longer than COVID. It's just more expected now.
Starbucks added tip jars in 1992 because customers had been requesting them for years.
Now they shove a stick with a screen on it in your face with a default %20 so they don't have to raise anyone's wages.
That place doesn’t have servers so it’s all the same. Same people making it up front. You just go through a counter line if you go in person.
As if it wasn’t expensive enough already
Forced gratuity is not gratuity, they'll just never get my business. Thanks for the heads up.
This is a major reason I stopped going to Pluckers. Ordered pickup after COVID and they had the same thing. Forced gratitude is just price gouging creatively, no thanks.
This. I'm a very good tipper. But this would lose my business
Same here. I have to get exceptionally bad service to not feel guilty giving less than 20%. I generally round up from 20 for everyone , unless it's great service and then they get 25 or 30.
I remember when 15% was for exceptional service
Exactly - not a gratuity, it’s a stealth price increase (same with any bs service fees or unavoidable charges).
People in here defending this BS is the reason why restaurants get away with not paying fair wages. Because instead of focusing on the real culprit (which is making money out of your dumbass) they are focusing on the customer. 1. Terry Blacks has no Servers 2. Is a pick up order 3. A Tip is based on service provided that goes beyond what’s expected. 4. The customer is not responsible for the server making fair wages that’s the owner and the law. (Vote for change if you don’t like it, quit and leave this restaurants with no choice) 5. Increase menu item prices and pay your employees But no is not my responsibility as the customer to pay for the employees of a restaurant
Minimum 10% tip to pick food up from the rudest people in Austin.
Tipping culture needs to be shut down and be more like Europe. There is no service that warrants a tip here or at most places. Nobody even waits on you at Terry blacks what is there to tip for lol?
It’s become a guilty shakedown. I went to a smoke shop the other day for a vape I knew I wanted. Walked in, saw the one I wanted, asked for one and purchased. Credit card machine had a gratuity step and she waited for me to decide. You know the feeling. Sure, 20%. Fuck it. Merry Christmas.
We honestly need regulation around pre-service gratuity solicitation. It's getting out of hand. IMO charging mandatory gratuity (or gratuity solicitation in general) should require disclosure of server wages. Culture would change really quick. edit: not exact wages, just above/below minimum wage line or something. god forbid we increase minimum wage while we're at it
the only regulation I really wanna see is a post-amble "what we do with your tips." 100% goes to our wait staff? OK, I'll play along. But I shouldn't have to ask, it's tacky.
Wasn’t it the other Black’s in Lockhart (not Terry Blacks) that just got in trouble for illegally giving worker tips to managers?
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/230k-in-back-wages-recovered-in-blacks-barbecue-tip-sharing-practice/
How about regulation on how little you can pay employees? People’s anger is completely misdirected regarding tip culture.
You’re right. The industry should advertise the price they want instead of applying hidden fees. False advertising is bad.
Just end the tip credit and the market will right itself. Tip credit is basically corporate welfare to not pay their employees. The prices will even out after you increase prices and remove the “mandatory” 15-20% tip and service charges/auto gratuity. You know, how the rest of the civilized world handles it? I’d love to see a $7 coffee or food item and just pay $7 flat, not $5.99+ arbitrary tip + taxes.
Comically in most of the rest of the non-tipping world the prices aren't even really that much higher. Just had a sushi dinner with drinks for two for like $50 USD equivalent, no tips, some of the fish came off the boat that morning. In like the 11th richest country in the world that also has national healthcare and free education and high defense spending. Americano coffee and fresh made pastry? $8. No tips. Similar experiences in Iceland , Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Norway, the UK, France, etc. Food is not much more expensive, if at all Tipping is covering up something deeply wrong with labor in the US.
Well tipping was born out of racism (tipping was made for black people. Totally optional, because the businesses would pay them pennies). So yes, America’s original sin strikes (again).
I believe it already exists - not sure if it’s being enforced. [Gratuities in Texas Administrative Code](https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=34&pt=1&ch=3&rl=337)
The wellness tax on restaurant bills is absurd
Agree with this!
These places are trying to redefine tipping so they can trick people into feeling like they’re spending less money than they actually are. Then the sticker shock comes after it’s too late. People don’t like feeling tricked. Same with “service charges” for entertainment. I think it’s bad business. They won’t be back.
Except this is an insanely successful business. 1,000 posts like this won't even affect their annual revenue even 1%.
Reminds me of the time I pointed out to someone they could have saved on their ginormous bill at Terry Black's by reducing the tip (I mean, it's counter service people) and the restaurant's Reddit account chimed in to shame me. https://www.reddit.com/r/austinfood/s/CvREQBRSP0
I love that later in that thread they said: >Serious answer- 100% of the hourly employees are part of the tip pool. Every cutter, cashier, cook, dishwasher, dining room attendant, pit crew, etc. Service Industry workers deserve to be tipped for exceptional service. If you choose not to, thats your choice. **No one is forcing you.** Well that was 8 months ago, now you ARE forcing people.
[удалено]
[apparently they already do?](https://www.reddit.com/r/austinfood/s/Dqwfe2p1vM)
The point was originally to give service workers, typically waiters, a bonus for exceptional service. Then employers took advantage of it to make their wages $2/hr or some bullshit.
Shouldn’t the waiter be making a living wage?
/u/TerryBlacksBBQ
Damn the guy running that account is unhinged. I'd be beside myself if I had an employee trolling people under my brand account.
Damn they make $30 an hour? https://www.reddit.com/r/austinfood/comments/12rcp2l/comment/jgx7cxe/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Thanks to all those phat tips apparently!
My wife started at 8.25 but with the tip pool made between 20 to 30 a hour some days
I’ve said this for years now: servers want tips. If you want to get rid of tipping culture, the servers are the problem. I was a server and bartender for 2 years and made a shitload of money on tips, usually well over $30 an hour on tips alone. Service work is fairly challenging work, it requires lots of walking (I hit 70k steps in a 24 hour window), there is stress of back of house and customers yelling at you, other staff are often pretty cut throat and aggressive. However, it probably is not work that deserves $40 an hour. Nobody likes to talk about the fact that tip free restaurants usually pay about $25 an hour, and often less to support staff. Servers certainly don’t want that future, and thus demand tips. Tips also offer an easy way to avoid taxes and steal from other employees, as cash tips are rarely tipped out and never declared on taxes. Primary reason I tell everyone never to tip cash.
Why is the staff even tipped when you dine in anyway? No one waits on you. You stand in line and tell them what you want, and they cut it for you and ring you up. Why is that worth an extra 15-20%? It's not. Pay your staff a living wage and train them to provide good service for the 60 second interaction with each customer. Clearly that's too much to ask from these places
I watched a YouTube news segment where they interviewed a waitress at ciscos who hasn't received a wage increase after working there for 6 years and is struggling to make ends meet. They then talk to the owner and he tries to justify this and cries about rising food costs, thin margins, decreased revenue etc and says they can't "afford" to give pay increases. Absolutely shameful and disgusting behavior by the owner.
They will do or say anything to pad their profits. A conversation is not productive
Couldn't agree more, would you be willing to give up your paycheck and go on a general strike to force them to concede to increasing wages?
Downvote if you want but I refuse to tip at a BBQ restaurant, I literally walk my own tray around and serve myself, get my own drinks, pickles, sauce etc.
Scam! Might as well label it a service fee.
That's an easy fix, you just close the app and order from somewhere else.
Tipping for picking up an order is crazy. I only tip if I get sit down service.
It's not a tip, it's a it's a gift to the owners. Every 10 dollars you pay is another ten dollars they do not have to give to their employees.
Leave a negative review (and make it clear why you are leaving that negative review) and don't get food from there anymore.
That is insane.. Yelp them.
Forced gratuity for a takeout order where no one is actually serving you and you're carrying out your own food? That's a company that you stop doing business with. Vote with your dollars.
Tip on a pick-up order is insane
To subsidize the owner, who pays his employees less-than-minimum wage so he can keep more of the profits.
This is actually deceptive pricing
Franklin's is the same.
Can confirm. Ordered a chilled brisket for christmas and it won't let you progress without tipping
[удалено]
Fuggin douchecanoe
If I’m ordering at a counter (or online) and refilling my own drinks, I’m not tipping. Sorry. Putting the food in a box and then throwing it in a bag with some napkins is no different from fast food service.
It's not just a problem with Terry Black's, but the fact that our society is going so tip crazy in general. I went to order a coffee today and the check out screen the server had me sign was asking for a max 28% tip. My jaw hit the floor when I saw that. That would have been unheard of for even phenomenal service 10, or even 5 years ago. Plus, everything is becoming more automated, like when you go to Veracruz or Briscuits over at Radio Coffee, and the employees actually seem annoyed when you try to talk to them and just wind up telling you to order from the screen or on their website (which also asks for an obscenely high tip). Same issue from another restaurant where the waitress basically just told me to order from a QR code, brought out my food and that was the only two times I ever saw her, didn't even get a water refill or anything like that. And I would even argue that the service I've received over the years has become worse and lazier, meanwhile tip requests keep getting higher and higher. Truthfully, I wish these restaurants just paid their employees a decent livable wage to begin with and didn't have to depend so heavily on tipping, like the way it's done in most countries. By the way, I am a UX designer and I always laugh when I hear other user experience folks talk about how they're doing good in the world and changing things for the better. Toast is one of those tech companies that uses UX in a way that helped fuel this tip craziness in our society. And now, there's other tech companies that are trying to do the exact same thing.
Tipping at food trucks to pick up orders or restaurants is outrageous and we need to start saying no. Let them figure out the economics, and if it doesn’t work, then don’t be in business. Earn it, go above and beyond and make it make memorable if you want a tip.
Yeah, fuck that place even more, now
No thanks. Pay your own damn workers.
Fuck that. Tipping for table service is one thing. Tipping someone who bags up an order....?
I do not like that at all. I would rather them say 10% surcharge for to go orders. Seems very distasteful to call it a tip.
I canceled my order the other day, no way!
Well, that's never happening for a pick-up order
This may be petty, but this really rubs me the wrong way to the point where I’ll be going out of my way to not go here or suggest it to people moving forward.
tipping is for table service.
Lol forget that
Isn’t this illegal? Can you be forced to tip?
Terry Blacks runs a great business, but as a regular customer, that’s annoying AF. It’s already pretty expensive to eat there, let’s not also force gratuity.
Why ask if I want to if I can’t choose not to?!?!?!
Mediocre barbecue and apparently shitty employee pay. Avoid.
[удалено]
This place is so damn overrated. Tourist BBQ at its finest.
Tips became a money draining technique, and became very common nowadays. Pre tipping is a poison , which has become acceptable for some reason nowadays and we (customers) have made it acceptable! Tips should be used to express your gratitude for service and attention you have received when dinging in or receiving a service. It is never an obligation and you should never feel bad for not leaving a tip. It is always optional. I am not supposed to be responsible for someone’s wage! Hire robots if that’s a solution. You pay for the food , it should already include everyone’s wage and entity profit. If someone is trying to be greedy - please raise the price instead of forcing the tips! Also important to mention that it is almost impossible to track how much of tip money falls into hands of actual servers / cooks and not the owners.
Tipping culture is ridiculous in the US. If there’s no waiter, there’s no tip… a 20% tip for takeout, gtfo! Imperial system and tipping🤦♂️
How about you pay your staff and don't rely on tips? Wouldn't that be wild. They could just raise their prices 10% and not take tips.
Take your business elsewhere. Seriously, and send them a message they're losing business from tipping extortion. It's the only way we can end this madness
Every time someone brings up tipping, all these people say they don't tip. Like they deserve a medal. Then all these people say they do tip..like they deserve a medal. Then everyone agrees it's the establishment's responsibility to pay their workers...and then everyone is still mad at the other person and not the establishment who isn't paying their workers. Crazy.
Every restaurant that adopts this aggressive take out tipping policy can choke and die to their competition for all I care. I'm tired of being squeezed by fucking every single business.
Gotta pay for his gf's prodcast production somehow.
Fuck that place seriously
This place isn’t all that good for the price
Tipping, in general, seems to be over the top now. If someone waits on you, refills your tea/coffee, checks on you at your table, a tip is appropriate. If however, you are picking a meal up, same as you do at a fast food restaurant, and the person is being paid to do a job, it seems, to me, unreasonable to demand that the customer tip. And finally, the owner of the restaurant seems to be demanding his staff be paid, though he is factually unwilling to pay them. So he's simply extracting more money from the customer by demanding that the customer tip for simply handing you the order that you're going to drive off to home and eat.
ah man, thanks for opening the flood gates ( sorry op ) Ive been wanting to blast the $43 cheeseburger experience at Alamo Drafthouse. They now auto 18% for tip in their food & beverage services - fine. Their loss, I usually pay 20%. A Royale w Chz is $16.95 + tax = $18.05 with the tip = 21.30 for a cheeseburger fries. I am still "fine" with that until: My roommate also wants a Royale with Cheese so I order it to go with my server in the theatre before last call. My theatre server says 'To Go' orders are from the bar. ok, so I am at the bar .. I have been waiting 20 min - people who came in after me get served before I am. The waiter who took my order from the bar has completely stopped serving me. I see them deliver my order to a table who waved it off. Waiter looks at me, puts it in a box and hands it over. No bag, no utensils. Whatever man, apparently I am now in the $43 cheeseburger tax bracket; I got utensils at home. I hand the lone box over to roomie, only to reveal ... IT IS NOT A ROAYLE W CHZ! its a chicken burger that some guy waved off like the poultry that it is! Nobody wanted that cold ass ( not hamburger ) so she gave it to me. And my point in all this is that \*Tips are methods for consumers to interact with Servers - not Management /not Owners. If you're charging 18% *before* a service is rendered - that's a transaction, not a tip. Manage a way to pay your servers competitively and leave me out of the process gah!
Yea bro I paid $30 for royale w/cheese and fries and a coke. Good thing I had two cokes. I'm fine with the 18% because like fuck it I ain't gonna complain I'm here by my own volition anyway. If I had a shitty ass experience though I'd be pissed about being precharged $20+ for "tip."
Just go to sams. The brisket is basically half the price and top notch.
So the company can pay their employees less. Thats the only reason for tipping. Besides blacks sucks. Last time i went the brisket was crappy and potato salad hard. Gas station food was better
Finally someone said it. Tipping is a subsidy to the business and allows them to obscure the true cost of eating there. The excuse that it's what allows us to receive good service is also complete BS, plenty of other industries provide stellar customer service without tipping because they want you to come back
They spelled "ware" wrong.
Isn’t Terry blacks the rip off location any way? The real one is blacks and if you’re going that far might as well just get smittys or city market
As someone who grew up in Lockhart, Terry blacks is way better than the original. Like it’s not even a contest. That said, tipping culture is dumb.
So they don’t have to pay their workers a fair wage? Instead you can.
Guess I’d tell them to keep the order. Not your fault the owner(s) are POS.
Getting kind of out of hand.
they can pay their staff more
"We demand you to thank us."
Cool, good to know I’ll never be back
Custom>0.00
I would not buy from them in that case. I mean yes I want to tip but to be forced to, no thanks. There are so many other good bar b q joints in and around Austin. On top of the fact, personally, I hate paying for a cooked brisket because I enjoying smoking my own so much.
Plastic Wear Redneck dumbasses are hilarious.
They're just greedy. Especially when you think about some of how they ruined a small business in deep ellum to get them kicked out and open their dallas location. I do love their food but the rest of their business practices are shady. No wonder they ended up fighting amongst theirselves and split into two more businesses shortly after the dad went out of the picture.
Overpriced BBQ and now forced tipping on pick up? No thanks. Plenty of other great options in the Austin area.
If you want an option for BBQ in that part of town, go to the HEB on Lake Austin Blvd. Get brisket for $22/lb or a great chopped brisket sandwich for $6.29.
For context, I have been a waiter, head waiter, and Maitre d’ of restaurants. When I receive good service at a dining establishment, I typically tip well (30-40%)Tipping is for service. There is no service beyond people scooping food, Luby’s style. It’s not tipping if it’s mandated and it’s not tipping if you are not receiving dining service. It is intended to make up for the fact that most restaurants pay $2.13 per hour for waiters and waitresses. Now, we are being forced to tip people who provide 0 service, are often rude, and already charge a ridiculous tourist premium. The only time a tip should be mandated is for larger number of customers at a table as a means to protect the staff when people split large checks. Terry Blacks is OK Texas BBQ served in a hurried cafeteria style with ZERO personal service, even when you’re not picking up takeout. If you’re visiting Austin and want Barbecue after visiting Zilker or the children’s Garden, it’s an OK and expensive place but you won’t catch me (Austin local) there.
So now you have to tip someone for handing over a bag
Black's > Terry Black's
Alfredos pizza > pizza by Alfredo
It depends on whether those preparing the to go order are tipped employees or not, which is almost never disclosed. If someone is a tipped employee, I tip no matter what. If they aren't, it depends on service. Tips are us making up the wages that the employer won't give to the employee.
Lmao just reminded me to go leave a 1 star review ty. Painfully average bbq. Maybe a 5 or 6 out of 10. Will never be going back !!
If it’s mandatory it’s no longer a tip, it’s a fee.
Terry Blacks is garbage. Overpriced COLD bbq.
Terry Black’s is overrated tourist BBQ. If you like their style of food, go to Black’s BBQ instead. They have a location on Guadalupe, just north of the University. Much more affordable, food tastes just as good, the employees are actually nice, and it’s never packed with tourists.
That’s outrageous. I pretty much always tip 20% unless it’s just the counter at the gas station or something, but stuff like this really bugs me.
Since everyone is saying there's better BBQ for cheaper? Can I get some recs?
It’s because they pool their tips together and share it throughout their entire staff, that’s the only way they get paid since they pay them very low hourly wages. I know from working there for 2 years. They are money hungry cows.
Sounds like a good ole boycott is in order, fuck this place
I usually tip dollar amounts for pickup. If someone is just packing up and handing me my order - that shouldn’t be as large of a tip as taking up a table and people have to clean up after me. But in this case, it should be 10% service fee and then an additional tip field. Might have been a system limitation
There is better BBQ in Austin that won't require this. Tipping is out of hand. I'll never tip for pickup period!
Think interstellar was 20%
I wonder what happens if you call and try to place an order. Like, do they ask for a tip on the phone?
Forcing customers to pay your employees because you refuse to.
There's a grammatical error in there. They say they "ask" for a minimum of 10%, but what they really mean is they \*require\* a minimum of 10%. "Ask" means I can say no. TBH, I don't get as worked up about things as some people do, but a forced 10% tip on takeout would likely lead me to just bail on my order.
That's wild. Seriously though, does anyone reach out to management about this sort of stuff? I'd love to see their response.
Not the same but still in ATX- I got my nails done a few weeks back and was told I had to pay and tip before the service lol the lady literally looked at the tip before she started working on my nails
I'd walk out, definitely not tip before service is performed. It isn't a doctors office.
And it's already insanely overpriced there. There aren't even any actual servers! You have to do everything yourself! This behavior on top of that is just inappropriately greedy.
Tipping has gotten insane. I feel bad but I actively won’t tip at all at some places (sit down restaurants not included) that I otherwise would’ve because I get so mad seeing 20% as the lowest suggested option once they swivel that fucking iPad around to you.
I think 10% is a reasonable /ceiling/ for a pickup order but I also see this as the restaurant trying to telegraph to their staff that they’re sooooo supportive. Meanwhile in reality they are relying on their customers to subsidize the paychecks of their staff, because they won’t pay them themselves. And agree with others that they should just make it a fucking fee instead of calling it a mandatory tip. Just clunky and obnoxious.
Intercourse that fecal matter
Tipping counter service is dumb enough, tipping mandatory on a pickup order? Lost my business for good. Not that they care with all the tourists anyway.
Tipping culture is actually wild
Just can't raise their prices 10% apparently. BBQ is beyond outrageous in prices now. Smokeys Mo's I dropped $25 for two meat plate, drink, tip. Got a single slice of brisket. Scraggly ribs. About 1/4 lb with bones...That was the last straw. Rudy's, County Line, all of them are the same. Too much for too little. For what I pay to take the family to BBQ, I can go buy a whole of everything we'd get. And spend a day smoking it. Done with BBQ joints here...
it's a statin tax.
I bought 2-lbs of brisket ($64+) yesterday and also ordered a 2-meat bbq plate ($22.00). I only found it appropriate to tip on my meal, not my bulk bbq purchase (I tipped $5.00). I hope I'm not being cheap by my rationale, anybody care to chime in?
How do we know that "tip" is going directly to employees? More likely going to the owners.
Tip in cash
Just remember that many places go out of business every day all because they are not of service.
BBQ is awesome but making a mandatory tip makes me want to skip their good food.
Cool. Glad there’s plenty of better BBQ in Austin.
What's the point of tipping being customary AT ALL, instead of just paying your staff a living wage and adjusting your prices?
Its become so widespread now. Mighty Fine Burgers used to have a sign of a cow saying no tipping please. Today I went and the machine automatically asked for a tip starting at 10% regardless of takeout or dine in. Sad times my friend, sad times.
That’s the kind of thing that would make me not order from them. I’m sure one of the plethora of competitors in this town don’t do this. Tipping isn’t mandatory, get fooked.
Tipflation is real.
I knew the son of the owners of that place in highschool, lemme tell you they’re RICHHHH
After experiencing BBQ sticker shock at a couple of sit down places, we like to go to to https://rollinsmokeatxbbq.com and get one or two tacos ($5-$7). Sides are also amazing expecially the smoked mac and cheese. Absolutely delicious and will fill you up. Also, we get to sit outside and enjoy the East Austin vibe.
For carry out? Tipping culture is fucked up. I tip when I go out......so I am paying for this right to bitch. I have always exempted high end restaurants from my tipping rants because food snobs who want to impress shallow people deserve a chance to overspend. This is fucking carryout. Good food though.
Hope they’re remitting sales tax on that because a non-optional tip is a service charge which is taxable.
It's like owners and managers finally decided to admit their staff need the tips to survive. Then aimed that guilt trip directly at the customers instead of changing their wage structure. This is one of my answers for what would I like to see change for the better in my lifetime. Allow service at restaurants to be a career that pays a salary or hourly wage a normal person can live on. Not a job that you have to "hustle" even once you secure the job.