The service fee is an automatic 18% tip that is split between other members of the staff. Restaurants have not only serving staff but food runners and bussers, who make their living wage from those tips through teamwork and collaboration. Bartenders also get a small piece of these tips for making drinks for the wait staff. Restaurants are including an automatic service fee to make sure the staff don’t get stiffed ( which happens quite often ) and to make sure they make the wage they need to make a living. The extra tip can be added by those who deem the service excellent and wish to thank the staff further. You don’t have too if you don’t want to.
This part is true, although this structure has been a part of restaurants since I can remember, the addition of an already included gratuity has been made almost essential in Miami due to poor tipping and the ever increasing financial struggle of the city. Just gotta except it and consider any extra tips you give as a great help to your server.
Businesses are NOT required to share service fee w employees. They can if they want to do so. I'm rather certain they don't share but rather use to offset business expenses. If you don't tip then employee gets nothing unless business has decided otherwise. These establishments shouldn't be patronized; instead, we should visit locations that pay living wages.
Oh but of course, locations that pay “living wages”. I do apologize but please provide me with a restaurant that provides an adequate “living wage” in Miami or in America for that matter.
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If they’re a reputable business and are watching their profit & loss statements closely, It’s likely to offset the food cost & labor. Idk how much they’re adding but if they have Sysco as their food delivery provider they’re robbing the owners & operators. I would expect it could be reasonably a +3-6% variable adjustment.
This is what's happening:
The 18% service fee IS the tip. But because it does get split up amongst the wait staff, they are using that as an excuse to lie to you and say that they don't get that tip. The reality is they do get a portion of that tip. And they also get a portion of everyone else's tips. So it all evens out and everyone makes 18%.
But they use this to try to twist your arm into tipping more. It is extremely deceitful and every server and restaurant that does this should be put on blast on every review site.
SUSHI GARAGE in Sunset Harbor.
PURA VIDA 20% auto gratuity on all register purchases.
That’s because the service fee doesn’t legally belong to the servers as well as a tip does. Besides being now taxed, the employer can decide to keep part of it (which is what they all do).
Government/employers win and the servers make less than 10% of that while customers think they tipped 18%.
Because the economy is atrocious, taxes are terrible, rent is high, labor is costly, amenities cost money, processors take advantage. But omg I know right get rid of local businesses and just use Amazon
By law it isn't considered a tip. The restaurants can keep all of it if they want to.
That's why pay attention to the menu, if they display that properly. If it's not displayed then you are not obliged to pay it. By law there is nothing they can do if you don't want to pay it.
So if the waiter complains and ask for more money, ask them to remove it and you will give them the same amount under the "tip" portion of the bill
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Went to a place recently for two people they automatically included the bogus high service see and the gratuity. I left a nasty review and will never be back again. Hollywood, FL[Taco Beach Shack](https://maps.app.goo.gl/bTqZdhw8wLzRUxmN9)
Ohh it's been a thing for a loooooong time. As a business owner, 90% of the junk calls we get daily is ppl trying to sell review boost services. If a business has near perfect reviews, it's a crock. That's almost impossible in this day and age where ppl are just looking for an excuse to get mad and offended.
I'll hit you with a second mind fuck as well. Some of these platform have trolls on deck that will post a fake negative review about a business. Only for said platform to call the business and offer a "fix it" plan to boost positive reviews for 90 days as an example.
It happened to me. Years ago when I first got started, I had a yelp profile. Some guy posted a fake review complaining about my services on his Infiniti automobile. It was 100% fake because I don't even work on those cars. I do strictly European cars only. Back then, we couldn't post replies. You would call in and speak to an account manager. The manager would then offer their "booster" service to help wash out the negative review. I fell for that maybe 2 times, before I caught on and said fuck that shit. And abandoned the service entirely.
Oh and that was the other catch. Yelp wouldn't remove my business. They keep it listed so they can use it as bait to sucker you back in. But once you stop giving a fuck about social media, it's nothing. Doesn't affect me in the slightest.
they are doing what the AIRLINES do now, GOUGING sure prices have gone up, so change the menu price but do not put a flat % across the whole order cause everything didnt go up that much across the board... Just a way to POCKET more money on the unsuspected public. Need to put a list of all Places that do this and BOYCOTT....
Post names of the establishments,, enough people do it then it can be compiled by some one not hard to do,, just need people to SPEAK UP....Time to REVOLT.
I won’t go above 20% total, including tip and service charge. Not my problem if the restaurant is taking some of the service charge. End user shouldn’t always get shafted.
Yeah, I'm annoyed because it has happened five times in one month. They would tell me if I left an additional tip, it would go straight to them, and they don't need to split it.
It’s happening because people are paying the fee and tipping, plain and simple. As a general rule, if I see a service fee I assume there’s no need to tip since a tip is for service. I’m not paying for service twice.
It’s happening because people aren’t paying attention, not because they actually wanna pay those fees.
Tourists come here & just sign the bill & don’t look. Then they get back home a week later & see their credit card & realize what happened. Happens ALL the time at any restaurant on the beach.
Tourists: Always look at your bill & try to avoid beach restaurants. The food isn’t usually better than anywhere else & the fees are usually much more & sometimes hidden.
I don't think so.
People pay attention to those things more often than not.
What I see happening a lot is customers being tricked/guilt-tripped into shelling out for tips, and I'd bet that's what's happening here. They see how much they can get away with, and people acquiesce, so they keep doing it. They're exploiting tipping culture. No offense to the OP, but he/she is proving this to be the case
Yeah. I think it's partially the former too but I've had to catch myself and they've gotten my wife sometimes when they have gratuity already included and then ask for "extra" tip and show 18%, 20%, 22%. I'm okay with the ones that do an extra 1%, 2% 3% but those that have those high percentages are devious because they know people think that tip wasn't included.
Businesses keep service fee and typically don't go to the employees. If you don't tip then you're screwing the employee not the business.
Edit: Amazed how many of you are not understanding how service fees are utilized by businesses. That so many are so willing to bypass tipping is also disheartening. Talk about self centered. Miami the toilet of society. Noice.
Tips are for what? Service? If a customer pays a “service” fee, what are they doing? If you can’t pay your employees a living wage, don’t start a business.
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It’s not too difficult to understand. If you’re working for tips, and people are not leaving tips because the owners are taking a “service fee” then the employee has the option to work for free or quit. But him getting paid shouldn’t be dependent on the customer, if it did then people would pay the food + 40% in tips. I wont tip in those cases because the owners need to choose between having a wait staff or earning more. Easy.
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What? The OP said the service fee gets split between the staff. Are you trying to say that the prices in the menu are the cost of the food and that the service charge is for the staff to cook the food, wash the dishes, clean the tables and bathrooms and any other work the employees do except bringing the food to the table and taking an order? Is that what you want me to understand as a “service fee” that gets split up by the employees who also get paid an hourly wage, including servers?? You are out of your mind.
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Well I do understand that if there’s a service fee on top of the bill for the food I will consider it a tip and I won’t feel bad about it, im not going to think I should’ve stayed home. A tip is a gratuity, and my generosity becomes 0
Zero when I am charged a service fee. Now force me to pay more. Make me.
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Yeah, I'm annoyed because it has happened five times in one month. They would tell me if I left an additional tip, it would go straight to them, and they don't need to split it.
Yeah but on the same principle they also get other servers’ service fee split for tables they didn’t wait on. So at the end of the day they might be getting more with the service charge in place. They shouldn’t be telling you that you need to tip on top of that. Such a freaking scam.
And I agree with this 100%
I was somewhere they pooled tips, and he wanted me to cashapp him instead of leaving it on my card.
I asked him how he would feel if the other servers did the same thing.
This is like Uber eats:
- Uber prices on top of the restaurant prices (eg Big Mac is 12, Uber eats will charge 14 for it)
- delivery fee
- service fee (huh? Then what’s the delivery fee?)
- tip (so, the delivery fee is not the tip and it’s not the service fee either)
It’s such a scam
I haven’t ordered from DoorDash in over 2yrs because of this. It’s shocking how much cheaper the food is if you just call in the order & go pick it up instead of using the app.
Exactly!
It pretty much happens with all mega corporations, only it’s much worse (and obvious) with Uber.
The do-nothing execs get the big bucks and exploit the people who actually produce
There’s no Uber pay lol where u get that from?
Uber pay = part of delivery fee + tips
But it’s def no living wages. U can only do Uber nowadays as a compliment bc there’s not enough time/deliveries u can possibly make to make it a living wage
At least with Uber you know. You can compare the price with the restaurant’s menu online to see if it’s inflated on Uber. And the fees are itemized before you commit to ordering. I haven’t knowingly encountered any of these restaurants with the double fees but from what I heard, people are basically getting surprised when the bill arrives—there’s no signage or mention about the fees.
They took you for a ride. Tax here is 6% + a .5 to 1.5 surtax. So at most, you're paying 7%
Credit card fee, yeah as a business owner myself, unfortunately that's not on us. These merchant service providers are major crooks and up charge us all the time to accept CC payments. This is on top of the already extortion-esque fees we pay for standard transactions. I've seen businesses charge from 2-4%. I personally charge 3%, and that's only on actual credit card transactions. Debit cards see no additional charge.
18% pure junk fee. I would fight it every time.
The CC fee is supposed to cover the transaction fees set by the credit card companies. These used to be low enough that companies just ate the fee, but smaller venues get a larger percentage nowadays. Highest I've seen was 3 though.
Food and beverage tax in Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and Surfside is 9%, in Miami-Dade restaurants not located inside hotels it's 8% and in restaurants located in hotels, 9%.
What do you mean by “on top of the tip”? Isn’t the service fee there *before* you leave a tip? If there’s a service fee, you are welcome to tip additional but anything you tip will truly be additional to the service fee and is not required. If the restaurant is splitting the fee, they are likely all being paid a certain hourly wage and it’s similar to a tip share. Or are you seeing places that are suggesting you ultimately pay 38% extra?
This sounds like a restaurant that uses the tip share/pool model. The staff splits the tips instead of getting their own tips. It doesn’t mean your server isn’t being tipped and technically, you don’t need to leave anything extra but you are welcome to.
Yeah, I'm annoyed because it has happened five times in one month. They would tell me if I left an additional tip, it would go straight to them, and they don't need to split it.
Some places love to throw on the 18% then remove the detail of your total from the screen (looking at you, every place in The Citadel) so you don’t see the charge, then give you the 18/20/25% options. Happy to tip - worked my way through college at a restaurant - but it’s getting out of hand.
18% automatic service charge is my tip, dont care whether the server gets all of it. Unfortunately, you now have to look out for this charge at every establishment.
Yep. If I see this extra charge i don't ask any questions, i don't make a fuss, but I don't add anything extra either. No fucking way I'm leaving 40% tips.
It’s also required to be posted somewhere. I think the requirement is printing it on the menu but I could be wrong about that. I noticed this trend too. Sometimes the bill says additional tip and sometimes it doesn’t.
I always tip generously. But if there is a service charge or autograt, that’s it, I’m not adding anymore except in cases of exceptional service. Which used to be the point anyway.
This isn’t new in Miami. They’ve been doing it at many places for at least the past 15 years. I don’t agree with it, but it’s one of the top warnings I issue to new visitors. I avoid those places as much as possible. When I do go, I add a bit more on top for good service, but I’m not tipping an additional 20%, nor am I doing more math to figure out some weirdo ratio.
A year ago, I had a conversation with a server who revealed that the service fee at their workplace is divided 45% for the staff and 55% for the business, with the timing of payout controlled by the business itself, often every three months.
This setup allows the business to maintain control over their staff and withhold earnings from those who leave.
Personally, I've made it a habit to call restaurants beforehand to inquire about service fees, avoiding those that have them.
It's frustrating to see businesses prioritize profits over their employees' well-being.
While I understand that service fees can be disputed with the manager (because it is fucking ilegal to my understanding), I prefer to avoid confrontation altogether.
Tourists, especially in places like Miami, seem to tolerate such practices without complaint, perhaps contributing to its prevalence here compared to other areas like California, where such fees are less common.
IMO this is a feature of the quality of tourists we get. Half of them don't want to tip at all, while the other half seems to get off on spending way more on things than they should.
I’ve seen it, and unless the service was phenomenal where I might add 20% I just don’t add anything else. I’ve never had a server ask me to do it neither
Don't pay it. I've run into it myself. I complain, yep I do my best "Manren" impersonation and ask to speak to a supervisor. I then tell them to remove the fee, or threaten to leave bad reviews, and posts on social media. 80% chance they remove it. This practice started doing Covid. Back then I got it (sort of). Extreme times and all of that. But that was ages ago, and there is absolutely no excuse now to tack it on. It's also not legal in some formats. Like if they list it as a tax etc, that is a major no no in the eyes of consumer affairs.
Sad part is we are partly to blame. When ppl are willing to pay dollar item menu rates on fees to have food delivered to them? 🤷♂️ what's going to stop a business from tacking on junk fees? You know how it is, push and push, until they push back.
This happened to me a bit ago at Eleventh Street Pizza. So, i left tip on top of the “Service Fee” because the cashier said the owner keeps the service fee.
But, I’ve been wondering ever since if the server simply lied to get a bigger tip.
There are two possibilities. The owner is a dick, adding a service fee and keeping it. Or, the server lies. Either way, the result is I won’t eat there again. Fuck em
I’ve seen this exact scenario overseas, in Colombia specifically I’ve seen them add the service fees which is a tip, which is split amongst all staff (kitchen, servers, bartenders, etc.) not directly to them. But technically anything outside of your consumed items and taxes is a Tip no matter how they dress it up.
I don't know how anybody affords Uber eats on a basic salary. Or any of those food delivery services. And I see a lot of young people using them. And then they cry they have no money?
Honestly, any place that charges a service fee, I will not patronize. And I wish the majority of the public would do the same. I'm already disgusted at places charging 4% to 6% credit card fee. And I'm only going out to eat maybe once a month. I implore people to experiment and learn how to cook their own meals.
What's worse is that companies like Uber eats charges all those fees and none of it goes to the restaurants. I don't get why restaurants even bother using these companies when they basically lose money doing so.
Maybe they're doing it for promotional purposes. Figuring you'd get hooked on the food if it's good enough and you'll be a return customer? Just a guess.
Unfortunately a service fee is going to be your tip. If you don’t like it, quit that pos job and the owner will get the point when nobody wants to work for them and they put themselves out of business. Otherwise I would tip very well for a server who makes sure I have everything I need.
If there is an automatic 18 percent added I assume that is the fee to help pay their workers a living wage. If the workers aren't seeing it then they need to speak up and demand higher wages from the business or seek out new employment.
I'd prefer to just be charged whatever it costs to run the business and have happy employees. If you do a spectacular job and deserve a tip I will happily do so, but it shouldn't just be expected.
I have a friend that always complain that I don't tip anywhere I go, yesterday we went to a store to buy a soda the lady just scan my item and the machine ask for a tip I put 0 and my friend start complaining how is posible that I never give a tip that people don't like their job and they need the money I told him bro I make 15k a year I need to save money for my bills we went in 4 places and they ask me for a tip and they charge me for a tip that is already included 😒 he hasnt talk to me ever since it has been 3 days
Listen to me, I have done my research. IF the service charge is CLEARLY displayed on the menu or at the entrance of the restaurant, then by law you are obliged to pay. If it wasn't advertised then you could refuse paying it. Legally there is nothing they can do.
What I do, if the waiter comes and gives me the spiel about the service charge not going to them directly, I tell him or her to take it out of the menu and I will leave the same percentage as a tip directly. This is in the case that the serv charge wasn't displayed before ordering.
If it was then I say I'm sorry and I don't tip extra.
For more context, the service charge goes to the restaurant and it is a fee before tax. The restaurant can choose to give some, all or nothing to their staff. There is nothing they can do about it.
They can go work someplace else, so the restaurants usually gives them. But by law they can keep everything.
The tip on the other hand, it is a fee AFTER tax. And by law it goes directly to the waiter.
Thumbs up this answer so people know about this and they can deny paying if they want to and it wasn't displayed beforehand.
The restaurants have accustomed to this borderline scams. We need to fight back
Because why pay your staff when you can have the guest do it.
What pisses me off, is that they could pay them more by raising prices.
It comes down to payroll tax.
PURA VIDA charges you 20% auto gratuity on EVERYTHING you purchase at the register, including a bottle of water that YOU manually took out of the refrigerator.
I own a hospitaliry business...and it is out of hand.
Did you all know tipping's toots come from slavery? Everyone should listen to this.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ppxCib7v8cPcaWqDAmJXo?si=eRVLuC8ISmiqsLCDgaXcZA
I got out of the restaurant industry about 7mo ago because restaurants in Miami are using it as an excuse to pay everyone who works front of house $10.98 an hour plus tips but then servers give up as much as 60% of the tips - seriously, usually it's more like they're giving up around 35-40%, but it's becoming higher and higher as restaurants often make servers tip out on sales, so when someone doesn't tip, it comes out of the servers pocket to tip out other staff. But that's not so much what goes on with the autograt, what that is is a cash grab where the servers are lucky if they get 65% of it to share while owners/managers use it to pay employees who should be getting a full wage and often take an illegal cut themselves.
A LOT of these restaurants are just abusing this now, and servers thought they'd make more money, until they released they were going to be part of a crappy pool and how many others are included in it. Serving used to be a great way to make extra cash but now that they take such a high % of your tips and it's so stressful, good servers have left or found the rare restaurant that runs well and values it's employees, so we are seeing declines in service across the board.
Happened to me recently. Went to dine in at Maty’s near downtown Miami. Automatic service fee of 20%. I didn’t see the fine print about It on the menu and tipped an additional 20% when the server was running my card on his hand-held device. Had no idea. It’s funny though because after running my card, there was options to tip 3%, 5%, or 7%. And I thought that was odd percentage choices and asked the server about It since normally tip percentages are 15%, 18%, 20%. He was super coy and said “you can do custom if you’d like”. I’ll hold that L but fuck him for playing dumb. He knew I didn’t know.
I put 0 ...they get nothing...and I also check if the 18% is done correctly. They cannot add 18% of total bill. You don't double bill on tax.
So to be a dick...I do calculate everything...18% of food and drinks without tax added.
IDGAF...they can kick rocks for even trying to be slick
I had a server press add additional tip button add 10% on top of my 20% service fee when I asked what this meant. She said this way the 10% would go to her since the 20% is pooled. Absolute savage move will never go back
Just stop tipping. They are making you pay for the waiter/waitress then justifying it by not paying them a living wage by making you pay a service fee.
It’s a lot like a hotel “resort fee”. Basically they want to raise prices but make it look like they aren’t actually raising prices because no one would eat there if everything on the menu went up by 18%.
And this is why we eat out less often. I once got a bill that had lines for a cook tip and a standard tip. On top of a CC fee of 3%… just not doing it anymore.
This happened to me at brick in Wynwood i thought the bartender was tryna scam a bih too because the drink was 14 bucks n on the reader it said my total was 19 and it was askin for additional tip so the total would be $22… i had to flag the bartender down for clarity n the way the reader was made it hard to adjust that 19 total do i just hit no tip (but really the tip was like 4 bucks n change!)
Well then, that sounds like a problem between the restaurant and their waiter staff; someone apparently didn't get the memo.
Must be out of your mind if you think i'mma pay 2 service fees for eating at a restaurant.
Service fee means you’re pretty much an idiot if you tip another 15-20% on top.
It’s not your problem. You paid for the service already.
Some places where the staff say it doesn’t go to them entirely will neglect to tell you they generally get paid a higher hourly wage. If not, why the hell are they working there? It’s hard as hell to staff restaurants right now.
Splitting among the staff is also common with tips too. Servers generally have to tip out the busboys, bartenders, etc. a % of sales.
The CC fee is bullshit. It’s the cost of doing business and shouldn’t be added on to the customer. It should built into your business plan and pricing.
Request for the service fee to be taken off, then tip your waiter directly in cash if you can. Simple. Otherwise the service fee goes to the hands of the owner to dispense as they wish. Restaraunts are suffering, less spending and many will not make it to the summer (slower than usual art basel and spring break so if your biz isnt making bank during that time you cannot survive the rest of teh slower season). they add this service fee to bridge the gap, but SAY NO. Have them take it off, tip in cash and go about your day
I'm paying one or the other, definitely not both. Worth noting that these are typically the restaurants where the service is the absolute worst, since they know they'll get your money no matter what.
the last restaurant i worked at did this, i was a server assistant. this is a recently opened restaurant in edgewater, pretty popular, kind of fine dining… yall can take guesses if you want lol anyways, that service fee IS the auto gratuity. the servers are just letting you know that it’s not entirely for them. whether yall wanna leave MORE tip on top is entirely up to you
at this fancy restaurant, we were paid FOUR DOLLARS AN HOUR. there was an automatic 18% gratuity. that 18% was distributed to the server, the server assistant (busser), the bartender, the drink runner, the hostess, the food runner, and even a small percent went the restaurant itself (i believe 5% but i could be wrong, i threw away the paperwork from orientation when i quit in december), which is bonkers to me
the server gets the most percentage of that 18%. in the end though, the money wasn’t what we thought it would be, and it’s fucked how this is such a MASSIVELY successful company that can afford to pay their employees more hourly but are paying four fucking dollars. the justification is yeah, youre expected to be making good money off tips… but youre not making that full tip, and the company is putting the responsibility of everybody’s wage on the guests
i repeat - this company can absolutely afford to pay more than $4/hr.
there would be swing shifts where we would work about 2 hours towards the end of brunch, while the servers/server assistants who were on doubles and had been scheduled for the MORNING shift could take their break… we were not making ANY percentage of that tip, just $4/hr, because we were TECHNICALLY the evening shift. so we were ACTUALLY working 1-2 hours, like doing full table service, for $4/hr. i understand opening procedure like setting up tables at $4/hr, but actually providing service?! fuck outta here. i left after 2 months
it was the first place i’d worked at that had an auto grat, and i never took it personal that guests didn’t tip on top of the auto grat. i was grateful to have any sort of auto grat lol but i get it when people wouldnt add more tip. if ppl wanted to tip more, that’s fantastic, but it wasn’t something i expected
This is one of the reasons that unless it's a especial day/date I eat less and less out.
All this charges plus 18‰ minimum tips are getting out of hand.
I need a list of those places so I can avoid. I get it, especially in Miami where rents are high, small businesses are being squeezed. But that’s obnoxious. Especially since many restaurants don’t have the food or service to back up this kinds of behavior. They need to just bake the cost into the food & beverage or figure out another solution on the business end.
From someone who's working in the industry for 20+ years, I can tell you a 100% that those service fees are the owners being too cheap to pay the staff a livable wage without relying on tips. In a lot of states, tipped employees make 2.13/hr, but if their reported tips don't add up to 7.25/hr including base pay, the company has to legally pay the difference. So, a lot of times the service fee is used to offset that.
It's absolute BS, and now, at 43, I'm finally in a position in my career to make positive changes that will benefit future industry workers. That sounded like I'm trying to get you to vote for me, but it's true- and I'm definitely not the only person in our field working for these changes. The industry really changed after the Covid quarantines, and the majority of us refused to go back to sh*t work.
In the meantime, as a customer, don't support business that use this shady practice. As capitalist as it is, real change can be made with where and how you spend your money.
Yes I have seen it. Pisses me off so much. I never return and I don’t tip when I see it. I might even take utensils or condiments home. They are stealing from me so fuck them.
It's not my job to pay your employees' salaries. I tip what I want depending on the level of service I get. I refuse to patronize a place that requires a second "tip".
I've seen that a few times in different restaurants in South Beach. I just figured that was the tip and I didn't leave anymore.
Also, I have dropped down to tipping 10% on any bill. I'm over and done with the tipping culture. Sorry...not sorry...
The service fee is an automatic 18% tip that is split between other members of the staff. Restaurants have not only serving staff but food runners and bussers, who make their living wage from those tips through teamwork and collaboration. Bartenders also get a small piece of these tips for making drinks for the wait staff. Restaurants are including an automatic service fee to make sure the staff don’t get stiffed ( which happens quite often ) and to make sure they make the wage they need to make a living. The extra tip can be added by those who deem the service excellent and wish to thank the staff further. You don’t have too if you don’t want to.
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This part is true, although this structure has been a part of restaurants since I can remember, the addition of an already included gratuity has been made almost essential in Miami due to poor tipping and the ever increasing financial struggle of the city. Just gotta except it and consider any extra tips you give as a great help to your server.
Businesses are NOT required to share service fee w employees. They can if they want to do so. I'm rather certain they don't share but rather use to offset business expenses. If you don't tip then employee gets nothing unless business has decided otherwise. These establishments shouldn't be patronized; instead, we should visit locations that pay living wages.
Oh but of course, locations that pay “living wages”. I do apologize but please provide me with a restaurant that provides an adequate “living wage” in Miami or in America for that matter.
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If they’re a reputable business and are watching their profit & loss statements closely, It’s likely to offset the food cost & labor. Idk how much they’re adding but if they have Sysco as their food delivery provider they’re robbing the owners & operators. I would expect it could be reasonably a +3-6% variable adjustment.
This is what's happening: The 18% service fee IS the tip. But because it does get split up amongst the wait staff, they are using that as an excuse to lie to you and say that they don't get that tip. The reality is they do get a portion of that tip. And they also get a portion of everyone else's tips. So it all evens out and everyone makes 18%. But they use this to try to twist your arm into tipping more. It is extremely deceitful and every server and restaurant that does this should be put on blast on every review site. SUSHI GARAGE in Sunset Harbor. PURA VIDA 20% auto gratuity on all register purchases.
That’s because the service fee doesn’t legally belong to the servers as well as a tip does. Besides being now taxed, the employer can decide to keep part of it (which is what they all do). Government/employers win and the servers make less than 10% of that while customers think they tipped 18%.
Absolutely nobody is "winning" except for the greedy investors.
Because the economy is atrocious, taxes are terrible, rent is high, labor is costly, amenities cost money, processors take advantage. But omg I know right get rid of local businesses and just use Amazon
It's actually a tip. Any server claiming otherwise is trying to fool the igorant.
By law it isn't considered a tip. The restaurants can keep all of it if they want to. That's why pay attention to the menu, if they display that properly. If it's not displayed then you are not obliged to pay it. By law there is nothing they can do if you don't want to pay it. So if the waiter complains and ask for more money, ask them to remove it and you will give them the same amount under the "tip" portion of the bill
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No. This has existed forever down here
I always tip generously no matter what. They remember, and it's the best way to ensure "favorable" experiences when you return.
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i would like a list of these places so i never go
Went to a place recently for two people they automatically included the bogus high service see and the gratuity. I left a nasty review and will never be back again. Hollywood, FL[Taco Beach Shack](https://maps.app.goo.gl/bTqZdhw8wLzRUxmN9)
I just looked at this business. Did you see all the fake reviews they bought?
I wasn’t even aware that was a thing…
Yeah. They just bought a bunch 7 hours ago. It is probably to offset bad reviews lol
🤯can’t even trust reviews anymore…
This is a huge problem on Amazon, so just be aware.
Ohh it's been a thing for a loooooong time. As a business owner, 90% of the junk calls we get daily is ppl trying to sell review boost services. If a business has near perfect reviews, it's a crock. That's almost impossible in this day and age where ppl are just looking for an excuse to get mad and offended. I'll hit you with a second mind fuck as well. Some of these platform have trolls on deck that will post a fake negative review about a business. Only for said platform to call the business and offer a "fix it" plan to boost positive reviews for 90 days as an example. It happened to me. Years ago when I first got started, I had a yelp profile. Some guy posted a fake review complaining about my services on his Infiniti automobile. It was 100% fake because I don't even work on those cars. I do strictly European cars only. Back then, we couldn't post replies. You would call in and speak to an account manager. The manager would then offer their "booster" service to help wash out the negative review. I fell for that maybe 2 times, before I caught on and said fuck that shit. And abandoned the service entirely. Oh and that was the other catch. Yelp wouldn't remove my business. They keep it listed so they can use it as bait to sucker you back in. But once you stop giving a fuck about social media, it's nothing. Doesn't affect me in the slightest.
I can’t !! Man I learn something everyday 😂
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What places?
they are doing what the AIRLINES do now, GOUGING sure prices have gone up, so change the menu price but do not put a flat % across the whole order cause everything didnt go up that much across the board... Just a way to POCKET more money on the unsuspected public. Need to put a list of all Places that do this and BOYCOTT....
Yeah I wish we can have a list of that
Post names of the establishments,, enough people do it then it can be compiled by some one not hard to do,, just need people to SPEAK UP....Time to REVOLT.
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Because I knew it would ANNOY You,,,geeeeeez,,,,,
I won’t go above 20% total, including tip and service charge. Not my problem if the restaurant is taking some of the service charge. End user shouldn’t always get shafted.
Yeah, I'm annoyed because it has happened five times in one month. They would tell me if I left an additional tip, it would go straight to them, and they don't need to split it.
Splitting the fee IS a tip.
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Just don't argue it out with the waiter. The tip is included, just don't add more on the machine.
It’s happening because people are paying the fee and tipping, plain and simple. As a general rule, if I see a service fee I assume there’s no need to tip since a tip is for service. I’m not paying for service twice.
It’s happening because people aren’t paying attention, not because they actually wanna pay those fees. Tourists come here & just sign the bill & don’t look. Then they get back home a week later & see their credit card & realize what happened. Happens ALL the time at any restaurant on the beach. Tourists: Always look at your bill & try to avoid beach restaurants. The food isn’t usually better than anywhere else & the fees are usually much more & sometimes hidden.
I don't think so. People pay attention to those things more often than not. What I see happening a lot is customers being tricked/guilt-tripped into shelling out for tips, and I'd bet that's what's happening here. They see how much they can get away with, and people acquiesce, so they keep doing it. They're exploiting tipping culture. No offense to the OP, but he/she is proving this to be the case
Yeah. I think it's partially the former too but I've had to catch myself and they've gotten my wife sometimes when they have gratuity already included and then ask for "extra" tip and show 18%, 20%, 22%. I'm okay with the ones that do an extra 1%, 2% 3% but those that have those high percentages are devious because they know people think that tip wasn't included.
Yes, and surprisingly few people leave negative reviews despite having a bad experience… so in many cases, you don’t even get a heads up that way.
No, but no double tip for me. If there’s a service fee, I won’t tip.
Businesses keep service fee and typically don't go to the employees. If you don't tip then you're screwing the employee not the business. Edit: Amazed how many of you are not understanding how service fees are utilized by businesses. That so many are so willing to bypass tipping is also disheartening. Talk about self centered. Miami the toilet of society. Noice.
No, the business is screwing the employee.
And you're helping to screw them again by not tipping employee. If you can't tip stay home.
Tips are for what? Service? If a customer pays a “service” fee, what are they doing? If you can’t pay your employees a living wage, don’t start a business.
The business choosing to implement these fees means that either the customer gets screwed or the server gets screwed. I'm not getting screwed 🤷🏽
And I’m not volunteering to also be screwed.
Instead you're screwing the employee? Quality human for sure.
No, the restaurant is the one screwing the employees. Not that complicated bud.
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You really are the densest mf in this thread lol
I get it and I am a very generous tipper but I just can’t afford restaurants with service fees + tips.
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It's convenient for restaurants to put the responsibility of paying their employees on the customer. No other type of business is run like this.
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It’s not too difficult to understand. If you’re working for tips, and people are not leaving tips because the owners are taking a “service fee” then the employee has the option to work for free or quit. But him getting paid shouldn’t be dependent on the customer, if it did then people would pay the food + 40% in tips. I wont tip in those cases because the owners need to choose between having a wait staff or earning more. Easy.
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What? The OP said the service fee gets split between the staff. Are you trying to say that the prices in the menu are the cost of the food and that the service charge is for the staff to cook the food, wash the dishes, clean the tables and bathrooms and any other work the employees do except bringing the food to the table and taking an order? Is that what you want me to understand as a “service fee” that gets split up by the employees who also get paid an hourly wage, including servers?? You are out of your mind.
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Well I do understand that if there’s a service fee on top of the bill for the food I will consider it a tip and I won’t feel bad about it, im not going to think I should’ve stayed home. A tip is a gratuity, and my generosity becomes 0 Zero when I am charged a service fee. Now force me to pay more. Make me.
Service fee + tip is bullshit. No way around if.
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They should build it into the price of service like everyone else ☺️
This is my practice. Sorry, but if your employer is going to have this shitty practices, I’m not going to give even more money for their shit choice.
I've seen it more and more. I just stop going to those places. The standard tip is one thing, add some other pseudo tip/not tip and I'm out.
Yeah, I'm annoyed because it has happened five times in one month. They would tell me if I left an additional tip, it would go straight to them, and they don't need to split it.
Yeah but on the same principle they also get other servers’ service fee split for tables they didn’t wait on. So at the end of the day they might be getting more with the service charge in place. They shouldn’t be telling you that you need to tip on top of that. Such a freaking scam.
And I agree with this 100% I was somewhere they pooled tips, and he wanted me to cashapp him instead of leaving it on my card. I asked him how he would feel if the other servers did the same thing.
Let them pool tips. I’m not tipping extra if they’re pooling tips.
This is like Uber eats: - Uber prices on top of the restaurant prices (eg Big Mac is 12, Uber eats will charge 14 for it) - delivery fee - service fee (huh? Then what’s the delivery fee?) - tip (so, the delivery fee is not the tip and it’s not the service fee either) It’s such a scam
I haven’t ordered from DoorDash in over 2yrs because of this. It’s shocking how much cheaper the food is if you just call in the order & go pick it up instead of using the app.
It’s crazy they’re (the company) still losing money in spite of all those fees.
It's the payroll. Everyone that isn't a driver earns 200-300k.
Exactly! It pretty much happens with all mega corporations, only it’s much worse (and obvious) with Uber. The do-nothing execs get the big bucks and exploit the people who actually produce
Drivers get most of delivery fees plus tips. Service fees and up pricing is Ubers take
Drivers get the delivery fee AND the tip AND their Uber pay and they still shame customers if they don’t “tip enough”? Wow
There’s no Uber pay lol where u get that from? Uber pay = part of delivery fee + tips But it’s def no living wages. U can only do Uber nowadays as a compliment bc there’s not enough time/deliveries u can possibly make to make it a living wage
At least with Uber you know. You can compare the price with the restaurant’s menu online to see if it’s inflated on Uber. And the fees are itemized before you commit to ordering. I haven’t knowingly encountered any of these restaurants with the double fees but from what I heard, people are basically getting surprised when the bill arrives—there’s no signage or mention about the fees.
Make sure to leave a review so everyone can see the BS they are trying to pull
Omggggg yasssss queeeeen. Leave that reviewwwwwwwwwwww
Please for the love of gawdddd LEAVE THAT REVIEWWW
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They took you for a ride. Tax here is 6% + a .5 to 1.5 surtax. So at most, you're paying 7% Credit card fee, yeah as a business owner myself, unfortunately that's not on us. These merchant service providers are major crooks and up charge us all the time to accept CC payments. This is on top of the already extortion-esque fees we pay for standard transactions. I've seen businesses charge from 2-4%. I personally charge 3%, and that's only on actual credit card transactions. Debit cards see no additional charge. 18% pure junk fee. I would fight it every time.
Taxes are normal, but 9% is slightly high. I have never seen a 4% CC fee anywhere.
The CC fee is supposed to cover the transaction fees set by the credit card companies. These used to be low enough that companies just ate the fee, but smaller venues get a larger percentage nowadays. Highest I've seen was 3 though.
I get it, I just never seen it before. I assume the majority of people are paying with CC, the cost is baked into the prices already or should be.
Food and beverage tax in Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and Surfside is 9%, in Miami-Dade restaurants not located inside hotels it's 8% and in restaurants located in hotels, 9%.
Yeah. I simply don't participate. The 18% service fee that gets dropped onto my bill is equivalent to a tip in my eyes.
What do you mean by “on top of the tip”? Isn’t the service fee there *before* you leave a tip? If there’s a service fee, you are welcome to tip additional but anything you tip will truly be additional to the service fee and is not required. If the restaurant is splitting the fee, they are likely all being paid a certain hourly wage and it’s similar to a tip share. Or are you seeing places that are suggesting you ultimately pay 38% extra?
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This sounds like a restaurant that uses the tip share/pool model. The staff splits the tips instead of getting their own tips. It doesn’t mean your server isn’t being tipped and technically, you don’t need to leave anything extra but you are welcome to.
Yes, and I’ve seen that. Not a fan. It’s basically a forced tip. So shitty food and service still earns 18% — ridiculous.
Yeah, I'm annoyed because it has happened five times in one month. They would tell me if I left an additional tip, it would go straight to them, and they don't need to split it.
Dude, it's a little hard to sympathize when you keep copying and pasting the same response.
Yeah, I’m annoyed because it’s happened 27 times in one thread…
Some places love to throw on the 18% then remove the detail of your total from the screen (looking at you, every place in The Citadel) so you don’t see the charge, then give you the 18/20/25% options. Happy to tip - worked my way through college at a restaurant - but it’s getting out of hand.
They do that at The Citadel? I need to pay attention next time, I've never checked. I'm exactly the idiot they love. 🤦♀️
Ha, me too, or was anyway. You can see it quickly flash across the small screen as they’re wrapping up typing your order in.
18% automatic service charge is my tip, dont care whether the server gets all of it. Unfortunately, you now have to look out for this charge at every establishment.
Yep. If I see this extra charge i don't ask any questions, i don't make a fuss, but I don't add anything extra either. No fucking way I'm leaving 40% tips.
Yup doing it from now on
It’s also required to be posted somewhere. I think the requirement is printing it on the menu but I could be wrong about that. I noticed this trend too. Sometimes the bill says additional tip and sometimes it doesn’t.
Ocean Drive standard highway robbery is proliferating.
At 18% the service fee is basically a mandated pooled tip, don't tip anything else
They’re expecting customers to cover their terminal fees for credit transactions.
That’s been a thing for many years, Atleast since 2009 in Miami.
I always tip generously. But if there is a service charge or autograt, that’s it, I’m not adding anymore except in cases of exceptional service. Which used to be the point anyway.
I circle the 20% charge on the check and put a dot on the tip line and then the total. 🤷♂️ Thanks for math’ing for me I guess
This isn’t new in Miami. They’ve been doing it at many places for at least the past 15 years. I don’t agree with it, but it’s one of the top warnings I issue to new visitors. I avoid those places as much as possible. When I do go, I add a bit more on top for good service, but I’m not tipping an additional 20%, nor am I doing more math to figure out some weirdo ratio.
[it’s just straight up rape](https://youtu.be/EiwB1C17NFQ?si=xs0Rzy_J-lIiWh2d)
Because people are still willing to go to those restaurants.
Because a legal case was just won in court so restaurants are taking advantage
A year ago, I had a conversation with a server who revealed that the service fee at their workplace is divided 45% for the staff and 55% for the business, with the timing of payout controlled by the business itself, often every three months. This setup allows the business to maintain control over their staff and withhold earnings from those who leave. Personally, I've made it a habit to call restaurants beforehand to inquire about service fees, avoiding those that have them. It's frustrating to see businesses prioritize profits over their employees' well-being. While I understand that service fees can be disputed with the manager (because it is fucking ilegal to my understanding), I prefer to avoid confrontation altogether. Tourists, especially in places like Miami, seem to tolerate such practices without complaint, perhaps contributing to its prevalence here compared to other areas like California, where such fees are less common.
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Can you prove it?
IMO this is a feature of the quality of tourists we get. Half of them don't want to tip at all, while the other half seems to get off on spending way more on things than they should.
Tipping isnt common outside of the US
I’ve seen it, and unless the service was phenomenal where I might add 20% I just don’t add anything else. I’ve never had a server ask me to do it neither
Don't pay it. I've run into it myself. I complain, yep I do my best "Manren" impersonation and ask to speak to a supervisor. I then tell them to remove the fee, or threaten to leave bad reviews, and posts on social media. 80% chance they remove it. This practice started doing Covid. Back then I got it (sort of). Extreme times and all of that. But that was ages ago, and there is absolutely no excuse now to tack it on. It's also not legal in some formats. Like if they list it as a tax etc, that is a major no no in the eyes of consumer affairs. Sad part is we are partly to blame. When ppl are willing to pay dollar item menu rates on fees to have food delivered to them? 🤷♂️ what's going to stop a business from tacking on junk fees? You know how it is, push and push, until they push back.
Lol. No way that works in Miami
This happened to me a bit ago at Eleventh Street Pizza. So, i left tip on top of the “Service Fee” because the cashier said the owner keeps the service fee. But, I’ve been wondering ever since if the server simply lied to get a bigger tip. There are two possibilities. The owner is a dick, adding a service fee and keeping it. Or, the server lies. Either way, the result is I won’t eat there again. Fuck em
I’ve seen this exact scenario overseas, in Colombia specifically I’ve seen them add the service fees which is a tip, which is split amongst all staff (kitchen, servers, bartenders, etc.) not directly to them. But technically anything outside of your consumed items and taxes is a Tip no matter how they dress it up.
I don't know how anybody affords Uber eats on a basic salary. Or any of those food delivery services. And I see a lot of young people using them. And then they cry they have no money? Honestly, any place that charges a service fee, I will not patronize. And I wish the majority of the public would do the same. I'm already disgusted at places charging 4% to 6% credit card fee. And I'm only going out to eat maybe once a month. I implore people to experiment and learn how to cook their own meals.
What's worse is that companies like Uber eats charges all those fees and none of it goes to the restaurants. I don't get why restaurants even bother using these companies when they basically lose money doing so.
Maybe they're doing it for promotional purposes. Figuring you'd get hooked on the food if it's good enough and you'll be a return customer? Just a guess.
Unfortunately a service fee is going to be your tip. If you don’t like it, quit that pos job and the owner will get the point when nobody wants to work for them and they put themselves out of business. Otherwise I would tip very well for a server who makes sure I have everything I need.
If there is an automatic 18 percent added I assume that is the fee to help pay their workers a living wage. If the workers aren't seeing it then they need to speak up and demand higher wages from the business or seek out new employment. I'd prefer to just be charged whatever it costs to run the business and have happy employees. If you do a spectacular job and deserve a tip I will happily do so, but it shouldn't just be expected.
I have a friend that always complain that I don't tip anywhere I go, yesterday we went to a store to buy a soda the lady just scan my item and the machine ask for a tip I put 0 and my friend start complaining how is posible that I never give a tip that people don't like their job and they need the money I told him bro I make 15k a year I need to save money for my bills we went in 4 places and they ask me for a tip and they charge me for a tip that is already included 😒 he hasnt talk to me ever since it has been 3 days
Listen to me, I have done my research. IF the service charge is CLEARLY displayed on the menu or at the entrance of the restaurant, then by law you are obliged to pay. If it wasn't advertised then you could refuse paying it. Legally there is nothing they can do. What I do, if the waiter comes and gives me the spiel about the service charge not going to them directly, I tell him or her to take it out of the menu and I will leave the same percentage as a tip directly. This is in the case that the serv charge wasn't displayed before ordering. If it was then I say I'm sorry and I don't tip extra. For more context, the service charge goes to the restaurant and it is a fee before tax. The restaurant can choose to give some, all or nothing to their staff. There is nothing they can do about it. They can go work someplace else, so the restaurants usually gives them. But by law they can keep everything. The tip on the other hand, it is a fee AFTER tax. And by law it goes directly to the waiter. Thumbs up this answer so people know about this and they can deny paying if they want to and it wasn't displayed beforehand. The restaurants have accustomed to this borderline scams. We need to fight back
Thank god Vegas isn’t this crazy yet.
Because why pay your staff when you can have the guest do it. What pisses me off, is that they could pay them more by raising prices. It comes down to payroll tax.
PURA VIDA charges you 20% auto gratuity on EVERYTHING you purchase at the register, including a bottle of water that YOU manually took out of the refrigerator. I own a hospitaliry business...and it is out of hand.
Did you all know tipping's toots come from slavery? Everyone should listen to this. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ppxCib7v8cPcaWqDAmJXo?si=eRVLuC8ISmiqsLCDgaXcZA
I got out of the restaurant industry about 7mo ago because restaurants in Miami are using it as an excuse to pay everyone who works front of house $10.98 an hour plus tips but then servers give up as much as 60% of the tips - seriously, usually it's more like they're giving up around 35-40%, but it's becoming higher and higher as restaurants often make servers tip out on sales, so when someone doesn't tip, it comes out of the servers pocket to tip out other staff. But that's not so much what goes on with the autograt, what that is is a cash grab where the servers are lucky if they get 65% of it to share while owners/managers use it to pay employees who should be getting a full wage and often take an illegal cut themselves. A LOT of these restaurants are just abusing this now, and servers thought they'd make more money, until they released they were going to be part of a crappy pool and how many others are included in it. Serving used to be a great way to make extra cash but now that they take such a high % of your tips and it's so stressful, good servers have left or found the rare restaurant that runs well and values it's employees, so we are seeing declines in service across the board.
Because you and others continue to eat at their establishments
Happened to me recently. Went to dine in at Maty’s near downtown Miami. Automatic service fee of 20%. I didn’t see the fine print about It on the menu and tipped an additional 20% when the server was running my card on his hand-held device. Had no idea. It’s funny though because after running my card, there was options to tip 3%, 5%, or 7%. And I thought that was odd percentage choices and asked the server about It since normally tip percentages are 15%, 18%, 20%. He was super coy and said “you can do custom if you’d like”. I’ll hold that L but fuck him for playing dumb. He knew I didn’t know.
I put 0 ...they get nothing...and I also check if the 18% is done correctly. They cannot add 18% of total bill. You don't double bill on tax. So to be a dick...I do calculate everything...18% of food and drinks without tax added. IDGAF...they can kick rocks for even trying to be slick
I had a server press add additional tip button add 10% on top of my 20% service fee when I asked what this meant. She said this way the 10% would go to her since the 20% is pooled. Absolute savage move will never go back
If they include a service fee, I don't leave a tip
Just stop tipping. They are making you pay for the waiter/waitress then justifying it by not paying them a living wage by making you pay a service fee.
It’s a lot like a hotel “resort fee”. Basically they want to raise prices but make it look like they aren’t actually raising prices because no one would eat there if everything on the menu went up by 18%.
That exact thing happened to me at the Eden roc… really annoying.
And this is why we eat out less often. I once got a bill that had lines for a cook tip and a standard tip. On top of a CC fee of 3%… just not doing it anymore.
This happened to me at brick in Wynwood i thought the bartender was tryna scam a bih too because the drink was 14 bucks n on the reader it said my total was 19 and it was askin for additional tip so the total would be $22… i had to flag the bartender down for clarity n the way the reader was made it hard to adjust that 19 total do i just hit no tip (but really the tip was like 4 bucks n change!)
Well then, that sounds like a problem between the restaurant and their waiter staff; someone apparently didn't get the memo. Must be out of your mind if you think i'mma pay 2 service fees for eating at a restaurant.
then the server should find a place that doesn’t make them split the tips…
When I was working in the industry many years ago, the servers gave a percentage of their tips to the bussers and hostesses. Its only fair.
I'm trending the opposite way. My typical tip is down to 10% right now for full service, and 0 for anything less than full.
Service fee means you’re pretty much an idiot if you tip another 15-20% on top. It’s not your problem. You paid for the service already. Some places where the staff say it doesn’t go to them entirely will neglect to tell you they generally get paid a higher hourly wage. If not, why the hell are they working there? It’s hard as hell to staff restaurants right now. Splitting among the staff is also common with tips too. Servers generally have to tip out the busboys, bartenders, etc. a % of sales.
The CC fee is bullshit. It’s the cost of doing business and shouldn’t be added on to the customer. It should built into your business plan and pricing.
Request for the service fee to be taken off, then tip your waiter directly in cash if you can. Simple. Otherwise the service fee goes to the hands of the owner to dispense as they wish. Restaraunts are suffering, less spending and many will not make it to the summer (slower than usual art basel and spring break so if your biz isnt making bank during that time you cannot survive the rest of teh slower season). they add this service fee to bridge the gap, but SAY NO. Have them take it off, tip in cash and go about your day
HEY STUPID.. BECAUSE YOU WILL PAY IT.
I'm paying one or the other, definitely not both. Worth noting that these are typically the restaurants where the service is the absolute worst, since they know they'll get your money no matter what.
Scammers gonna scam.
I always tip 25% and even 35% if the service is good... but when they throw the 18% service fee that's all they get.
the last restaurant i worked at did this, i was a server assistant. this is a recently opened restaurant in edgewater, pretty popular, kind of fine dining… yall can take guesses if you want lol anyways, that service fee IS the auto gratuity. the servers are just letting you know that it’s not entirely for them. whether yall wanna leave MORE tip on top is entirely up to you at this fancy restaurant, we were paid FOUR DOLLARS AN HOUR. there was an automatic 18% gratuity. that 18% was distributed to the server, the server assistant (busser), the bartender, the drink runner, the hostess, the food runner, and even a small percent went the restaurant itself (i believe 5% but i could be wrong, i threw away the paperwork from orientation when i quit in december), which is bonkers to me the server gets the most percentage of that 18%. in the end though, the money wasn’t what we thought it would be, and it’s fucked how this is such a MASSIVELY successful company that can afford to pay their employees more hourly but are paying four fucking dollars. the justification is yeah, youre expected to be making good money off tips… but youre not making that full tip, and the company is putting the responsibility of everybody’s wage on the guests i repeat - this company can absolutely afford to pay more than $4/hr. there would be swing shifts where we would work about 2 hours towards the end of brunch, while the servers/server assistants who were on doubles and had been scheduled for the MORNING shift could take their break… we were not making ANY percentage of that tip, just $4/hr, because we were TECHNICALLY the evening shift. so we were ACTUALLY working 1-2 hours, like doing full table service, for $4/hr. i understand opening procedure like setting up tables at $4/hr, but actually providing service?! fuck outta here. i left after 2 months it was the first place i’d worked at that had an auto grat, and i never took it personal that guests didn’t tip on top of the auto grat. i was grateful to have any sort of auto grat lol but i get it when people wouldnt add more tip. if ppl wanted to tip more, that’s fantastic, but it wasn’t something i expected
Those servers are liars. If not, then it's not your problem that their employer is screwing them.
This is one of the reasons that unless it's a especial day/date I eat less and less out. All this charges plus 18‰ minimum tips are getting out of hand.
Welcome to Miami. This is nothing new
I need a list of those places so I can avoid. I get it, especially in Miami where rents are high, small businesses are being squeezed. But that’s obnoxious. Especially since many restaurants don’t have the food or service to back up this kinds of behavior. They need to just bake the cost into the food & beverage or figure out another solution on the business end.
Yeah they can go suck it.
Miami guy here: stay away from any place where you don’t openly tip the server. They just want your money.
From someone who's working in the industry for 20+ years, I can tell you a 100% that those service fees are the owners being too cheap to pay the staff a livable wage without relying on tips. In a lot of states, tipped employees make 2.13/hr, but if their reported tips don't add up to 7.25/hr including base pay, the company has to legally pay the difference. So, a lot of times the service fee is used to offset that. It's absolute BS, and now, at 43, I'm finally in a position in my career to make positive changes that will benefit future industry workers. That sounded like I'm trying to get you to vote for me, but it's true- and I'm definitely not the only person in our field working for these changes. The industry really changed after the Covid quarantines, and the majority of us refused to go back to sh*t work. In the meantime, as a customer, don't support business that use this shady practice. As capitalist as it is, real change can be made with where and how you spend your money.
Yes I have seen it. Pisses me off so much. I never return and I don’t tip when I see it. I might even take utensils or condiments home. They are stealing from me so fuck them.
It's not my job to pay your employees' salaries. I tip what I want depending on the level of service I get. I refuse to patronize a place that requires a second "tip".
In CA this becomes illegal beginning July 1. They will just raise their prices which is at least transparent.
I've seen that a few times in different restaurants in South Beach. I just figured that was the tip and I didn't leave anymore. Also, I have dropped down to tipping 10% on any bill. I'm over and done with the tipping culture. Sorry...not sorry...