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Except many restaurants would have to close with the reduced business and then people would lose jobs. The average restaurant is operating on a 3% pretax profit margin and cannot afford to lose any business. In his highly unlikely to get a 1:1 ratio with price increases and retained business. People will just shift their business. Service oriented restaurants would lose business in droves to fast food operations as people will just move down the chain. A good example is what happened in 2008/2009. When people started to pull back on expenditures, service oriented restaurants had to offer better deals to get people in the doors. Many were losing money during that time and were lucky enough to ride it out until things improved in late 2010. Once you change the overall cost structure on a permanent basis, you will cause a significant shift in business.
When you remove the "poor tippers", you impact the support of the business infrastructure costs and the business cannot survive.
As I said, it would be great to pay people more, but the economic realities are a problem.
You've ignored an untapped market. People who can afford to go out, but don't like waiting an hour for a table.
I'm sure some restaurants that are either sub par or ridiculously overpriced for this market would not survive, but overall, I just don't see this stopping people from eating out.
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Has anyone addressed the obvious issue yet? The customer who runs a waiter ragged, is demanding, complains about everything, sends food back, etc...aren't they often the worst tippers of them all?
Those were the worst tippers I encountered. I assume they have a misguided notion of what to expect from a sit-down restaurant experience.
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For those that do not want to search for the information, here is the breakdown on average tips:
Non-religious - 13.56%
Christian - 12.85%
Jewish - 14.16%
Other -12.29%
Religious or not, people tip about the same.
From personal experience, Sunday morning/afternoons were the worst time to be a server. Church groups (define for me as larger than normal groups dressed in their Sunday best) weren't generous in their tips at all. It was usually less than 10%. If you had a 4 table section, the same group would have all your tables and stay for a long period of time so you couldn't turn the tables over. I think that is what cyn7cyn might have been referring to in their post.
I'm sure some restaurants that are either sub par or ridiculously overpriced for this market would not survive, but overall, I just don't see this stopping people from eating out.
Agreed. And let's face it, the type of clientele that goes to Chuck's isn't going to suddenly start going to McDonald's for their hamburger if Ashley Christensen decided to do away with tipping at her restaurant and just tack on 20% to the menu prices. Maybe it would affect places like Applebee's more?
Except many restaurants would have to close with the reduced business and then people would lose jobs. The average restaurant is operating on a 3% pretax profit margin and cannot afford to lose any business. In his highly unlikely to get a 1:1 ratio with price increases and retained business. People will just shift their business. Service oriented restaurants would lose business in droves to fast food operations as people will just move down the chain. A good example is what happened in 2008/2009. When people started to pull back on expenditures, service oriented restaurants had to offer better deals to get people in the doors. Many were losing money during that time and were lucky enough to ride it out until things improved in late 2010. Once you change the overall cost structure on a permanent basis, you will cause a significant shift in business.
When you remove the "poor tippers", you impact the support of the business infrastructure costs and the business cannot survive.
As I said, it would be great to pay people more, but the economic realities are a problem.
Have you considered that there are a bunch of people that love to go out to eat but resent having to subsidize poor wages in the form of tips, even for barely acceptable service? And that they may be MORE likely to go to a table service restaurant if tipping was eliminated (assuming, of course, that the restaurant management ensured a high level of service in return for a living wage)?
From personal experience, Sunday morning/afternoons were the worst time to be a server. Church groups (define for me as larger than normal groups dressed in their Sunday best) weren't generous in their tips at all. It was usually less than 10%. If you had a 4 table section, the same group would have all your tables and stay for a long period of time so you couldn't turn the tables over. I think that is what cyn7cyn might have been referring to in their post.
And the comment is not based on fact. I can tell you that groups of people that play cards tip worse than those that don't, but it doesn't mean anything when it isn't backed with fact. If you have a study that says otherwise, then please post it. The cornell study shows that relgious people tip in similar amounts as those that are not religious. Just because people are in groups, doesn't change the fact of people tipping or not.
Have you considered that there are a bunch of people that love to go out to eat but resent having to subsidize poor wages in the form of tips, even for barely acceptable service? And that they may be MORE likely to go to a table service restaurant if tipping was eliminated (assuming, of course, that the restaurant management ensured a high level of service in return for a living wage)?
This is basic economics 101. When costs rise and impact descretionary spending, purchases will drop or lower cost alternatives will be sought.
I believe the comment was made about church groups all going out together, not specific individuals' religious denominations.
And there are zero facts to back that up. When you go out in groups, do you suddenly tip lower? The study does not say people tip differently depending on the number of total people that are dining.
Like I said before, I have investments in a number of food related establishments. There is little difference in tipping with those that are near churches, Sunday versus other days of the week, etc. Many of the tips are included on the receipts as people charge their full bills.
I am happy to look at factually based data, but I have yet to see any. I have provided a link that shows otherwise. Can you do the same?
"Jewish" is an ethnicity as well as a religion. Many Jewish people do not adhere to the Jewish faith. I wonder if the results of the study would have been different if non-practicing Jewish people had been categorized as non-religious.
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