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News Roundup for January 6, 2025
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Restaurant Comings & Goings

Northern Light said:
Interesting move here, and one I support.

Restaurant Richmond Station is moving (immediately) to a no-tipping model.

They've raised menu prices by 18% on average and replaced all the income wait staff or tipped kitchen staff used to earn through tips with either salary for F/T 'ers or higher hourly wages for P/T earners.

They noted a need to do this, in part, because in the midst of Covid; employment insurance reimbursed only salaried and hourly wages, not tips.

So it was an even more severe hit for laid off staff than would otherwise be the case.

They also observed (or implied) that there was unfair variation in tips between women and men and between wait staff w/different ethnicities.

As of now, those people all earn the same income relative to each other.

I think that's a great move, and I applaud it.

www.blogto.com

Toronto restaurant raises prices and bans tipping

The owners of a Toronto restaurant have decided there will be no tipping allowed at Richmond Station. The Financial District restaurant known for its…
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com
Click to expand...
In general, I approve of no-tipping policies but if they are introduced the staff must be paid a LIVING WAGE and, ideally, there should be some way to reward or commend exceptional service. The problem with universal tipping is that it becomes the norm to leave 15-20% unless service is exceptionally bad when one might leave a very small tip (rather than none, as that can be rationalise as 'oh, they forgot'). Of course, forbidding tips and folding them into wages makes them a clearly seen part of 'taxable income'.
 
Northern Light said:
Interesting move here, and one I support.

Restaurant Richmond Station is moving (immediately) to a no-tipping model.

They've raised menu prices by 18% on average and replaced all the income wait staff or tipped kitchen staff used to earn through tips with either salary for F/T 'ers or higher hourly wages for P/T earners.

www.blogto.com

Toronto restaurant raises prices and bans tipping

The owners of a Toronto restaurant have decided there will be no tipping allowed at Richmond Station. The Financial District restaurant known for its…
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com
Click to expand...

Whether or not this would be advantageous or at the very least neutral for servers in high-end restaurants remains to be seen. Their hourly wages would have to be very high.
 
Bayer said:
Whether or not this would be advantageous or at the very least neutral for servers in high-end restaurants remains to be seen. Their hourly wages would have to be very high.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, though the Chef in this case mentioned that he reset prices based on replacing what was actually being tipped.

I assume there was pretty good tracking based on either pooled tips, or tip-out to kitchen staff.

But I don't know how they arrived at their numbers.

Done properly it should replace lost money due to tips; but it will have 2nd order effects. For instance, Friday/Saturday night shifts in the industry tend to be the big money makers, full-house, 2 or more turns of a table, it's date night etc.

While staff typically also have to work Tuesdays, or a Lunch service when tips may be much lower.

Here this will be evened out by salary/equal hourly wages for all shifts.

That is potentially a fairness gain for staff, though may be offset by a headache for the rest of less people wanting to work on their Saturday night if they get the same $$ as working Tuesday lunch.

Still, in principle, I favour it.

We don't expect transit drivers to work for tips, but many Taxi drivers count on it.

We don't expect postal workers to work for tips, but pizza delivery people often count on it.

Etc. It's a rather unevenly applied concept and one which allows for unfairness and wage volatility (tipping), and the issue of insecurity in terms of parental leave/EI as well.

It did have the perk for some of de facto tax evasion; not sure that's a good argument for it though.
 
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Bayer said:
Whether or not this would be advantageous or at the very least neutral for servers in high-end restaurants remains to be seen. Their hourly wages would have to be very high.
Click to expand...

My brother works in the industry and says it’s not uncommon for servers at Toronto
steakhouses to make $120,000+ a year.

I’m all for a no-tipping policy, but a lot of servers will be pissed that can no longer underreport their earnings to the CRA
 
mjl08 said:
My brother works in the industry and says it’s not uncommon for servers at Toronto
steakhouses to make $120,000+ a year.

I’m all for a no-tipping policy, but a lot of servers will be pissed that can no longer underreport their earnings to the CRA
Click to expand...
Whether they declare it or not, I would be surprised if they were paid $65 an hour or more in a no-tip restaurant; however, it is a fact that kitchen staff is generally underpaid, so I wonder if that will change. It would be interesting if Richmond Station were to provide actual figures. I took a look at their revised prices and they don't seem higher; there is an additional markup of about 10% on the few wines I could see on their Dec. 2019 website as it appears in the Wayback Machine.
 
Another great little breakfast joint is closing down once the lease expires. :( Can't say i blame them.

It was a great little independent neighborhood restaurant. Wasn't high-end or crazy expensive, classic breakfast foods done right for a good price.

www.blogto.com

Toronto brunch spot says it's closing because of hardships of COVID-19

The Danforth East brunch staple Hollandaise Diner has announced that it'll be closed permanently before the end of the year. The popular spot for pa…
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com
 
AlbertC said:
Prohibition Gastrohouse (at 696 Queen St E & Broadview) which closed earlier in the pandemic, will be reopening under new ownership as Prohibition Social House:

www.blogto.com

Toronto bar Prohibition Gastrohouse that shut down at start of COVID is coming back

A bar that shut down after over a decade in business in Toronto is opening back up, but under a slightly different name and new management. Prohibiti…
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com
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I wonder if this will be indicative of the restaurant industry in the coming months. Many, many closures and bankruptcies, but then re-birthed openings with new names and maybe new concepts in the same spaces.
By 2021/22 the net number of restaurants in the city will actually not change.
 
Fritter said:
I wonder if this will be indicative of the restaurant industry in the coming months. Many, many closures and bankruptcies, but then re-birthed openings with new names and maybe new concepts in the same spaces.
By 2021/22 the net number of restaurants in the city will actually not change.
Click to expand...

Likely to be a gradual process. The restaurants and bars with corporate backings like Prohibition and the upcoming Collective Arts brewpub will have an advantage to get a head start. But for the smaller independent places, I think they'll still take a wait and see approach. We're in a steady point in the pandemic currently and the summer weather allows for outdoor patio seating, but we're not sure what the autumn and winter will be like for the industry. Hopefully by the 2021 range if a mainstream vaccine gets developed, we'll start seeing a larger rebound for restaurants across the board.
 
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AlbertC said:
Likely to be a gradual process. The restaurants and bars with corporate backings like Prohibition and the upcoming Collective Arts brewpub will have an advantage to get a head start. But for the smaller independent places, I think they'll still take a wait and see approach. We're in a steady point in the pandemic currently and the summer weather allows for outdoor patio seating, but we're not sure what the autumn and winter will be like for the industry. Hopefully by the 2021 range if a mainstream vaccine gets developed, we'll start seeing a larger rebound for restaurants across the board.
Click to expand...

I went out for the drinks the other day on a restaurant patio, the heat was getting to me, i asked to move inside since there was lots of empty tables, the server tells me sorry the inside is "full" I completely forgot about the 50% capacity limit! Patio's are helping the small independent restaurants for now, but when the colder weather hits and patio's close. It's going to be tough to operate at 50% capacity without losing money.
 
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