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“Equity within the whole restaurant”: The problem with the tipped wage | Salon.com

“We’re the only industry where half of the workforce has to rely on a customer’s goodwill”

By Maggie Hennessy, Published September 18, 2022 5:30PM (EDT)

The staff at Lazy Betty at work (Andrew Thomas Lee)

Even though he came up in professional kitchens starting as a line cook, Ron Hsu didn’t internalize the implicit inequity and racism of the tipped wage system until he became a restaurant owner, in 2019. The Atlanta-based chef/owner of award-winning tasting menu restaurant Lazy Betty, along with Asian-Southern Juniper Cafe and the forthcoming chef-driven pizzeria Humble Pie decided instead to institute the federal minimum wage and a service-charge model at his restaurants. 

It’s come with pushback — not just from some customers but from waitstaff reluctant to embrace change or loath to face confrontation with skeptical consumers. But he’s determined to be part of the — oft-maddeningly slow — change in what he sees as a deeply problematic system. 

Source: https://www.salon.com/2022/09/18/equity-within-the-whole-restaurant-the-problem-with-the-tipped-wage/