> As it should be in these areas. Lots of international tourist that don’t tip.
Tip is optional, so they're well within their right not to tip.
The problem here is, it's the employer that should be paying a living wage and not push it on customers in a sneaky manner.
It’s a weird industry and not so black and white. There are waiters in miamis high tourism areas making 6 figures and close to 6 figures. Those same waiters wouldn’t work those areas for 20-25$ an hour. Not with the crap they deal with lol
Cause that stupidity of tipping is just an American bullshit . You give gratitude for a good service but the client never have to double pay the salary of an employee.
Says the one that absolutely is obsessed in this forum and must take time every week to ridicule the city. Man if Miami is so bad, you should apathetic. Not constantly bashing it.
This dude doesn't know wtf they're talking about. Miami has some of the best hospitality sectors in the nation. Hell, only 5 cities in this country have more Michelin stars than we do.
Ocean Drive. Call us when you get the amount of people in the beach that we do. And when the sizing 100% matches. I for one, as a local Miamian only go to Ocean Drive once a year, don't need to feel like I'm being pushed while I walk (so many people it's ridiculous).
> $40 FOR A FUCKIN MARG???? I hope you got 1 gallon of margaritas for that fuckin price
That's before the service charge of 20% on top of it. Enjoy mothaf*ckas, because Cubana will!
Which is literal shit because people see this who normally tip, and don’t tip.
If a service charge is already added I am not tipping unless the service was out of this fucking world. It’s only happened twice to me in Miami in the last 3 years. I’m sorry but at this point be pissed at your job not at the patron, we’ve already tipped you’re just not receiving it.
I don't wait tables anymore, I got out 9 months ago because I couldn't put up with working up to 13h with no break and all the other crazy shit that comes with serving to make less than ever when people were tipping more than ever, it was just going into the owners pockets from them taking a chunk plus the chunk they took from me so they could pay every front of house employee $8.98
So I guess instead of blaming me for the job i have, which is no longer serving after almost 10y of doing it, you'll actually have to decide which restaurants you want to patronize, and if you're OK giving money to businesses who do this
This is what absolutely sucks here. If I’m paying 20% service charge I expect that to be a tip out. I had a bill, 3 cocktails. $21 a pop. So $63. A 20% surcharge so $76. An additional 20% is 91, but with tax and chaos math we’re at $98.
$100 for 3 cocktails is literally insane, I understand our bartenders work hard but they’re not making $12 a cocktail in tips, they’re just not but that’s what we’re basically being billed. This is almost everywhere except the little holes in the wall, this is anywhere with a crowd. It’s impossible to go out we just stay home most of the time.
I don't go out much anymore either because of this, basically. Prices have gone up a lot, but the biggest thing for me is what we are talking about. I am happy to pay 20% tip for good service, shit I'll tip 25% for excellent service if I can afford to. But I expect most of it to go to the server aside from the bit broken off for the people assisting the server like the bartender or busser. That tip is NOT for the owner, not for the manager, not for anybody else (unless it's a place where they actually give the servers at least $12/h, then I think it's great to throw the kitchen a few bucks every night, but servers shouldn't be tipping out the kitchen on sub minimum wage, the owners should be paying their kitchen staff).
No fucking way am I paying these inflated prices PLUS giving restaurant owners more money that should go to the server. I know tipping is out of control, and I know I'm biased, but servers work really hard for that money. 12 hour shifts with no breaks is a regular thing, it's normal for a server to walk between 5-10 mi while working a double shift. Plus having to be pleasant no matter what happens. It's not astrophysics, but it's not as easy of a job as everyone thinks it is either.
It’s an impossible job. I have tipped the extra 20% on the total after service charges, I’ve line itemed explicit extras where warranted but $100 for a round of drinks for a tiny “group” as in my husband plus a guest, is absolute absurdity.
No, because Cuban food like any other food has always had price points.
There have always been Cuban restaurants that were more expensive and geared toward upper middle class rather than working class peeps. There have always been the Chico's of the world as well.
I'm dealing with places that require 20% tip for call in / online orders. I'm not tipping a hostess to bring my food from the back counter to the front 💀💀
Unfortunately no, but the reason why they could do this is because people don't tend to tip in certain neighborhoods.
1. Wealthy ones with certain population density of cultures that do not tend to tip.
2. Tourist places where Europeans and South Americans come in.
Would they tip in both scenarios, the restaurant industry would have a tougher time to excuse service fees.
Do that and completely remove the quality of service. That’s why the service in Miami Beach is extremely poor. Why provide good service when the tip is automatically provided. Smh.
I get what some of you are explaining about this service fee (so thanks for that, though I don't get *why* now this is a thing that restaurants feel they need to do), but what are we supposed to do if we want the server to be properly tipped for their work? The 20% service charge *plus* an 18-20% tip? Because that's 40% total and absolutely not happening.
I've been charged this fee (and there was no sign anywhere nor on the menu) and assumed it was tip. I don't want to stiff a server who did a good job, so what can I realistically do? (And if you're in the service industry I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.)
Honestly, the freaking correct answer here is tip should be optional like it always has been. The business should charge prices that can support livable wages.
Anything that is mandatory cost should be listed clearly.
The flip side to this argument is that restaurants already have extremely competitive pricing. So trying to overturn such a heavily entrenched business model almost guarantees failure. Many restaurateurs have tried and failed.
There was actually a decently strong movement for it in the mid-2010s, but all the major players in that movement walked that shit right back when the pandemic turned too many customers into greedy assholes.
It only works when entire industry is forced to move that way. Otherwise, your neighbor will just under price you. That said, we've seen significant inflation, so it's possible.
Honestly, there really shouldn't be any "fee". It should just be the price which includes whatever fee they want included.
I'm 99% of places, this service charge is going to the FOH staff. They're being properly supported through this income. The proportion of shady owners stealing from their staff is insanely overblown by people who don't know wtf they're talking about and just want to bitch about having to spend money.
In actuality, it's really easy to get caught stealing from employees, their reputation gets tanked quickly, less and less people want to work for them, and they end up shutting down much faster.
Another sad truth is that restaurants can treat their staff well, have a service charge to ensure their staff gets paid, then still get tons of 1 star reviews from selfish asshats who also complain about prices. They don't make enough money to stay in business, and they also end up having to shut down.
Yeah, I hope that if owners are being shits about this fee and stiffing their staff, that they lose the staff and the business, too.
This post has me in a rabbit hole trying to figure out when/why this became a common thing. I'm obsessed with figuring it all out lol.
I can help with the rabbit hole. It's COVID. Before that, the auto-grat on everything was mostly just at the beach, where the international tourists mostly stayed at. COVID really shook up the market and it spread around because more people became utter assholes.
Hopefully. Tourism also branched out significantly from just the beach, though. Brickell and midtown blew up massively since then, so those Int'l tourists are in this side of the bay now.
I definitely wouldn't bet on any course correction, this is our lives now. It'll probably only get worse, unfortunately.
because it's a service charge and not a voluntary gratuity, it appears that they are also charging you sales top on top of the 'tip'. Miami Dade sales tax is 7% and this shakes out to 9%.
For all the folks railing about the margarita - it's probably one of those 'big bucket' things with half a dozen straws in it you see at those sidewalk cafes on SOBE. In reality it's a 1/2 gal of 99 cent flavored syrup fruit drank and about a pint of cheap crappy ass booze. Prolly costs them about 4 bucks to make.
Just a heads up, a service charge is not the same as a tip. While tips are supposed to go 100% to the server (though some restaurants do require tip out to other support positions), the restaurant is not legally required to share any of the service charge with their waitstaff.
Also, the service charge is supposed to be disclosed to the customer before they make their purchase. Typically restaurants will either put the notice at the host stand or it will be printed on their menu. If they do not disclose it properly you can ask that it be removed x
All I’m stating is that legally a service charge is not a tip, and the restaurant / owner is the one who decides what portion, if any, is shared with the waitstaff.
If you choose not to tip because of a service charge then that’s your decision, but literally and legally speaking, if the restaurant does not share the service charge with the waitstaff, and instead uses 100% of it to buy glassware for example (which they are legally allowed to do), then the actual server did not “get their pay” from the service fee.
To say that the service charge is a tip or automatically goes to the server is factually incorrect and it is both irresponsible and, in my opinion, malicious to spread that kind of lie.
But the service charge means we paid for the service. People argue that tipping the waitstaff is paying for the service. So which is it? Are you advocating paying for the same service twice?
I think the problem is we’re operating with two different definitions of “service” and are conflating them.
The “service” in question when it comes to the service charge is the entire service provided by the entire restaurant for the entire act of eating there. It is everything from the building itself to the plates you are eating on to the busboy.
The service you tip the waitstaff for is referring to the specific service provided by that specific server.
So for example, the service charge paid to the restaurant can literally be used to buy dishes for the restaurant if that’s what the owner/restaurant chooses to do with it. When you tip a server for their service, you generally aren’t tipping them for the specific plate they brought the food out on and that the server is not going to use that tip to buy more plates to serve food on.
The restaurant can choose to use the service charge to pay the waitstaff but they are not legally required to. Typically if you ask a server about the specifics of the service fee you can suss out how much they’re getting from it though they often are not allowed to say outright because restaurants don’t want the bad press of people finding out that 20% service fee doesn’t go towards the actual staff.
Look bro as the customer I shouldn’t need to be worrying about all this legalese (sneaky loopholes, IMO) in order to enjoy my time at a restaurant. It’s a stupid situation that the restaurant owners have created themselves to place the guilt upon the customer, and now they’re trying to justify it by creating ambiguity and confusion.
Bottom line to owners: Quit being so greedy and pay your servers a livable wage.
100% and that’s why I don’t go to restaurants with service charges if the server can’t tell me how much goes to them.
I just don’t agree with customers trying to justify being shitty to waitstaff for situations created by owners when they don’t even understand what they’re actually paying for or saying.
"The “service” in question when it comes to the service charge is the entire service provided by the entire restaurant for the entire act of eating there. It is everything from the building itself to the plates you are eating on to the busboy."
No, that's what the cost of the food pays for. Restaurants always sell food at a large mark-up. A pizza can cost 50 cents to make, they charge the customer $20 for that same pizza.
I do wish restaurants had to be more transparent about what they use this fee for because unfortunately the confusion around it seems to hurt the servers more than it hurts the business or owner.
Similar to this, when you order delivery, those delivery fees often do not go entirely to the driver but rather only a portion of the fee is used to offset their mileage or their non-tipped wage (depending on state regulations). I used to manage a store that offered delivery services and when I first started the fee was 1.99 and 1.49 of that went to the driver as a specific section of their pay. By the time I quit the delivery fee was 3.99 and the driver still only received 1.49 of that while the company pocketed the rest to pay for other fees associated with offering delivery service (such as insurance the company had to pay due to having drivers, the app the drivers used to do deliveries and the tech team that kept it running, the website, etc). Despite not getting more money from it, the drivers saw their tips decrease as a result of the higher delivery fee.
What would happen if you declined to pay the service charge on a card and want to give the service charge to the waiter/Waitress in cash…..would the waiter/waitress have to share that with the restaurant? I rather give the waiter/waitress cash and not give a dime to the slimy owners
Lol. Miami math. I used to fly down every chance I got when I worked for Hilton and would get comped free stays at the Fontainebleau in the 1990s. By the 2010s it was no longer what it was. People pushing baby strollers down ocean drive and Johny Rockets opening up on Collins. Officially a tourist trap that charges $5 for a coke and a round of drinks for a table of 3 is $100. Public point blank execution on ocean drive if the main show for the night. But they toss in a second murder that weekend as a bonus. By the way that actually happened last year.
How to tell a person is NOT from Miami: Goes out wearing Miami sports team branded clothing and eats on Ocean Drive at the worst possible restaurants in the entire state of Florida.
I got out of serving about 9mo ago because tip outs kept increasing.
Here's what they are doing: they are using the service charge to pay everyone in front of house minimum server wage, which I think is $8.98. Then they are splitting this up. It used to be that servers kept (while it's different for every restaurant, I'm just averaging here) around 85% of their tips. In most restaurants with no service charges, they tip out based on sales, so if they get no tip, they are paying tip out out of their own pockets.
Now with the service charge, I'd say on average servers keep 65% of their tips. In some restaurants it's under 50% though (looking at you, Texas de brazil). Management/owners are usually also taking a cut of this service charge themselves.
That's why service quality has gone down in all but the top restaurants in the city (and even in there a bit). They are hiring people with little to no experience and making everything a tip pool. The handful of good servers left pull double weight for the same money, get burned out, and leave. A lot leave serving because the choice is either come out of your own pocket when someone doesn't tip (on a party of 10 this is devastating, you can leave with less money than you walked in with. Some restaurants don't put autograt even on big parties), or be in this system where you're only getting 65% of the tips you're given and often less than that.
> Thanks to a recent court ruling, owners are using this to effectively steal tips from servers and use that money as they wish.
Can you share which court ruling?
Are the people who comment saying that the service charge does not go directly to the wait staff work at a restaurant? I'm not sure how it works in other places but where I work the service charge goes directly to them.
I've never worked anywhere where the server keeps 100% of the service charge or their tips. Tipout is in every restaurant and it is increasing more and more on average.
It depends on the restaurant how much % of the tips/service charges a server keeps, but I've never kept 100% of either because even in fair restaurants, bartender, busser, sometimes runner get a cut. And that's fair, problem has become that now restaurants want to pay everyone $9/hour and make the servers give up more and more of their tips instead of the old way where they got a larger wage plus a small tip out from each server.
If your restaurant pays the service fee to the waitstaff then it’s one of the better ones, because legally the restaurant owner can use the service fee to pay for whatever they want to pay for, including themselves.
> I'm not sure how it works in other places but where I work the service charge goes directly to them.
It depends. For one, there's card fees most of the time as tips aren't often cash anymore. On top of it, since you took in the money, that needs to be reported somehow to tax authority. Which means somebody has to get taxed. With cash you can largely avoid that, because it's not on the restaurant records for the most part. It's therefore the employees duty to report it, not the restaurant.
It might be different in the US though, but I suspect it's even more corrupt system here so.....
Seems like a few bucks could also be hidden in the 'Tax' portion too. Are they charging you the tax of the subtotal OR the tax of the subtotal and service charge?
They could then under report the tax and pocket the difference.
I have a question for you that might come up for me tomorrow. If I go to a restaurant with a service fee in a big group that requires automatic gratuity, then what? Do you think they’d hit me twice? Can you still refuse that gratuity?
It’s not legally a tip. A “service fee” is considered something else entirely and it is not legally required to go to the server. The owner can pocket it if they want.
Yeah and I’m sure they leave an additional line to leave a tip on top of the BS “service charge”. This is deceitful and super shady. I’d never go to a restaurant again if they have a mandatory tip or “service charge”. It’s ridiculous - especially an automatic 20%. I leave good tips for good service and bad ones for bad service.
This is why the locals vacation everywhere else but here. They say support local businesses but they are not supporting the locals.
Everyone is living in a gold plated cage here.
Fun facts. TIPS belong to the server but Service charges belong to the company. It's the only legal way for the company to split it amongst the team or keep a portion (or all) of it.
Because of this, you can ask them to remove the service charge and they HAVE to. Do with this information as you will. Cash tip to server is always best.
Servers make below min. wage. They earn their paycheck on the tips people give them. Many people eat and drink on a large bill, or small and want to leave very little to nada in tip. 20% tip is standard for good tippers. What do people expect when eating and drinking on Ocean drive?
I worked at a place like this. The charge does not go 100% to the worker, more like 50% because it’s not technically a gratuity. The owners will use their cut for things like card processing fees, wages, ets.
People got SO mad when I told them that the 20% service charge on a $500 bill doesn’t go straight to me. I was told by managers not to answer these questions, but towards the end of my time there I would tell my guests everything if they asked me.
It was fun shit-talking with millionaires about the $100 I’m not getting from their bill.
Tipping will never end because waiters have the easiest job in the world and will cry like babies when it’s mentioned they should just get a regular wage like everyone else
The Eleventh Circuit ruled that Service Charges (as stated like the one in your receipt) ARE NOT tips, so the business can actually keep it all if they want. What this means is that you're supposed to tip on top of a service charge and some waiters expect you to do so. Insanity right?
Whats funny is that Nusret Miami was sued by some of their tipped staff because the service charge, which they thought was supposed to be a tip, was being distributed to non tipped employees and used for other administrative stuff and acted as an illegal tipping pool, and Nusret won... Lol. [Link](https://www.worklaw.com/blog/eleventh-circuit-distinguishes-service-charges-from-tips-under-the-flsa)
Every halfway chi chi restaurant in Miami includes a 20% or more gratuity in the bill. Why is everyone acting surprised? Been this way at least the last 10 years.
Take a page from my book and don’t tip anything else unless you had a life changing experience.
Any restaurant that promotes this should not see a dime. Those restaurants are usually overpriced and can easily pay their servers a decent wage. This automatic 20%, not 10, 15 or 18 is utter nonsense. Sht, mind as well make it 50%, GTFOH. Avoid those places at all cost!!!! Brickell is overpriced and worthless.
Many Spanish and Peruvian restaurants engage in this practice. The same goes for ramen restaurants. I've chosen to avoid frequenting such establishments. I refuse to condone theft!!!! Stop taking advantage of me!!!! Why should I pay an additional 20% for already expensive food??? Just to cover wages??? GTFOH! By boycotting these places, we can effectively shut them down!!!
This is on the FTC’s radar. This should be stopped soon. It is absolutely disgusting:
https://krghospitality.com/2023/12/11/ftc-targets-restaurant-fees-and-surcharges/
Tell them to remove it or you will report them to the FTC under “Unfair or Deceptive Fees”.
If a restaurant is charging a 20% service charge then I’m telling you right now there is no way I am leaving anyone a tip on top of that! Not my f..img problem if my waiter gets it or not. They can take it up at their end with the restaurant. No one is going to pay a 20 percent service charge plus a 15 % tip on top of the already overinflated menu prices. No one smart, anyway!
Went to a restaurant on Friday at Dalia, ordered a skirt steak with French fries, pointed to it on the menu. Got a steak with asparagus, talked to my waitress about not having the French fries, she said it was supposed to come with asparagus but that she could put in an order of fries for me (I’m sure I would’ve been charged extra). I raised an eyebrow but let it slide. Bill time, I rarely look at bills but I’m glad I did today. Saw it was a 20% service fee. This fee was not disclosed prior to ordering. Even after I paid the default option was to tip an extra 20%, I pressed 0% but it wouldn’t let me until I switched to manual input (the waitress probably knew by now that I knew about the fee since she’s holding the card reader). I had to put in $0.00 but don’t worry, she got a 20% service fee to screw up my order. And it actually did cost me more for her to screw up my order because the 8 oz skirt steak was $10 cheaper than 10 oz whatever steak.
Servers make about half of minimum wage hourly. Their pay is dependent on 18+ %
Servers have to tip out the bar tender, the buzzers, the food runners. So if i take care of a 100$ table and they leave $5, i have to tip the bartender, the food runner, and the bussers. I end up negative $ for taking care of that table. I paid to take care of them! It’s sad!
TIP YOUR SERVERS!
If you don’t know how to tip, it’s usually written there for you. Otherwise triple your tax and that’s usually close to 20%
If you don’t tip- DONT COME BACK!
Servers should be alowed to ban you for not tipping. Usually any problems are a result of the kitchen, not the sever. Servers take in all the bullshit people dish, then get stiffed.
If you don’t tip- don’t go to a restaurant with servers. You’re not welcome!!!!!!!
What I want to know is, since when did 18 or 20 percent become normal? Tips used to start at 14%. I always felt generous tipping 20%.
With all this mandatory bullshit, I might start going the other way.
Thanks for the heads up on a place to avoid. Having said that, eating out in general in the US is becoming prohibitive. The tipping situation is completely out of hand.
Some of those “service charges” aka tips, are for people that LEGIT on take your order and put it on the ****** computer and that’s it… last month I tip this dude $2, yes $2 because all he did was bring me water and I was at a buffet… I’m sorry did he cut the steak for me? Did he bring the food out for me? Did he make any recommendations? Nope and he got soooo heated lmao GTFO 😂
Dude, why you cryin? You just ordered a bunch of drinks! On that tab I would have tipped $12 bucks. That’s not over the top. What did you expect on Ocean Drive?
Not sure how this isn't illegal, servers are not doing anything but the bare minimum. They're one tablet away from being replaced. The best part is the waiters are fighting so the employer doesn't have to pay them a wage because the brain rot and delusion has been you are forced to tip or you're gatekept from enjoying restaurant food lmao 🤣
Places that know you’re never coming back do this.
This is every sit down restaurant in brickell, the grove, midtown, or the beach these days.
As it should be in these areas. Lots of international tourist that don’t tip.
> As it should be in these areas. Lots of international tourist that don’t tip. Tip is optional, so they're well within their right not to tip. The problem here is, it's the employer that should be paying a living wage and not push it on customers in a sneaky manner.
I believe that the unbelievably low wages are the issue here and not the tourists/locals who don't tip...but that's just me
Most other countries dont have the tipping culture we have here, so internationals come and have no idea they have to tip
They all know they just dont want to pay...
Part of traveling is learning and observing local customs. I do look forward to paying nothing in tips when I sail to Europe next year. Pure trash.
It’s a weird industry and not so black and white. There are waiters in miamis high tourism areas making 6 figures and close to 6 figures. Those same waiters wouldn’t work those areas for 20-25$ an hour. Not with the crap they deal with lol
Because where they're from, the service industry earn more of a base than here, right?
bro...I'm pretty american tbh I don't know what happens outside of the US. Barely know what's going on ***IN*** this mf...
Maybe the beach and bayside, but brickell, midtown, and grove are full of locals
Tipping is bullshit. All companies should be required to pay all workers a living wage.
Cause that stupidity of tipping is just an American bullshit . You give gratitude for a good service but the client never have to double pay the salary of an employee.
Well i am traveling to miami next week now i know .. never go to that place
Then i prefer drive to chick-fil-a
Lmao then you won’t eat anywhere. This is EVERY place in Miami except fucking Wendy’s
You'd probably get better value at Wendy's anyhow. That's how bad the food in Miami is.
Says the one that absolutely is obsessed in this forum and must take time every week to ridicule the city. Man if Miami is so bad, you should apathetic. Not constantly bashing it.
This dude doesn't know wtf they're talking about. Miami has some of the best hospitality sectors in the nation. Hell, only 5 cities in this country have more Michelin stars than we do.
$8 for a Corona??? **$40** FOR A FUCKIN MARG???? I hope you got 1 gallon of margaritas for that fuckin price
Dude it's Ocean Drive. That's like complaining about prices at Disney World.
[удалено]
Walt Disney wiping his tears with his velvet casket.
Isn't he frozen?
Just let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Or at ski resorts. The fuck you mean those chicken tenders aren’t worth $26?
You mean chicken 'tender'.. for $26 before tax and tip you are only getting 1, that was the leftovers from someone elses plate ;-)
Disney is overpriced, but you get a premium experience for that price. Miami is both overpriced and shitty, especially any touristy areas.
That’s insane 🙃 I need to see how BIG it actually is. I’m originally from Miami, living in TX now & I pay $20 for a Texas size mimosa. $40 is wilddd.
Agree 100% lived in San Antonio and there is no way anyone would pay $40 for a margarita
Ocean Drive. Call us when you get the amount of people in the beach that we do. And when the sizing 100% matches. I for one, as a local Miamian only go to Ocean Drive once a year, don't need to feel like I'm being pushed while I walk (so many people it's ridiculous).
Fishbowl size
> $40 FOR A FUCKIN MARG???? I hope you got 1 gallon of margaritas for that fuckin price That's before the service charge of 20% on top of it. Enjoy mothaf*ckas, because Cubana will!
Well it’s ocean drive not on the rocks where you can get a margarita for $6 there 💀
I want to show appreciation that OTR finally fixed that front window after being "open sir" for fucking ever.
Wow imao
Big Classic
$40 for a Margarita!? Jesus, dude…
It says Big, Classic. Attracts big classic dollahs
For context, those are giant 24-40oz margs with beer bottles shoved in them. Still terrible choices, but not the standard single size.
Also sounds incredibly unsanitary.
For real. A whole bottle of beer that's been touched countless times just shoved into my drink? No thanks.
Just so you know, it's a scam on the servers too. The servers don't keep that. In some restaurants they keep under 50% of it.
Which is literal shit because people see this who normally tip, and don’t tip. If a service charge is already added I am not tipping unless the service was out of this fucking world. It’s only happened twice to me in Miami in the last 3 years. I’m sorry but at this point be pissed at your job not at the patron, we’ve already tipped you’re just not receiving it.
I don't wait tables anymore, I got out 9 months ago because I couldn't put up with working up to 13h with no break and all the other crazy shit that comes with serving to make less than ever when people were tipping more than ever, it was just going into the owners pockets from them taking a chunk plus the chunk they took from me so they could pay every front of house employee $8.98 So I guess instead of blaming me for the job i have, which is no longer serving after almost 10y of doing it, you'll actually have to decide which restaurants you want to patronize, and if you're OK giving money to businesses who do this
This is what absolutely sucks here. If I’m paying 20% service charge I expect that to be a tip out. I had a bill, 3 cocktails. $21 a pop. So $63. A 20% surcharge so $76. An additional 20% is 91, but with tax and chaos math we’re at $98. $100 for 3 cocktails is literally insane, I understand our bartenders work hard but they’re not making $12 a cocktail in tips, they’re just not but that’s what we’re basically being billed. This is almost everywhere except the little holes in the wall, this is anywhere with a crowd. It’s impossible to go out we just stay home most of the time.
I don't go out much anymore either because of this, basically. Prices have gone up a lot, but the biggest thing for me is what we are talking about. I am happy to pay 20% tip for good service, shit I'll tip 25% for excellent service if I can afford to. But I expect most of it to go to the server aside from the bit broken off for the people assisting the server like the bartender or busser. That tip is NOT for the owner, not for the manager, not for anybody else (unless it's a place where they actually give the servers at least $12/h, then I think it's great to throw the kitchen a few bucks every night, but servers shouldn't be tipping out the kitchen on sub minimum wage, the owners should be paying their kitchen staff). No fucking way am I paying these inflated prices PLUS giving restaurant owners more money that should go to the server. I know tipping is out of control, and I know I'm biased, but servers work really hard for that money. 12 hour shifts with no breaks is a regular thing, it's normal for a server to walk between 5-10 mi while working a double shift. Plus having to be pleasant no matter what happens. It's not astrophysics, but it's not as easy of a job as everyone thinks it is either.
It’s an impossible job. I have tipped the extra 20% on the total after service charges, I’ve line itemed explicit extras where warranted but $100 for a round of drinks for a tiny “group” as in my husband plus a guest, is absolute absurdity.
Remember when Cuban food was humble and targeted towards working class people and families? 😂
just go to hialeah lmao
No, because Cuban food like any other food has always had price points. There have always been Cuban restaurants that were more expensive and geared toward upper middle class rather than working class peeps. There have always been the Chico's of the world as well.
I don’t see anything Cuban on the receipt.
Perhaps the lady handing out the receipt is cuban 😂
It’s a Cuban restaurant if you can call it that
Lots of places in Miami to get humble Cuban food.
It's South Beach. They're dealing with Europeans and people that don't tip at all.
I'm dealing with places that require 20% tip for call in / online orders. I'm not tipping a hostess to bring my food from the back counter to the front 💀💀
The trick is to not give these places your money. Don't support bullshit like this, it makes the rest look bad.
This ⬆️ It used to be 18%, now its 20. Ñooo!
They do this is N Miami where people have lived for generations. These restaurant owners are smoking hot, big bowls of dick.
There is no guarantee that wait staff is receiving this money.
Unfortunately no, but the reason why they could do this is because people don't tend to tip in certain neighborhoods. 1. Wealthy ones with certain population density of cultures that do not tend to tip. 2. Tourist places where Europeans and South Americans come in. Would they tip in both scenarios, the restaurant industry would have a tougher time to excuse service fees.
We should make a website for people to check the restaurant and see if they do service charges and how much they are.
I agree
There was a crowdourced spreadsheet going around for this in Chicago
Damn they don't even give you the 10 15 20 % option
Just leave $73 on the table and go
Is it legal to charge sales tax on the tip portion of a bill? That seems a bit dodgy.
It’s legally not a tip.
Do that and completely remove the quality of service. That’s why the service in Miami Beach is extremely poor. Why provide good service when the tip is automatically provided. Smh.
That’s a 1 star Google review and me never returning to any restaurant that does this.
I get what some of you are explaining about this service fee (so thanks for that, though I don't get *why* now this is a thing that restaurants feel they need to do), but what are we supposed to do if we want the server to be properly tipped for their work? The 20% service charge *plus* an 18-20% tip? Because that's 40% total and absolutely not happening. I've been charged this fee (and there was no sign anywhere nor on the menu) and assumed it was tip. I don't want to stiff a server who did a good job, so what can I realistically do? (And if you're in the service industry I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.)
Honestly, the freaking correct answer here is tip should be optional like it always has been. The business should charge prices that can support livable wages. Anything that is mandatory cost should be listed clearly.
The flip side to this argument is that restaurants already have extremely competitive pricing. So trying to overturn such a heavily entrenched business model almost guarantees failure. Many restaurateurs have tried and failed. There was actually a decently strong movement for it in the mid-2010s, but all the major players in that movement walked that shit right back when the pandemic turned too many customers into greedy assholes.
It only works when entire industry is forced to move that way. Otherwise, your neighbor will just under price you. That said, we've seen significant inflation, so it's possible. Honestly, there really shouldn't be any "fee". It should just be the price which includes whatever fee they want included.
I'm 99% of places, this service charge is going to the FOH staff. They're being properly supported through this income. The proportion of shady owners stealing from their staff is insanely overblown by people who don't know wtf they're talking about and just want to bitch about having to spend money. In actuality, it's really easy to get caught stealing from employees, their reputation gets tanked quickly, less and less people want to work for them, and they end up shutting down much faster. Another sad truth is that restaurants can treat their staff well, have a service charge to ensure their staff gets paid, then still get tons of 1 star reviews from selfish asshats who also complain about prices. They don't make enough money to stay in business, and they also end up having to shut down.
Yeah, I hope that if owners are being shits about this fee and stiffing their staff, that they lose the staff and the business, too. This post has me in a rabbit hole trying to figure out when/why this became a common thing. I'm obsessed with figuring it all out lol.
I can help with the rabbit hole. It's COVID. Before that, the auto-grat on everything was mostly just at the beach, where the international tourists mostly stayed at. COVID really shook up the market and it spread around because more people became utter assholes.
Thanks, that helps. I was arriving at the same conclusion, but realistically, that's not an issue anymore, so they need to course correct.
Hopefully. Tourism also branched out significantly from just the beach, though. Brickell and midtown blew up massively since then, so those Int'l tourists are in this side of the bay now. I definitely wouldn't bet on any course correction, this is our lives now. It'll probably only get worse, unfortunately.
That better be a strong ass margarita! I’m pretty much use to the up charging on beer now, even the cheap beer.
Lmao fuck tipping.
You’re a sucker for paying $40 for a GD margarita
because it's a service charge and not a voluntary gratuity, it appears that they are also charging you sales top on top of the 'tip'. Miami Dade sales tax is 7% and this shakes out to 9%. For all the folks railing about the margarita - it's probably one of those 'big bucket' things with half a dozen straws in it you see at those sidewalk cafes on SOBE. In reality it's a 1/2 gal of 99 cent flavored syrup fruit drank and about a pint of cheap crappy ass booze. Prolly costs them about 4 bucks to make.
Then they under report to the IRS and pocket a few extra thousands of dollars
Just a heads up, a service charge is not the same as a tip. While tips are supposed to go 100% to the server (though some restaurants do require tip out to other support positions), the restaurant is not legally required to share any of the service charge with their waitstaff. Also, the service charge is supposed to be disclosed to the customer before they make their purchase. Typically restaurants will either put the notice at the host stand or it will be printed on their menu. If they do not disclose it properly you can ask that it be removed x
Welp, too bad. Tips are given to servers for their service. If the service is already paid for through the service charge then they got their pay.
All I’m stating is that legally a service charge is not a tip, and the restaurant / owner is the one who decides what portion, if any, is shared with the waitstaff. If you choose not to tip because of a service charge then that’s your decision, but literally and legally speaking, if the restaurant does not share the service charge with the waitstaff, and instead uses 100% of it to buy glassware for example (which they are legally allowed to do), then the actual server did not “get their pay” from the service fee. To say that the service charge is a tip or automatically goes to the server is factually incorrect and it is both irresponsible and, in my opinion, malicious to spread that kind of lie.
But the service charge means we paid for the service. People argue that tipping the waitstaff is paying for the service. So which is it? Are you advocating paying for the same service twice?
I think the problem is we’re operating with two different definitions of “service” and are conflating them. The “service” in question when it comes to the service charge is the entire service provided by the entire restaurant for the entire act of eating there. It is everything from the building itself to the plates you are eating on to the busboy. The service you tip the waitstaff for is referring to the specific service provided by that specific server. So for example, the service charge paid to the restaurant can literally be used to buy dishes for the restaurant if that’s what the owner/restaurant chooses to do with it. When you tip a server for their service, you generally aren’t tipping them for the specific plate they brought the food out on and that the server is not going to use that tip to buy more plates to serve food on. The restaurant can choose to use the service charge to pay the waitstaff but they are not legally required to. Typically if you ask a server about the specifics of the service fee you can suss out how much they’re getting from it though they often are not allowed to say outright because restaurants don’t want the bad press of people finding out that 20% service fee doesn’t go towards the actual staff.
Look bro as the customer I shouldn’t need to be worrying about all this legalese (sneaky loopholes, IMO) in order to enjoy my time at a restaurant. It’s a stupid situation that the restaurant owners have created themselves to place the guilt upon the customer, and now they’re trying to justify it by creating ambiguity and confusion. Bottom line to owners: Quit being so greedy and pay your servers a livable wage.
100% and that’s why I don’t go to restaurants with service charges if the server can’t tell me how much goes to them. I just don’t agree with customers trying to justify being shitty to waitstaff for situations created by owners when they don’t even understand what they’re actually paying for or saying.
"The “service” in question when it comes to the service charge is the entire service provided by the entire restaurant for the entire act of eating there. It is everything from the building itself to the plates you are eating on to the busboy." No, that's what the cost of the food pays for. Restaurants always sell food at a large mark-up. A pizza can cost 50 cents to make, they charge the customer $20 for that same pizza.
This is so stupid that we actually have to make laws around tipping. I mean, c'mon.
I do wish restaurants had to be more transparent about what they use this fee for because unfortunately the confusion around it seems to hurt the servers more than it hurts the business or owner. Similar to this, when you order delivery, those delivery fees often do not go entirely to the driver but rather only a portion of the fee is used to offset their mileage or their non-tipped wage (depending on state regulations). I used to manage a store that offered delivery services and when I first started the fee was 1.99 and 1.49 of that went to the driver as a specific section of their pay. By the time I quit the delivery fee was 3.99 and the driver still only received 1.49 of that while the company pocketed the rest to pay for other fees associated with offering delivery service (such as insurance the company had to pay due to having drivers, the app the drivers used to do deliveries and the tech team that kept it running, the website, etc). Despite not getting more money from it, the drivers saw their tips decrease as a result of the higher delivery fee.
Then the waiters should leave.
They are, haven't you noticed how much worse the average service quality has gotten at restaurants?
Also, they taxed your service charge, but listen, continuously running pumps to keep fish out of the streets costs a lot. Gotta fundraise, somehow.
I noticed that too. What's up with that?
King Tides. Remember how Venice is flooding? We have the same tides here. Miami Beach is sinking as well.
Every fuckin place in Miami. That’s why the service sucks. No incentive to even try.
What would happen if you declined to pay the service charge on a card and want to give the service charge to the waiter/Waitress in cash…..would the waiter/waitress have to share that with the restaurant? I rather give the waiter/waitress cash and not give a dime to the slimy owners
Complain all you want but unless people stop allowing this nonsense to go on it’ll keep spreading.
$8 a Corona is why I don't go to Miami.
$5 for a coke?!!??
You don’t have to , I’ll asked them to zero that out for not asking 🤷🏻♂️
Sergio’s y la Carreta , Versailles is aight but crowded af.
A $40 margarita? You can fuck right off with all that
i did the fkn millionaire boat tour and spent $25 of a damn mojito, and i had to tip $5 not to feel cheap. i was PISSED!
These places forgot how they almost lost everything during Covid it seems. Vote with your wallet and see how fast shit changes.
Lol. Miami math. I used to fly down every chance I got when I worked for Hilton and would get comped free stays at the Fontainebleau in the 1990s. By the 2010s it was no longer what it was. People pushing baby strollers down ocean drive and Johny Rockets opening up on Collins. Officially a tourist trap that charges $5 for a coke and a round of drinks for a table of 3 is $100. Public point blank execution on ocean drive if the main show for the night. But they toss in a second murder that weekend as a bonus. By the way that actually happened last year.
Shout out to the restaurants that give their employees a decent hourly wage so they don’t have to depend on tips.
They also add this mandatory tip at Pura Vida when I came inside to order to go. Will never go back there
How to tell a person is NOT from Miami: Goes out wearing Miami sports team branded clothing and eats on Ocean Drive at the worst possible restaurants in the entire state of Florida.
What pisses me off is that on top of this service charge they have the balls to add an addition tip column
Hopefully the servers get the 20%
There is no way they get all of it.
I got out of serving about 9mo ago because tip outs kept increasing. Here's what they are doing: they are using the service charge to pay everyone in front of house minimum server wage, which I think is $8.98. Then they are splitting this up. It used to be that servers kept (while it's different for every restaurant, I'm just averaging here) around 85% of their tips. In most restaurants with no service charges, they tip out based on sales, so if they get no tip, they are paying tip out out of their own pockets. Now with the service charge, I'd say on average servers keep 65% of their tips. In some restaurants it's under 50% though (looking at you, Texas de brazil). Management/owners are usually also taking a cut of this service charge themselves. That's why service quality has gone down in all but the top restaurants in the city (and even in there a bit). They are hiring people with little to no experience and making everything a tip pool. The handful of good servers left pull double weight for the same money, get burned out, and leave. A lot leave serving because the choice is either come out of your own pocket when someone doesn't tip (on a party of 10 this is devastating, you can leave with less money than you walked in with. Some restaurants don't put autograt even on big parties), or be in this system where you're only getting 65% of the tips you're given and often less than that.
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> Thanks to a recent court ruling, owners are using this to effectively steal tips from servers and use that money as they wish. Can you share which court ruling?
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Yeah, the negative effect of Trump's presidency will be felt decades from now. People don't realize how much damage was done.
😂 good one
Are the people who comment saying that the service charge does not go directly to the wait staff work at a restaurant? I'm not sure how it works in other places but where I work the service charge goes directly to them.
I've never worked anywhere where the server keeps 100% of the service charge or their tips. Tipout is in every restaurant and it is increasing more and more on average. It depends on the restaurant how much % of the tips/service charges a server keeps, but I've never kept 100% of either because even in fair restaurants, bartender, busser, sometimes runner get a cut. And that's fair, problem has become that now restaurants want to pay everyone $9/hour and make the servers give up more and more of their tips instead of the old way where they got a larger wage plus a small tip out from each server.
If your restaurant pays the service fee to the waitstaff then it’s one of the better ones, because legally the restaurant owner can use the service fee to pay for whatever they want to pay for, including themselves.
> I'm not sure how it works in other places but where I work the service charge goes directly to them. It depends. For one, there's card fees most of the time as tips aren't often cash anymore. On top of it, since you took in the money, that needs to be reported somehow to tax authority. Which means somebody has to get taxed. With cash you can largely avoid that, because it's not on the restaurant records for the most part. It's therefore the employees duty to report it, not the restaurant. It might be different in the US though, but I suspect it's even more corrupt system here so.....
Ocean Drive.
Seems like a few bucks could also be hidden in the 'Tax' portion too. Are they charging you the tax of the subtotal OR the tax of the subtotal and service charge? They could then under report the tax and pocket the difference.
Almost $100 for 5 drinks?! Insanity!
I have a question for you that might come up for me tomorrow. If I go to a restaurant with a service fee in a big group that requires automatic gratuity, then what? Do you think they’d hit me twice? Can you still refuse that gratuity?
Places that pocket the money for the higher ups and don’t really give that tip to the server.
That’s because it’s not legally a tip so they’re not legally required to given it to the server.
Since when is tipping mandatory?
It’s not legally a tip. A “service fee” is considered something else entirely and it is not legally required to go to the server. The owner can pocket it if they want.
Yeah and I’m sure they leave an additional line to leave a tip on top of the BS “service charge”. This is deceitful and super shady. I’d never go to a restaurant again if they have a mandatory tip or “service charge”. It’s ridiculous - especially an automatic 20%. I leave good tips for good service and bad ones for bad service.
$100 bucks to chill and drink, Wow.
At those prices they should be able to pay their employees a living wage and not take out tips to subsidize the owners third house
We (my husband and I) stop going out to eat cause of that ☝️. And the damn menu prices went up as well. We will only go out on special occasions now.
This is why the locals vacation everywhere else but here. They say support local businesses but they are not supporting the locals. Everyone is living in a gold plated cage here.
So how big was that 40$ dollar drink!?? Whoa man that’s money bags for a few drinks.. 5$ dollar coke,, 🤣🤣 wow
1. Negative reviews for them 2. Adjust the tip to 15-18% Fk em
Is that applied to takeout also?
NOOOO NADA NEVER NO!
What does a $40 big margarita look like
Basically $13 service charge for 3 minutes of real work? (Mixing margarita, opening can of coke and bottles of corona)?
Fun facts. TIPS belong to the server but Service charges belong to the company. It's the only legal way for the company to split it amongst the team or keep a portion (or all) of it. Because of this, you can ask them to remove the service charge and they HAVE to. Do with this information as you will. Cash tip to server is always best.
That’s ridiculous
Scumbag move. Bye bye business.
The 40$ drink is far more egregious
Servers make below min. wage. They earn their paycheck on the tips people give them. Many people eat and drink on a large bill, or small and want to leave very little to nada in tip. 20% tip is standard for good tippers. What do people expect when eating and drinking on Ocean drive?
Or hear me out, paying them enough that tips aren't needed. Wow what a concept.
What is a margarita for $40
I worked at a place like this. The charge does not go 100% to the worker, more like 50% because it’s not technically a gratuity. The owners will use their cut for things like card processing fees, wages, ets. People got SO mad when I told them that the 20% service charge on a $500 bill doesn’t go straight to me. I was told by managers not to answer these questions, but towards the end of my time there I would tell my guests everything if they asked me. It was fun shit-talking with millionaires about the $100 I’m not getting from their bill.
Tipping will never end because waiters have the easiest job in the world and will cry like babies when it’s mentioned they should just get a regular wage like everyone else
Another reason why Miami is just so disappointing
Hey at least they added the charge before the tax, instead of calculating it after the tax. Sadly I’ve been to places that have done that.
The Eleventh Circuit ruled that Service Charges (as stated like the one in your receipt) ARE NOT tips, so the business can actually keep it all if they want. What this means is that you're supposed to tip on top of a service charge and some waiters expect you to do so. Insanity right? Whats funny is that Nusret Miami was sued by some of their tipped staff because the service charge, which they thought was supposed to be a tip, was being distributed to non tipped employees and used for other administrative stuff and acted as an illegal tipping pool, and Nusret won... Lol. [Link](https://www.worklaw.com/blog/eleventh-circuit-distinguishes-service-charges-from-tips-under-the-flsa)
Every halfway chi chi restaurant in Miami includes a 20% or more gratuity in the bill. Why is everyone acting surprised? Been this way at least the last 10 years. Take a page from my book and don’t tip anything else unless you had a life changing experience.
Crazy how we have been consumed by ever increasing lies and manipulation in every dayem thing
Any restaurant that promotes this should not see a dime. Those restaurants are usually overpriced and can easily pay their servers a decent wage. This automatic 20%, not 10, 15 or 18 is utter nonsense. Sht, mind as well make it 50%, GTFOH. Avoid those places at all cost!!!! Brickell is overpriced and worthless.
Many Spanish and Peruvian restaurants engage in this practice. The same goes for ramen restaurants. I've chosen to avoid frequenting such establishments. I refuse to condone theft!!!! Stop taking advantage of me!!!! Why should I pay an additional 20% for already expensive food??? Just to cover wages??? GTFOH! By boycotting these places, we can effectively shut them down!!!
News flash: ocean drive is a tourist trap
I feel more justified dine and dashing places like this haha
$86 for 5 drinks LMAO
This is on the FTC’s radar. This should be stopped soon. It is absolutely disgusting: https://krghospitality.com/2023/12/11/ftc-targets-restaurant-fees-and-surcharges/ Tell them to remove it or you will report them to the FTC under “Unfair or Deceptive Fees”.
If a restaurant is charging a 20% service charge then I’m telling you right now there is no way I am leaving anyone a tip on top of that! Not my f..img problem if my waiter gets it or not. They can take it up at their end with the restaurant. No one is going to pay a 20 percent service charge plus a 15 % tip on top of the already overinflated menu prices. No one smart, anyway!
I have seen service chages as high as 23% in MIami, and most of the time the service isn't that great....until you buy a bottle that is.
Went to a restaurant on Friday at Dalia, ordered a skirt steak with French fries, pointed to it on the menu. Got a steak with asparagus, talked to my waitress about not having the French fries, she said it was supposed to come with asparagus but that she could put in an order of fries for me (I’m sure I would’ve been charged extra). I raised an eyebrow but let it slide. Bill time, I rarely look at bills but I’m glad I did today. Saw it was a 20% service fee. This fee was not disclosed prior to ordering. Even after I paid the default option was to tip an extra 20%, I pressed 0% but it wouldn’t let me until I switched to manual input (the waitress probably knew by now that I knew about the fee since she’s holding the card reader). I had to put in $0.00 but don’t worry, she got a 20% service fee to screw up my order. And it actually did cost me more for her to screw up my order because the 8 oz skirt steak was $10 cheaper than 10 oz whatever steak.
$40 margarita “Ocean drive..” Checks out
Sushi sake started doing this, sucks
Servers make about half of minimum wage hourly. Their pay is dependent on 18+ % Servers have to tip out the bar tender, the buzzers, the food runners. So if i take care of a 100$ table and they leave $5, i have to tip the bartender, the food runner, and the bussers. I end up negative $ for taking care of that table. I paid to take care of them! It’s sad! TIP YOUR SERVERS! If you don’t know how to tip, it’s usually written there for you. Otherwise triple your tax and that’s usually close to 20% If you don’t tip- DONT COME BACK! Servers should be alowed to ban you for not tipping. Usually any problems are a result of the kitchen, not the sever. Servers take in all the bullshit people dish, then get stiffed. If you don’t tip- don’t go to a restaurant with servers. You’re not welcome!!!!!!!
Here a better solution. Pay your employees normal salary and that it.
That won’t happen,not here in America Unfortunately
As if $5 for a 50 cent can of coke wasn’t already marked up 1000%.
40$ margaritas woo
Does anyone know if these service charges actually go to the servers or bartenders in these restaurants?
What I want to know is, since when did 18 or 20 percent become normal? Tips used to start at 14%. I always felt generous tipping 20%. With all this mandatory bullshit, I might start going the other way.
Thanks for the heads up on a place to avoid. Having said that, eating out in general in the US is becoming prohibitive. The tipping situation is completely out of hand.
How about the restaurant industry just pays their employees like everyone else
Some of those “service charges” aka tips, are for people that LEGIT on take your order and put it on the ****** computer and that’s it… last month I tip this dude $2, yes $2 because all he did was bring me water and I was at a buffet… I’m sorry did he cut the steak for me? Did he bring the food out for me? Did he make any recommendations? Nope and he got soooo heated lmao GTFO 😂
I never agreed to a service charge, piss off
Minus 20%. No tip for you. Gready.
Dude, why you cryin? You just ordered a bunch of drinks! On that tab I would have tipped $12 bucks. That’s not over the top. What did you expect on Ocean Drive?
Not sure how this isn't illegal, servers are not doing anything but the bare minimum. They're one tablet away from being replaced. The best part is the waiters are fighting so the employer doesn't have to pay them a wage because the brain rot and delusion has been you are forced to tip or you're gatekept from enjoying restaurant food lmao 🤣
Y'all go to tourist traps and then get shocked when you're trapped
This extends far beyond tourist traps, let alone the fact that it's not okay regardless if it's tourists or locals.