An Atlanta restaurant manager is trying to convince the National Restaurant Association to add an automatic 20 percent gratuity charge to every restaurant bill, which could ultimately affect restaurants across America.
The man, 36-year-old Yakup Ulutas, is a former waiter who set up Fairtip.org, a nonprofit organization in which about 2,500 waiters are members.
According to the Fairtip.org Web site, the organization’s goal is to implement either automatic gratuity or an increase in prices so that servers will have higher hourly wages. The Web site also showed that Fairtip.org has aims to make sure that customers become more educated on tipping etiquette.
Starkville Applebee’s manager Denise Benjamin said as of right now, gratuity is not included in the bill unless there is a party of seven or more customers.
She doesn’t believe business would be affected if this rule were actually set in Starkville.
“Guests would come eat no matter what,” she said. “If they buy a $15 steak, what is just 20 percent more added to the bill?”
Benjamin said, on average, customers will normally tip around 12 percent, so the waiters and waitresses would love the idea of a 20 percent mandatory gratuity charge.
“I think that if this was mandatory, it would offend a lot of customers, especially those who already do tip 15 to 20 percent,” she said.
Bar manager of Old Venice Dylan Bradshaw said automatic gratuity charges would have a negative effect on the restaurant’s business.
“I don’t see it as a positive thing for the wait staff either,” Bradshaw said. “If a waitress would rather have the gratuity added, such as in a situation where there is a table with a large group, we do have the option to let this happen.”
At Old Venice, customers normally tip 20 to 25 percent in the dining room and around 30 percent at the bar, Bradshaw said. If the servers show exceptional service, they may lose out on tips because they will always just receive 20 percent when they could have pulled in a 25 or 30 percent tip from a well-paying customer, he said.
Bradshaw does not think it is a good idea to pay the wait staff more per hour because, if a server shows that they are improving and perform good service, he or she is inclined to get a raise.
Whether to use automatic gratuity charges in restaurants should remain an option, Bradshaw said.
“As a customer, I would be pretty upset if this were to happen simply because there’s always that possibility that service will be terrible,” he said.
“I would definitely not want to pay 20 percent every time I go to a restaurant because some servers may not do as good of a job as others,” sophomore marketing major Brandon Wilson said.
A tip is an incentive for the server to work for, so if tips are mandatory the servers will not work as hard, he said.
“I definitely think more people would want to be waiters if this were to happen, because they would be guaranteed a 20 percent tip every check,” he said.
Sophomore architecture major Madison Nobles said a mandatory gratuity would be negative for business because people do not like getting told how much to tip.
“It’s all about the service,” Nobles said. “If a waitress doesn’t have good service, the customers won’t want to tip her nearly as much, and they shouldn’t have to.”
The waiters and waitresses will not feel as if they have to work as hard if they automatically get 20 percent gratuity, Nobles said.
“Everyone should definitely leave a tip, but 20 percent is a little much for some people,” freshman psychology major William Mauldin said. “Some students don’t have that much money for tips every single time they go out to eat, which is often.”
This idea has good intentions, but it is unrealistic, Mauldin said.
“I don’t think it’s fair that if a waitress didn’t perform her duties, customers would basically be forced to pay the 20 percent tip anyway,” he said.