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On the other side of the US, Rachel Miller, chef and owner of Nightshade Noodle Bar in the town Lynn, Massachusetts, moved to a tip-free model five years ago when they reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Her motivation was to make it fairer for the kitchen staff. <\/p>\n
“The people breaking their backs and minds in the kitchen – often the least visible and the least celebrated – were taking home a fraction of what the front staff made on tips for the same hours,” she says.<\/p>\n
Miller says she found it “deeply unsettling” to see higher tips going to white male staff and lower tips to everyone else. <\/p>\n
“Tipping lets guests, consciously or not, pay people differently based on gender, race, or sexuality and I was not willing to let that decide my team’s income.”<\/p>\n
To pay the staff higher wages, Miller also increased prices at the French-Vietnamese restaurant. Its tasting menus now start from $102 (\u00a375) for seven courses before 18:00, and $126 (\u00a392) for nine courses.<\/p>\n
“Our prices are higher than a comparable restaurant’s because they carry the full cost of paying people properly,” says Miller. “That is the trade, and I stand behind it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n