Shot in the Dark

The Case For Home Cooking

Some restaurants – including one Twin Cities favorite – are instituting “equity charges“.

They would appear to be doing it, at least in part, because they believe their customers are idiots:

On its website, Broders’ has a notice to customers notifying them of a new 15 percent “benefits and equity” charge they’ve instituted. They justify the charge, first, by explaining that “many states have allowed reduced minimum wages for service staff in the form of a tip credit.” (More on this in a minute.)

But Minnesota (the restaurant being referred to is in southwest Minneapolis) is not one of them.

Oh, also they think you’re a bigot…

“Studies have also shown that there is inequity and built-in bias in the way consumers give tips,” the statement reads. “In general, Black or Brown servers receive less tips than Caucasian servers. There is gender bias as well.”

Has anyone noticed how the phrase “studies show…” may as well be a shorthand signal for “weasel words will follow”?

I used to like to ask “what studies? Where?“, But that would get us into a Bergs 16th Maw situation, almost immediately, almost every time..

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Mitch Berg

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26 responses to “The Case For Home Cooking”

  1. reader15 Avatar
    reader15

    To me it’s just a mandatory tip. At 15% I might add a little more for good service. At 20% that’s the full gratuity right there.

    At least this way it’s all recorded, and servers must (proudly!) calculate income tax on 100% of their income since they aren’t coming home with a pocket of cash tips each night. The state, with its payroll withholding, must be happy too.

  2. Blade Nzimande Avatar
    Blade Nzimande

    Imagine breaking bread at a table set by degenerates.

  3. golfdoc50 Avatar
    golfdoc50

    Recently was in Miami airport, ate lunch before our flight. Noticed an automatic gratuity charge printed on the ticket. Server confirmed it was the tip. I was OK with the charge and didn’t gripe. However, when the pandemic started I increased my tip amount. But if management wants to substitute their wisdom, no more Mr Nice Guy

  4. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    Broders is now closed due to a fire in their pizza oven over last weekend.
    Hilarious if they charge a black, female customer an “equity charge.”
    I suspect that the owner wanted to increase prices to help his bottom line in an era of declining business, and he chose the context (“equity charge”) that would work best with his customer base.
    I looked at Broders facebook page. Food looks typically midwestern-Italian (lots of cheese and marinara) and the pictures of the entrees were not very flattering.

  5. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    Given the current state of the economy, such fees are also a way to hide menu price increases in a veneer of self-congratulation.

  6. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Dang, too bad they’re closed. We could have had another SITD meet-up. I wonder where I put my receipt from the Stillwater restaurant.

  7. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Ooh, great comments. Made my morning. Two especially.

    The one from reader15 which reveals state taxing scheme behind the goodness. Very astute. Heh.

    And golfdoc… agreed. We don’t eat out much because of a medical thing, but when we did since when the pandemic started I increased my tip amount. Bigly. A good, friendly competent server might get up to a 40 or 50% tip. I don’t know what’ll happen now.

  8. reader15 Avatar
    reader15

    “In general, Black or Brown servers receive less tips than Caucasian servers.”

    Now do the opposite. If you don’t know what I mean, ask ANYONE who has ever been a restaurant server, and you will hear about another disparity in tipping.

  9. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    Joe Doakes, I eat at the “Stillwater Retaurant” at least once a month. I’ve noticed some slippage in quality lately.
    The Brookside in Marine on Saint Croix has a less creative menu, but the outdoor dining setup is great (weather allowing of course), and I haven’t had a bad meal there yet.
    And Tippy’s in Osceola is pretty good, too.

  10. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    I should mention that over the course of last summer, I saw increasing members of a certain prominent motorcycle club at the Brookside. If that’s not your cup of tea, you may want to avoid Brookside on weekends when the weather is fair.

  11. gl whisler Avatar
    gl whisler

    “Studies Show” = “I am about to lie to you.”

  12. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    I, too, raised my tipping during insecure Timmy’s WuFlu lockdown. Two of my favorite local spots, Shantytown Grill and Sports Page, almost had to close. Since Andy’s Tap closed (way before WuFlu), these are the last remaining Bloomington institutions for greasy burgers. Once per week, we grabbed take out from one or both of them. Someone posted about their plights on a Bloomington FB page. It worked and both places had a hard time keeping up with the orders. I’ve been into both of them once things opened up and spoke with the long time servers. They were very appreciative that people are still tipping higher, in some cases, up to 100%.

  13. Paddyboy Avatar
    Paddyboy

    Has anyone noticed how the phrase “studies show…” may as well be a shorthand signal for “weasel words will follow”

    Has anyone noticed that when Trump wants to make shit up, he says, “People tell me…” which is a signal for “weasel words will follow.”

    Perhaps Mitch, you first should look to see if something you write will cause the rest of the political crowd which is to your left (85% of the country) to not break out in abject laughter (thinking all the while, “Gosh Mitch, project much?”).

    Then next maybe you should check to see if there are in fact studies which show it. For there certainly ARE such studies and they show exactly what was asserted, and not BS studies paid for by the oil industry claiming climate change is a hoax, but instead, you know, actually peer-reviewed studies. Did you want them to attribute the study on their menu for you to believe it? If so, where is your demand for truthiness from your own party? Trump (and folks like you) claim that the election was stolen because of unproven anecdote, but you want to bitch about what again, exactly? That people use language which isn’t well attributed?? I guess..? Wahh.

    More importantly, you lose the forest for the trees (as you very often do). Broders is effectively saying, “We moving to a European model” where you don’t need to tip because we’ll pay the staff a fair wage. NO, they didn’t say “don’t tip” but clearly if you are paying attention, if they are adding an automatic gratuity, at some point, you will stop. I can’t say it’s exactly their intent because I’m not in their head and unlike you, I’m not going to claim to know someone’s motivation, but it is the effect.

    The larger moral point is, those states which allowed restaurants to lower an already insufficient wage even further, making working in a service job effectively unworkable, did no one any favors except I suppose the business owners themselves. They made it so workers can’t remain in those jobs and/or even worse, those who will take them may well be people who can ONLY get those jobs, likely having an impact on service as the skill of the worker falls.

    But, no shock, despite the claims to the contrary, the GOP (and especially you, Mitch) represent ownership, especially big corporate ownership, and the workers be damned. You don’t like (it seems) the fact that Broders (among others) are seeking to make the pay for their employees more equitable because it may well have an impact on other states? Well, you have a remedy, move. Now I personally don’t advocate for that solution because you are entitled to voice your opinion, but it was the remedy your God (Ronald Reagan) suggested to rust belt workers who didn’t like the impacts of his union busting tactics.. so, if it was good for them….

  14. Paddyboy Avatar
    Paddyboy

    Here’s an article from the far left-leaning Forbes Magazine..

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeenmabud/2019/02/12/the-racist-roots-of-tipping-reappearing-in-the-gig-economy/?sh=7ff916856a66

    Are those weasel words they printed, or was it the Economic Policy Institute’s study which was?

  15. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    tl;dr.
    Have you ever noticed that so many people who want you to “trust the science” have about as much scientific acumen and training as the manager of a family restaurant?
    Some day, there will be a lefty commenter at SITD who understands things like methodological biases, the serious replicability problem with social science research, and the weaknesses and failures of the peer-review system, but that day is not this day.

  16. Bill C Avatar
    Bill C

    I’m with Blade. I haven’t spent a single cent inside the city of Mpls since I quit driving for Uber. And even when I did spend money on food, it was only at the White Castle on Central/6th. Because I wanted White Castle, and the next closest ones (Fridley or St Louis Park) took me out of the money-making zone.

    Oh, and I once bought a couple gas station brats for a 10 minute dinner break from the Holiday next to the North Loop, while Ubering.

    It’s been more than a decade since I’ve spent money on a real meal in Mpls.

  17. MacArthur Wheeler Avatar
    MacArthur Wheeler

    Bill C
    That White Castle was a favorite stop of mine – back in the ’70s & ’80 the perfect lunch was 6 Sliders, a cuppa, while reading the White Castle House Organ. Quality you couldn’t get at Burger King and McDonalds.

  18. Blade Nzimande Avatar
    Blade Nzimande

    If you don’t know what I mean, ask ANYONE who has ever been a restaurant server, and you will hear about another disparity in tipping.

    Oh, we all know what you mean. There’s a reason “tip free” buffets like Golden Corral are centers of mayhem.

  19. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    They are legally required to tell you that there is a difference between a service charge and a tip. Service charge goes to the restaurant and is redistributed to staff. Tip goes to server only (who may distribute part of it to other workers).

    You are not required or even expected to tip on top of the hospitality charge.

    Transparency — you pay the price on the menu. Print a menu that accurately reflects your expected renumeration — cost of business + profit. I understand surcharges for various offerings, but nothing is justified that tacks on 21% across the board and I need to pull out a calculator to anticipate the true cost.

  20. Blade Nzimande Avatar
    Blade Nzimande

    Here’s an article from the far left-leaning Forbes Magazine

    Posted unironically…because otherwise it’d be hilarious.

  21. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    “Studies show” is complete, total BS. Even large, well designed human subjects studies can’t hit the 50% replicability rate. And the studies upon which most of these claims are small, run on college students only (because most social science departments have a requirement for students taking their classes to have some amount of “volunteering” for studies), and are not representative of the general population.

    So in other words, I’d lay very good money on this “tipping” study as being bullshitte. Even if it could be replicated and trusted (unlikely), the study was likely run on the worst set of tippers possible: broke college students.

    But hey, it makes the SJWs feel better about themselves, and it makes choosing a restaurant soooo much easier for me. But again, I’d rather hang at MP’s biker bar than head to nearly any restaurant in the TCs. At least I the bikers there are more polite and well behaved than your average SJW.

  22. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Paddyboy, your ability to write a lot without saying anything worth reading is amazing. The Forbes article seems to be a good model for you in this regard as well, because it makes all kinds of inflammatory claims without backing them up.

    Regarding Broders, my rule of thumb is that when the price jumps up a bunch from what I expected to pay, that is an unwelcome surprise that restaurants that want repeat business ought to avoid. Also unwelcome is the degree to which tipping has gone from 10% in the 1970s to 20% expected now, really for the same reason. I’m more than willing to pay a good price for a good product, but if you tell me it’s $15 and it ends up being $25, that’s a bad experience.

  23. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    bike;
    Paddywhacker is taking his cues from his heroes Pedo Joe and the San Francisco ho, who both use word salads to say absolutely nothing. The problem is that, the worthless media let’s them get away with it, because they are just as stupid.

  24. Blade Nzimande Avatar
    Blade Nzimande

    Also unwelcome is the degree to which tipping has gone from 10% in the 1970s to 20% expected now,

    It’s bullshit too, because the 10% of the 70’s is automatically increased to reflect inflation (and added taxes) in the price of the meal today. 20% is just not gonna happen for me.

  25. Jay Dee Avatar
    Jay Dee

    Liberal logic; fighting racism by being racist.

  26. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    No, no, no, Jay Dee. It’s racist when you don’t think that a person’s race is an essential part of their being.
    Get with the program or you’ll be sent to a re-education camp.

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