“In order to provide a higher-than-average, dependable wage, we shifted to a no-tipping model and doubled the hourly rate to more than $30/hr for our service staff. This shift also benefits our guests, who can enjoy Casa Bonita without incurring unexpected costs,” management said.
All for it. Would love to see tipping culture go away in the US
Wow thats actually really cool of theyre actually paying their workers
I wish this would catch on and spread.
I would be surprised if $30/hr is an increase. Since they already serve the food cafeteria style, their waitstaff can handle more tables at once than waitstaff in a more traditional restaurant model. $30/hr in tips in Denver isn’t really that much.
It was always more about smoothing out the dead/busy times for me. Don’t schedule me if I’m going to sit around doing nothing and not earning tips, but also don’t underschedule the busy times leaving me to handle too many tables and losing tips because the quality of my work drops. Maybe a flat $30/he will drive the restaurant to schedule more efficiently.
As a European, I’m just amused to learn Casa Bonita is a real place and not only something from South Park.
As an American not from Colorado, I was amused when I learned the same. Apparently it had gone out of business and was recently reopened by the creators of South Park (at significant personal expense) because they were so fond of it as children.
I don’t recall the exact numbers but they never plan on making a profit off it either. It’s a thing of love.
They put $40 million into the renovations.
It’s a rite of passage for kids in Colorado. It seems like everyone who grows up there has a Casa Bonita experience.
Going away from tipping isn’t as fringe as it was 10-20 years ago. In general, customers will tip reasonably the same amount regardless of the level of service - unless the service is exception or dismal. These extremes make up a very small percentage of the total number of experiences. Things that affect tips more? Hand written notes on the receipts, bubbly attitude, and I hate to say this one - borderline flirting with male customers (laughing at their jokes, casual hand on the arm/shoulder, being overly complimentary, etc). I want to stress that I don’t find this appropriate, but it has been shown to drive up tips. This is one of the many criticisms of the practice - that it can be about misogynistic interactions between guests and staff. People like tipping because it gives them a sense of very tangible feedback on how they felt the service went. The problem is that it is used by many restaurants as an excuse to not pay a living wage.
There are so many service related professions that do not work on tips and they are able to maintain a high standard. Certainly not all of them. But in those companies where there is no tipping and I don’t get good service, I don’t go back.
Source: I opened a restaurant in 2016 and ran it until 2020 when COVID killed it. I strongly considered going to a no tipping model at that time, but it would not have been received well by my market. There were no other restaurants in the area that did it and I was overruled by my partners.
I hate to say this one - borderline flirting with male customers (laughing at their jokes, casual hand on the arm/shoulder, being overly complimentary, etc).
Oh the South Park guys definitely nailed it with their Raisins episode.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry to hear yours didn’t work out. Hopefully the finance aspect didn’t burn you too much
But in those companies where there is no tipping and I don’t get good service, I don’t go back.
Even for businesses that do have tipping, I generally don’t go back if I have a bad service experience. There’s at least one place that comes to mind where the server was a complete douche to us. Sure it was just one of the employees and the rest were fine, but that was enough for me to decide that there are other places with better service and better food.
I honestly considered tipping 9/10ths of a cent and letting them figure out what to do with that. Ended up leaving 15% though because the reality is that server probably was getting paid like garbage anyway.
So I’ve lived in Denver for most of my life. I’ve been to Casa Bonita pre-closure. It was definitely not in the best shape. At the time it was a thin veil of things going well, but if you looked closer, you could easily see that the restaurant wasn’t doing so hot in terms of the building itself.
The South Park guys purchasing and restoring it is fantastic news.
I’m really excited to go back, especially after hearing that they’re paying their staff well on top of the extensive remodel.
That seems like a decent wage but I’d but curious to hear what service staff think about it.
In the local news here, they said that only 2 of the 93 affected staff members were against the idea. During the soft opening people were skipping tipping or tipping poorly.
Understandable. If I paid in advance, and then served myself “cafeteria style”, I wouldn’t have felt as obligated to tip, either. I’m glad that management recognized this issue and came up with a solution that’s fair for everyone.
Matt and Trey just bought Casa Bonita, so it better come with health and retirement packages too. Least they can do when lessor known restaurateurs have done that.
I’m going to be pedantic: lessor?
Pendant away. I have no problem with people pointing grammar, words, sentence structure, or how to be a better writer.
Probably it’s less on average, but a more dependable income.
Huh, I always figured South Park made up Casa Bonita. TIL
Good for them though!
Interestingly, Trey Parker and Matt Stone bought Casa Bonita in 2021 and they just reopened it this month.
