Made reservations at a restaurant in St. Paul for the holidays while visiting our nephew. Restaurant confirms and then informs me, “a 21% hospitality charge will be added to dinner checks. Pursuant to Minnesota Statute 177.23, Subd. 9, this charge is not gratuity for direct employee service.”
So if I spend $100 on food and drink, my bill (25% tip and this service charge) will be $146. The tip/tax is almost half the actual meal 
If it wasn’t going to be so cold, I’d suggest grilling out
That’s insane! It’s NOT a gratuity? What is it for, then?
I don’t know why it’s listed that way (some regulatory reason, no doubt), but it’s interchangeable with tip. If service was good, it’s sufficient, if you had truly excellent service you could add some more.
My best guess is that they’ve moved to a no-tipping model and this is the way they avoid jacking menu prices way up.
Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis add 21% service charge and state it is NOT a tip. I wish they would just raise the menu prices to reflect the correct charges.
"this charge is not gratuity for direct employee service.”
“it is this time, y’all can sort it out on the back end”
My wife and her friends went out to lunch at a Daniel’s Broiler in Seattle. They have the same policy. A 20% surcharge is added, and is expressly stated that it is not a tip or substitute for a tip.
I expect it is a reaction to the end of a lower minimum wage for employees who receive tips, and indirectly addressing the disparity between the take home pay of the waitstaff vs. the cooks and back end staff. They could just raise prices, but it seems they want to make a statement.
It is effectively a tip, but for some accounting/legal/tax purpose, they have to make that statement that it is not a tip.
The way I read the explanation, a service charge that is considered a tip is taxed twice, once as income to the restaurant and once as income to the staff. But make your own decisions.
I understand it says that, but it’s for legal reasons. Had to do some digging, but apparently under MN law, it’s illegal to require servers to pool their tips, so the hospitality charge is the way restaurants can bring cooks and other staff into the pool. Here’s a great article that explains it, with quotes from Gavin Kaysen, owner of Spoon and Stable:
Seems there’s some anti-socialists up there in the frigid tundra…
I love that restaurant and eat there 4 times a year, but that one thing drives me nuts.
Demi is a world class restaurant in Minneapolis with very reasonable prices for the quality of the food.
Be that as it may, Jerry, I can still see being really annoyed like Chris is nonetheless. Hopefully what others are posting is true and it’s a legal way to get the “tip,” but not call it that. I don’t think I should accept the charge without complaining if it’s not, irrespective of how excellent the food or how good the value.
I’m a Minnesotan and as Joe mentions this charge is effectively the tip, but the disclaimer is necessary for legal/acct/tax reasons. And yes, Minnesotans are also annoyed AF about these policies.
Sounds like the Minnesota dining version of “we cannot ship to your state but will engage a common carrier on your behalf”.
I feel for these restaurants who are trying to do the right thing by raising back of the house pay/ get away from the tipping system. There’s really no good way to do it in a way that doesn’t piss off the front of house, the customers, or both.
And I understand customer frustration as it’s confusing and an outlier since so few restaurants implement it (and even if they did it would continue being confusing). Simply raising prices isn’t an easy option; as has been discussed in other threads, as customers will almost always take their business elsewhere.
The American restaurant system, including tipping, is beyond broken and frankly not sustainable in its current form.
The servers there (who are generally excellent) won’t clarify it for you either. You ask if it’s a tip, if you should also tip, and they equivocate uncomfortably about how it’s up to you etc.
A cynic might wonder if the ambiguity on the menu is designed to result in many diners tipping a second time on top of the charge. Undoubtedly, some do — I have a number of times, usually because at the end of a long dinner with great wines I am on autopilot tipping and signing.
It’s part of what pisses people off.
I can’t tell you the amount of times over the last 3 yrs we’ve gone out to eat w/ another couple or a group and then had this exact conversation. Me (knowing the rule) trying to convince our companions they don’t need to tip another 20+%, them being unsure…. It’s a horribly awkward & uneasy way to end what was otherwise a great evening.
I get that you don’t like it and would prefer a different custom, but is it actually “beyond broken and frankly not sustainable in its current form?”
It’s been this way all my life, albeit the % has crept up and it has expanded into quick serve et al.
What is going to stop this from being the way things are for the next 50 years? That’s what I figure will happen (not saying that to defend the status quo, just my guess that it will continue).
Yes, it’s broken. The people in the back of the house get paid disproportionately less than the front. The front of the house doesn’t even get paid a living wage by the employer; the tipping culture that is designed to close that gap encourages all sorts of bad behavior by everyone involved. There’s plenty more…
What’s going to stop it from being this way? Nationally? Absolutely nothing. I agree it’s largely going to continue. As discussed here, in certain states and cities, steps have been taken to force the employer to pay front of house something closer to a normal wage. But as has been pointed out here that only causes diners confusion and angst when they travel to regions with different policies in place. And as you’re pointing out, we’re only seeing the spread of tipping culture to other places in the US, where it frankly has no business.
(and just to clarify my thoughts on tipping; while I don’t like the system, certainly it’s the system in place in the US and I have no issue tipping generously as I know how hard these people work and I know how hard restaurant life is, and frankly good hospitality just makes me happy. I’ll happily continue doing so until there’s a different system in place. But I don’t get the spread of tipping culture to other places where it hasn’t historically existed in the US).