edible HOSPITALITY
The Art of the Tip by KRISTI WILLIS photography by KODY GAUTIER AND SAM TRUONG DAN
Y
ou head out for a nice dinner, and the restaurant is busy, so you grab a seat at the bar for a drink while you wait for a table. When the tab comes, you pause — do you tip a
percentage of the total or a buck or two per drink? During dinner, the service is great, but the food is just okay — do you tip on the service, the food or the whole experience? You head to the valet and scratch through your wallet for cash. Is $2 enough? That’s all the cash you have. Trying to navigate what to tip and when can be dizzying at best and frustrating at worst. While tipping is about recognizing good service, in many states it is also about basic compensation. A federal law allows states to determine a tip credit, letting employers pay less than the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, with the assumption that the server, host, busperson or bartender will be able to make up the difference in tips. In Texas, restaurants can take a $5.12 tip credit, meaning they only have to pay $2.13 per hour as long as the employee earns enough in tips to reach the minimum wage; otherwise, the employer has to make up the difference. For servers who make $2.13 per hour, to earn minimum wage — approximately $15,000 per year — they must serve tables whose checks total at least $34 every hour, with diners tipping 15 percent.
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