About Our Service Charge & Commission-Based Pay Model
Today’s world looks much different than it did just a few short years ago.
We have had to continuously change our restaurant brands to ensure we can offer
the highest quality food, beverage, and service possible to our guests.
At the same time ensuring the ultimate wellbeing of our
team members and the families they support.
Recent legislation at the federal & state level affecting minimum wage,
tip-pooling practices, and required benefits, are not sustainable mandates
for full-service restaurants. When Florida voted for a $15 minimum wage in 2020,
this equated to a 150% increase in labor cost for all tipped employees.
Due to increased wages, labor challenges, rising food cost, and supply chain issues,
we are choosing now to adopt/adapt to a service charge and commission based pay model,
which many full service restaurants have already implemented.
This will avoid having to drastically raise menu prices to offset these real issues.
We have created a commission-based pay model and have implemented
a service charge on all restaurant sales to ensure our team is positioned for success,
our guests receive the highest quality dining experiences and that our
restaurant brands are securely positioned for the future.
Our Team is truly our Family, and we cherish every opportunity
to help them do more than just survive, we want them to thrive.
It is also very important for you, our guest, to be Enriched and provided
an incredible dining experience consistently. The reality is that
we can’t accomplish any of this if we are out of business.
With the adoption of this service charge and commission-based pay model,
it assures our ability to continue providing health and
well being benefit programs to our team members.
Starting February 2023, 28 North Gastropub
will move to a 20% service charge model.
(22% for parties of 10 or more)
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q:Why is there still a Gratuity Line on the Credit Card receipts?
A: If you should feel an additional tip is warranted please know that your
generosity in recognizing exceptional service is appreciated.
Q: Are service charges considered tips or wages?
A: Service charges are the property of the restaurant, utilized to
pay for hourly wages, benefits, etc. In this model, our service team receives 16%
of the service charge and the remaining 4% goes to increasing support staff
and culinary team member wages and benefits.
Q: Why did you move to this model?
A: To offset mandated wage increases for all tipped employees
and still attract and retain the highest quality
service and culinary team members.
We have excellent compensation built into our business model
and are happy to say we lead the way with our culinary wages in this area.
This model will also continue to provide an incentive-based pay that attracts
and retains professional servers and bartenders that will continue
delivering the quality experiences we are known for.
Q: What if we don’t meet the guest’s expectation level of service?
A: If there is any aspect that our team doesn’t meet your expectations,
please request to speak to a manager during your dining experience
and we will exhaust all options to ensure our guest’s satisfaction.
Q: Who makes up the service team?
A: Servers and Bartenders.
We also have Hosts, Barbacks, Food Runners & Support Staff
who are compensated separately by hourly pay
and by a portion of the remaining 4% service charge.