Yesterday, a Slog tipper told us that Tom Douglas is holding a meeting with his employees this afternoon to discuss how his company will handle paying staff the new minimum wage, which may include possible changes to its tipping policy.
Pamela Hinckley, CEO/CVO of Tom Douglas Restaurants, confirmed the meeting via email. “We are having an employee meeting today. The purpose is to hear their concerns,” she wrote. Though Hinckley says “we have not formulated a policy yet,” because Tom Douglas Restaurants employees more than 1,000 workers, whatever changes they make—or just talk about making—are sure to have an effect on the entire Seattle restaurant industry.
Since last April, when Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance went into effect, several restaurateurs and business owners have eliminated tipping and raised their minimum wage to $15. Ivar’s and Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures restaurants all made the shift last spring, and since then, Jerry Traunfeld’s new restaurant Lionhead and Travis Kukull’s brand-new Mollusk in South Lake Union have dropped tips in favor of higher menu prices and hourly wages. Matt Dillon’s Bard Ferd’nand II, which has been opening “any day now” for the last three months, is also slated to be tipless.
According to Capitol Hill Seattle, since making the move Erickson and her business partner Jeremy Price have been busy meeting with other chefs and restaurant owners to talk about what kind of changes they will make in anticipation of the next phase of the minimum wage increase in January.
“We’ve been meeting with people about how to handle service charges. I expect in January when the wage goes to $12 we’ll see more,” Price told the blog.
Earlier this fall, Ethan Stowell, who with his wife and business partner Angela Stowell owns 13 Seattle restaurants, told me that his company has made no changes to their business model: “For now we’re just eating the [increased labor] costs while we figure out the right move.” But he said he expects to make a change in January. I’m sure Stowell—and many others—are paying attention to what comes out of Tom Douglas’s meeting today.
Across the country, the tipless model has been gaining momentum. Last month, prominent New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer announced that his 13 restaurants will eliminate tipping. And this week, national seafood chain Joe’s Crab Shack decided to test out a no-tipping model at 18 of its locations across the country.
Last year, Douglas said raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would cost him $5 million, and could result in him closing one-quarter of his restaurants. He now owns 12 restaurants, with two more expected to open next year.
This post has been updated.
