They’re tipped off!
Some local coffee shops are doing away with gratuities, removing tip jars and — more importantly — prompts for automatic gratuities on iPad payment portals. Most customers are thrilled.
“I don’t have to decide how much to tip, I don’t have to do math, enthused Anu Mohan, a 34-year-old who works at a cancer hospital in technology development and frequents the Three Legged Cat, a leafy cafe that opened in East Williamsburg over the summer with a line at the bottom of menu declaring that tax and tip is included and that the cafe is “proud” to provide a living wage to employees.
The move comes at a time when many think gratuity grabs have gotten out-of-hand, with New Yorkers feeling pressure to tip not just at restaurants and hotels but at hardware stores, dry cleaners and even for exterminators.
Anu and his wife, Cassandra Mohan, 37, who works in public health, sometimes disagree on tipping.
“We have debates as a couple. For example, should you tip on the baked goods? I think you should [just] tip on the coffee because that is what they make, and Anu tips on the total as a percent [of the whole bill] no matter what,” said Cassandra.
The lack of gratuity at some coffee shops might be saving customers a hassle (or a squabble with a significant other), but it’s not saving money.
A drip coffee at Three Legged Cat costs $4.50, roughly a dollar more than at similar shops in the area, though some neighboring spots, such as Sey Coffee, also discourage tipping.
At Principles GI Coffee Shop in Gowanus, owner Katie Bishop said while many customers find the lack of a tip screen “refreshing” she has had some pushback on her prices — $4 for a drip coffee and $7 for a cappuccino.
“[Customers] feel entitled to a drink half that price,” she said. “I’ve learned to respond with something along the lines of ‘would you like to know why my prices are what they are?’”
That usually quiets them.
“If not, they’re not my target customer anyways,” she said.
When Taylor Siok, opened Passionfruit in Bed Stuy last March, he wanted to forego tipping with the aim of offering employees more stability.
“My wife and I have been working in the hospitality industry since we were 19-years-old, and when it came time to open our own project we wanted to be more forward thinking,” said Siok.
He pays employees “in the mid-20s per hour,” including for work, such as baking and closing, that isn’t customer-facing. He also offers PTO, a rarity in the hospitality industry.
(In New York City, the minimum wage for food service workers is $16.00 per hour. Employers may satisfy that standard by combining a $10.65 cash wage with a $5.35 tip allowance.)
Emily Williams, an owner and founder of Til Death in Bushwick, created a no-tip rule so she didn’t have to play nice with disrespectful customers.
“We would have rude people, people on the phone, people expecting us to be super flexible and compliant with whatever they are asking for,” said Williams. “We would have to be nice to them and do this performance just to get a tip … I want to make you coffee and not [be] expect[ed] to have a conversation about your vacation or whatever you want to talk about.”
Williams and her business partner operate the shop themselves, with no employees, and she says she makes a living without tips.
Full service restaurants in NYC have experimented with “no tipping” in the past decade with limited success.
In 2015, Danny Meyer announced that his Union Square Hospitality Group would gradually eliminate tipping, but, in 2020, he brought added gratuities back as workers struggled during the pandemic.
“We don’t know how often people will be eating out, we don’t know what they are going to be willing to pay. [But] we do know that guests want to tip generously right now,” he explained at the time.
Restaurateur Andrew Tarlow stopped accepting tips at his Brooklyn hotspots in 2015 only to back away from the policy in 2018.
But, coffee shop owners say no-tipping is more doable for them.
“The model is working, and we encourage other businesses to give it a shot,” said Siok.
Michael Bewley, 50, who owns a coffee machine company and lives next door to Three Legged Cat, said he hopes bars start experimenting with no-tipping next.
“I have other things to worry about than sitting there discussing with my partner or friend about if we should do 18% or 15%,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time my tip was based on service anyway. It’s become based on what you should be tipping, what other people in your party want, etc. I don’t need the stress, I just want my coffee.”
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