Diners finish their meal, settle the bill and leave a tip — usually about 20% depending on a customer’s means and their estimation of the server’s efforts. It’s just the way things have been done in the United States.
But no more at Kent’s Wild Goats Cafe, which instituted a no-tipping policy last spring. So far, says manager Tim Cole, so good.
Customers are happy because they’re still paying roughly what they would have prior to the new policy, and employees are happy because their paychecks took a decidedly positive turn.
Here’s how the no-tipping policy works: Employees at the eatery at 319 W. Main St. make a base salary and participate in monthly anonymous voting rounds to determine how 44% of dine-in sales and 33% of carry-out sales will be divided. This “equity pool” is in effect no matter how much profit Wild Goats makes, Cole said.
Forget value added. These employees anonymously rate their coworkers as to how much value each one adds to the team. Employees who cross-train are valued more highly than those who don’t, Cole said.
Managers value employees who make themselves available. Servers value prompt food runners. Cooks value servers who give them correct orders, know the menu, and understand what can and can’t be done in the kitchen. Hosts value good-tempered, flexible servers.
“The person who makes the soup on a Tuesday night is just as important as the person serving the soup Wednesday morning,” Cole said.
Instituting a no-tipping policy had Wild Goats owner Charlie Ciborek taking a hard look at the restaurant’s menu. How to close the significant wage discrepancy between servers and cooks? The answer lay in finding a price point that would be less than Wild Goats’ regular price plus a 20% tip.
Cole knows people may think Wild Goats’ prices are high because of the no-tip policy, but it just isn’t so.
Yes, menu prices crept up a bit. But since tips are no longer allowed, the menu price is final. Therefore, Wild Goats’ prices are actually right in line with other restaurants in Kent.
For example, a veggie burger, fries and soft drink at Wild Goats runs $18.47. The same order at another Kent eatery costs $15.90, but add a 20% tip and the bill rises to $19.08. The same order at a third Kent restaurant costs $15.24, but add in the 20% tip and the total comes to $18.24.
A summer meal of chicken salad and iced tea at Wild Goats costs $20.48. Compare that with another Kent restaurant, which, with tip, runs $16.68, or with another one, which, with tip, totals $20.68.
The new policy meant a pay hike for Cole, who said he was able to buy a car instead of walking 45 minutes to and from work every day.
Line cook Harrison Coy, one of six crew members who work 38 hours a week, said he’s also noticed a slight pay hike. He hopes to see even more when students return to town for Kent State University’s 2023-24 academic year.
Though Wild Goats previously had a tip pool that all employees shared, paychecks still fluctuated, he said. Now, the entire crew is driven to succeed in multiple positions “so they can get more pay and it’s not on one or two people who do most of the work,” he said.
Coy said cross-training has been a boon for employees and customers alike. Wild Goats employee Brianna Weaver, taking a break from her usual server duties to handle fryer and dish work, said her pay has increased about $100 per pay period.
“It’s very relieving. I just feel like I have more money at my disposal to pay for rent, books, parking and supplies. It’s helped with the stress of being a college student,” she said.
Weaver knows her experience explains why she nets more of the equity pool than a new employee would.
“I feel like I can focus on doing my job better and not having to rely on begging the customer for a tip,” she said. “It’s nice that I don’t have to rely on the customer to make a livable salary. I think that creates a stressful environment, and I believe that allows me to be better at my waitressing.”
Though customer feedback has been mostly favorable, Weaver recalled one man who stormed out, insisting that diners should control the employees’ pay.
She said she offered to remove the 44% gratuity charge from his check, but he wasn’t having any of that. Disregarding her explanation of Wild Goats’ particular version of value added, Weaver said she listened to the man tell her that if she did a better job, she would make more money.
Server Mai West, who has worked at Wild Goats for 10 months, accepts that summer is Kent’s slow season. She said she hopes to see her pay, now steady at about $15 an hour, increase when Kent’s population balloons later this month.
To hedge her bets, she’s concentrated on learning kitchen duties so she can jump in wherever and whenever needed.
That’s exactly what Cole has in mind.
“The restaurant works best when everybody has the guests in their best interests. Now everybody does,” Cole said.
Cole, who’s been with Wild Goats for six years, said customers like not having “that awkward interaction of deciding how much a person makes.”
He may be right.
Wild Goats customer Mark Urycki termed himself a no-tipping fan.
“Tipping is a ridiculously ancient way of paying staff. It always seemed condescending to me to throw a few coins or dollars to the server. Just pay your staff and don’t leave it to the whims of diners,” he said.
Customers Sue and Larry Housel said they understood why Wild Goats’ prices rose when the no-tipping policy started.
“It’s a fairer thing. It really does add up to what I would have paid in a tip,” Sue Housel said.
Larry Housel, who describes himself as a generous tipper, said he actually saves money.
“It’s a step in the right direction as far as taking care of people who work in the service industry,” he said, noting that the next step would be normalizing a no-tip policy in restaurants across the country.
Both Larry Housel and Urycki compared American tipping policies to those they encountered in Europe.
There, Housel said, dining experiences are more transactional than interactional. Instead of servers approaching their tables several times during a meal, it’s up to the diners to get the servers’ attention, he explained.
Diners who want to be left alone while they’re eating or wish to linger after their meals are finished are free to do so, and the result is that both customers and employees are more relaxed. The customers aren’t pressured to free up tables for the next seating, and employees know they will be paid the same no matter how many times that table is turned over, Housel said.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.