Tip 15, 20 or 25 Percent? Here, They Strongly Suggest Zero In a city where taxicabs prompt passengers to tack on a 30 percent tip, the notion of turning down a gratuity sounds almost heretical. But one restaurant in Midtown Manhattan says it has taken that less-traveled path by instituting a no-tipping policy. At Sushi Yasuda, tips are not only no longer being sought, but they will also be returned if proffered, said one of the restaurant’s owners, Scott Rosenberg. After 13 years of trying to provide an authentic Japanesedining experience, the owners decided a few weeks ago to adopt the profoundly un-American custom of including the cost of service in the price of the food, Mr. Rosenberg said. “The reason we did it that way was because in Japan, that’s how it’s done,” he said. “We thought, ‘How great would it be when you go to a restaurant not to have to think about the tip?’ ” A small number of restaurants have tried to remove tippingfrom the equation. But some, like Per Se in the Time Warner Center, have instead added a European-style service charge. Per Se implemented their 20 percent service charge several years ago to balance the share of tips between waiters and kitchen workers — although tips are still accepted. At Sushi Yasuda, the tips were not going to the workers, anyway. The staff received salaries and benefits and the restaurant took the tips, Mr. Rosenberg said. The owners raised the already lofty prices by about 15 percent and removed the space for tips on credit-card receipts, he said. In keeping with the low-key tone of the 40-seat restaurant, notes explaining the change were placed at the bottom of bills and inside the back cover of menus. It reads: “Following the custom in Japan, Sushi Yasuda’s service staff are fully compensated by their salary. Therefore gratuities are not accepted. Thank you.” But Mr. Rosenberg said that after observing customers’ initial reactions, he realized that the switch required additional explanation. Some customers tried writing tips onto the bills themselves, he said. Others, including at least two who had a late lunch there on Thursday, went ahead and left cash tips on the table. One was Lia Levy, a Manhattan resident who took two friends visiting from Israel to Sushi Yasuda. She said she had just left $45 on the table to cover the service for a $270 lunch for three. Informed that she need not have tipped at all, she appeared confounded. Ms. Levy said she was so fond of the restaurant that she called it “my Japan in New York.” So she was surprised, she said, that none of the servers had told her of the change. She did not seem surprised, though, that nobody had come running after her, brandishing a refund. “Maybe they will make it up to me next time,” Ms. Levy said. Rob Priffer, of Toronto, seemed even more dubious. He said he had just left $30 after his friend, Mamdouh Khawaji, had treated them to a meal that cost more than $200. After Mr. Khawaji produced a receipt with the new policy circled in red ink, Mr. Priffer joked about going back for his gratuitous gratuity. But his expression indicated that he thought doing so would be gauche. The men said they thought the food had been “excellent,” but agreed that it was overpriced. Christine Tran, a visitor from Houston who shared sushi with two friends, deemed the service they received “really good” and approved of the no-tipping policy. “If I felt the service was lacking, I would feel like they should go back to the old way,” she said. When Mr. Rosenberg heard that tips were still being collected, he was perturbed. Tipping is not merely frowned upon, he said. It is not to be done. But, he said, servers do not immediately count cash paid by customers “because that would be uncouth.” That habit left “a hole, obviously” in the policy. “From now on, we’ll count cash left on the table, so that if we do catch a tip being left, we can return it,” he said.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:43:50 +0000
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