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Restaurant owners taking tips from staff—and not in a good way

(Image: Andrew Currie)

The restaurant industry in Ontario struggled more during the recession than most other industries. The one-two-three punch of the economy slowing down, the reduction in expense accounts and a recent increase in the minimum wage has a lot of managers scrounging for money. But after their first reaction to the wage bump looked like it was written by Mr. Burns, the industry has settled on a new tactic: taking a bigger chunk of the staff’s tips at the end of the night—sometimes up to four per cent.

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The Dish

The Downturn

March 31, 2010 | 3:45 pm

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Wage increase press release apparently written by Mr. Burns

(Image: lisatozzi)

The province’s minimum wage goes up 75 cents today, to $10.25 an hour, meaning low-end mall and restaurant jobs just got a little more bearable. But the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association doesn’t see it that way. The group says the hike will force restaurants to cut hours and jobs: “At a time when we are trying to grow employment and rebuild our economy, dramatic minimum wage increases are entirely counterproductive,” says Stephanie Jones, vice-president of the Ontario branch of the CRFA in a press release sent out this morning.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

January 8, 2010 | 12:05 pm

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Finally, Toronto gets its own angry restaurant staffers blog

Chefs and Rants, a blog started by an anonymous Toronto cook, has become a new venting outlet for those toiling in the city’s service underbelly. During its three-week tenure, the blog has compiled a handful of posts, some bitchy comments (a majority of which have been “deleted by the author”) and a growing list of establishments for chefs to avoid “unless you hate your life.”

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The Dish

Read All About It

January 5, 2010 | 8:45 am

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Cora Pizza reopens, Joanne Kates picks her top restaurants, the fooderati’s top Twitterers

Ratted out: Cora Pizza reopens after health inspectors discovered rats on the premises (Photo by The Pizza Review)

• U of T students, rejoice: Cora Pizza reopened its doors last week. The restaurant, a long-standing refuge of drunken university students, was closed due to unsanitary conditions (including, apparently, several dead rats and rat feces on the premises). With a history like this, we’re sure the customers will come flocking back. [CBC]

• Joanne Kates counts down Toronto’s top new restaurants of 2009, with fairly predictable results. Among her favourites are Buca, Black Hoof, the revamped Splendido, Osteria Ciceri e Tria and Mildred’s Temple Kitchen. The one wild card is Ba Shu Ren Jia, a Szechuan spot with a four-figure Steeles Avenue address. [Globe and Mail]

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The Dish

Culinary Curiosities

November 13, 2009 | 1:00 pm

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Seven hundred things restaurant customers should never do: servers react to Bruce Buschel’s rules for wait staff

Servers are people too, say servers

Well, it was bound to happen. The waiter-baiting, quip-slinging, hair-pulling, soup-spitting fight presently underway over Bruce Buschel’s New York Times blog entry “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do” has spawned numerous knock-off lists aimed at restaurant patrons. The most remarkable thing about the servers’ renditions is that they straddle a line between painfully obvious rules of decorum and mortifying behaviour that we didn’t even know existed. Our full examination, after the jump.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

November 10, 2009 | 11:10 am

2 Comments

“100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do” sparks vitriol, praise

(Photo by heliosphan)

The latest New York Times piece to go viral (we’ve been e-mailed it no less than 10 times) is “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do,” and it has sparked a word war between the communities of served and servers in the Big Apple. The two-part piece has also led to discussions in other newspapers, on waiter blogs, on podcasts and has racked up 1,829 comments on the Times’ site—and likely untold numbers of profane ones that have had to be taken down.

The author, Times blogger Bruce Buschel, is soon to be the proprietor of a Bridgehampton seafood restaurant. No doubt fearful of hiring would-be American idols who’d rather slip headshots to customers than quietly serve the bisque, Buschel seems to insist that servers are seen only when necessary, rarely heard and certainly never felt or smelled. The jumble of rules range from the reasonable (“Rule 12: Do not touch the rim of a water glass. Or any other glass”) to the contradictory (“Rule 46: Never acknowledge any one guest over and above any other” clashes with “Rule 100: Guests, like servers, come in all packages. Show a ‘good table’ your appreciation with a free glass of port, a plate of biscotti or something else management approves”).

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The Dish

Opening

November 5, 2009 | 4:05 pm

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Just Opened: Liberty Noodle

Souped up: the underground dining room at Liberty Noodle (Photo by Catherine Hayday)

Making people feel welcome seems to come naturally for Arshad Merali. At Liberty Noodle, the new venture from the long-time partner at Blowfish, the evidence is everywhere. Free Wi-Fi, for example, indicates that he understands (and welcomes, which is even rarer) Toronto’s outlet-obsessed laptop hordes. Soon, the restaurant will have an on-line order system for takeout. There is even an elevator running the short distance from the entrance to the industrial-chic dining room below. “If I did a business cost analysis, the elevator probably loses us money. But this is about doing the right thing,” Merali says.

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The Dish

Deathwatch

September 17, 2009 | 9:45 am

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After 32 years on Church Street, Bigliardi’s closes its doors

At steak: Church Street loses its longtime resident, Bigliardi's (Photo by Jon Sufrin)

Ever since the news broke that George Bigliardi’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant is closing on September 26, the long-standing Church Street spot has been packed every night. Yet this is not just the usual phenomenon of regular customers coming by to bid the place farewell; George Bigliardi, the 73-year-old owner, says he is witnessing an influx of customers he’s never seen before. “Last night we had two people that had never been here before,” he says. “That is most unusual.”

Asked what has kept regulars returning for the past 32 years, Bigliardi cites his unique brand of customer service instead of the grilled rack of lamb or bacon-wrapped filet mignon. He sees his patrons “as family,” and the feeling seems to be mutual. Indeed, he tells us many customers were driven to tears at news of the restaurant’s closing. “When they come to see me, their martini is already on the table. For most of our customers, we remember what they drink.”

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The Goods

Shop Talk

September 9, 2009 | 10:03 am

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Just Opened: West Salon and Spa puts a pretty face on Queen West

New kid on the block: West Salon and Spa (Carmen Cheung)

Sandwiched neatly between Brooklynn Bar and The Beaver, the recently opened West Salon and Spa is a bit out of place among the late-night watering holes and restaurants along this part of Queen West. But the owners, Priscilla Medeiros and Rob Banton, carefully selected the location by keeping a close eye on real estate for over a year.

The hip thirty-something couple are no strangers to the neighbourhood—they live in the area and Banton is part owner of nearby Nyood restaurant, which shares the same open feel, soaring ceilings and discreetly glamorous style of the new beauty parlor.

Medeiros, a former songstress and dancer, lights up when she explains the different spa services. In addition to hair treatments like blowouts, cuts, and colour jobs, customers can also schedule appointments for massage therapy, manicures, pedicures, facials, spray-on tans and laser hair removal.

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The Dish

Deathwatch

September 2, 2009 | 3:27 pm

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Truffles to close: Toronto’s grandfather of fine dining bites the dust after 37 years

After nearly four decades of obsequious service and high-end dining, the Four Seasons’ restaurant Truffles announced that it will close on September 5—just before TIFF would have provided an influx of celebrities ready to savour its signature “black gold” truffle spaghettini. Staff will be partly absorbed by the Studio Café, but the new Four Seasons hotel, which is slated to open July 2012 at 60 Yorkville, will not resurrect the Truffles concept, signalling another mighty nail in the fine-dining coffin. A new direction at the hotel will respond to changing times and reflect the vision of Studio Café newcomers chef Claudio Rossi and pastry specialist Philip Vellagares.

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The Goods

Shop Talk

September 2, 2009 | 11:05 am

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Just opened: Carbon makes its footprint on midtown

The casual-cool menswear shop Carbon stocks such feel-good brands as Shared and Alternative Apparel (Photo by Karon Liu)

Consider Carbon, the new jeans and T-shirt boutique on the Yonge strip north of Eglinton, more as owner Alex Mazelow’s giant walk-in closet than a casual menswear shop. For one thing, Mazelow has tried on everything in the store (he was testing out a new pair of Ever jeans when we dropped by), and he has played mannequin for women shopping for their absent boyfriends.

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The Dish

Culinary Curiosities

August 5, 2009 | 11:59 am

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Cash and booze are the keys to becoming a resto regular

Bait to be served: waiters appreciate the generosity of regular customers (Andrew Stawarz)

Grub Street’s Ben Leventhal has posted instructions on how to become a regular at a restaurant (full version here). It turns out absolutely anyone can enjoy last-minute reservations, complimentary dessert and the best table in the house. The guide consists of two fairly easy steps:

1. Be rich
2. Get the staff drunk

Proving one’s wealth requires tipping the server a minimum of 20 per cent (on the total bill, tax and all) and the maître’d at least $20, says Leventhal. As servers are always indignant about paying taxes and credit card commission, they must be tipped in cash. Getting the staff drunk entails buying the kitchen a round and bringing a bottle of scotch for the chef (it can be assumed the chef is an alcoholic, apparently). For best results, the wannabe regular should combine steps one and two by purchasing an $80-plus bottle of wine, then offering a taste to both the sommelier and server. This will simultaneously prove the regular is wealthy and get the servers drunk.

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The Goods

From the Print Edition

July 30, 2009 | 9:27 am

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Best of the City package on-line now

tl0809_cover_140x188 Our August cover story is the much-anticipated Best of the City package, where we scour the city for the best in shopping, eating, entertainment and services. Style readers should check out the roundups of the city’s sexiest undies and coolest sunglasses and our lists of the best in shopping (denim, vintage clothing, outdoor furniture) and beauty (blow outs, faux tans, manicures).

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The Dish

Read All About It

July 22, 2009 | 8:04 am

5 Comments

Robert Pattinson cheaps out, forks outsell knives, measuring restaurant pretension

Tipple over tipping: Robert Pattison leaves a meagre 14 per cent (Photo by twilight foxdie)

Tipple over tipping: Robert Pattinson leaves a meagre 14 per cent (Photo by twilight foxdie)

• Twilight star Robert Pattinson has outraged New York waiters by leaving a 14 per cent tip. The English actor munched on caprese salad while downing chianti and beer until well past midnight this week, and when he offered just $50 on his $350 bill, the aghast wait staff at Il Cantinori felt compelled to leak his penny-pinching to the media. Fans defended Pattinson’s faux pas as a simple cultural misunderstanding (tipping isn’t customary in Britain), but no one seems to have asked if the service was bad. [New York Daily News]

• The British are buying half as many knives as forks, according to a study by Debenham’s department store. Marketers have come to the conclusion that more meals than ever–like burgers, fries and salad–don’t require cutting. In bustling London, full of time-strapped urbanites wolfing down their dinner, the fork-to-knife gap is even wider (three forks sold per knife). [Independent]

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