Five Portland, Ore., restaurants will end tipping later this year, following a wave of full-service operators who have slashed the traditional hospitality practice.
Park Kitchen, The Bent Brick, Le Pigeon, Luce and Navarre will join local concept Farm Spirit in nixing the practice, which opened last year with a no-gratuity policy, KPTV reports.
Restaurateur Scott Dolich, who runs two of those concepts, is ceasing tipping to contend with Oregon’s rising minimum wage, as well as a recent district court decision that upheld restrictions on tip pools, KPTV says. His restaurants, which recently cross-trained back- and front-of-house employees on one another’s roles, will raise menu prices by 18% as part of the switch.
While the change has been a tough sell to some staff members, Dolich told KPTV that his next hurdle will be gaining buy-in from customers.
In a bid to prevent confusion, the group of Portland restaurants will use a "gratuity free" logo in their windows, on menus and across websites and social media to alert diners of the change.
Customers have been a sticking point for many concepts that have dipped their toes in the no-tipping pool, including New York City’s Fedora, which ended its test of no tipping after just a few months due to falling sales.
Portland beer hall Loyal Legion, which reversed its no-tip policy earlier this year, reportedly experienced confusion among customers—many of whom left tips in spite of its gratuity-free stance.
Read the full story via KPTV.
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