Restaurant and bar workers in Montreal are divided after the Quebec government tabled a bill this week that would regulate how businesses calculate suggested tips.
This requires businesses to calculate tips based on the pre-tax price rather than the after-tax price. On a $100 restaurant bill, for example, suggested tips would be calculated as a percentage of $100, not the after-tax total of $114.98.
Quebec’s consumer protection minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said Thursday there is “increasing pressure around tipping” and people often end up paying more than they expected. But restaurant and bar workers in the province are divided over what effect the law will have on the sector and the people it employs.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec Minister responsible for consumer protection
Julia Dougall-Picard, a waitress at Frite Alors in the Latin Quarter of downtown Montreal, thinks the change is welcome.
I don’t really see a problem with this change. Honestly, to me it’s just a few dollars or cents and it doesn’t really change my life, and as a customer I’d rather tip on what I ordered and not on tax.
Julia Dougall-Picard, a waitress at Frite Alors in the Latin Quarter of downtown Montreal
Even if Mme Dougall-Picard makes most of her income from tips, and she thinks the province’s proposed tip calculation system might actually encourage customers to be more generous.
“We really rely on tips as waiters and waitresses because our wages are below minimum wage, so I think if people […] do not have to tip on top of taxes […] “This might encourage people to tip more,” she said.
But Jaskaran Singh, manager of Arriba Burrito restaurant a little further down the bustling street, is disappointed.
“It was never mandatory to tip a server, and I was a server for a while. […] I’ve served in many restaurants before this one too, and it’s always been tough that our minimum wage is very low,” he said.
Mr Singh adds that restaurant employees regularly deal with customers, usually tourists, who refuse to tip.
Marc-Antoine Bourdages, who manages the Brasseurs du Monde restaurant-bar, says he agrees with the change.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think most customers know that suggested tips are calculated on the after-tax total.
But Bourdages admits that the bartenders and servers he manages — who rely on tips for much of their income — probably don’t share his view.
“I’m pretty sure I’m the only one with this idea. My staff is not going to be happy,” he said.
An impact on staff on the floor
Martin Vézina, vice-president of public affairs for the Association des restaurateurs du Québec, believes that this change will leave less money in the pockets of dining room staff, but will not have a significant impact on the industry as a whole.
Although restaurant owners choose the suggested tip percentages, Vézina says the payment processors that provide the point-of-sale terminals are actually the ones programming the tip suggestions in addition to the after-tax amount.
“It doesn’t cause that much of a problem for the industry,” he said, explaining that restaurateurs might even end up paying less in credit card fees on tips as well as less income tax on reported tips.
But he also sees the bill as a missed opportunity to implement measures regarding reservations. no-show “, when customers reserve a table at a restaurant but never show up. He claims that the ” no-shows » cost Quebec restaurants an average of $47,000 per year.