NEW YORK — Reports say Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group announced Wednesday they will eliminate tipping at all 13 of their restaurants.
The move will reportedly affect restaurants that serve 40,000 to 50,000 meals a week and range from simple museum cafes to some of the most popular dining facilities in the country, including Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern.
Meyer said that by raising prices and ending gratuities, he hoped to be able to raise pay for cooks, dishwashers and other kitchen workers.
“The gap between what the kitchen and dining-room workers make has grown by leaps and bounds,” Meyer said. During his 30 years in the business, “kitchen income has gone up no more than 25 percent.”
If wages for cooks and kitchen employees do not keep up with the cost of living, Meyer said, “it is not going to be sustainable to attract the culinary talent that the city needs to keep its edge.”
Reports say the announcement is part of a sweeping change in how employees are rewarded.
