The Positive Side of Tip Pooling

In response to my exchange with a server in the September 24, 1999 EHC, I received the following contributions regarding the other side of the tip pooling coin:

From Shannon McKinney smckin0629@aol.com:
The other side of tip pooling is what was happening in our establishment. Each waitstaff had a designated area of the dining room and it led to quite a separation in teamwork. Hot entrees would be ready to go out and if they were not for that specific wait person, they would walk right by and ignore the hot food. After trying to instill that teamwork spirit, we were unsuccessful and resorted to pooling tips. This was not positively received however has seemed to work out in the long run. We have monitored previous tip amounts before the system against the average amount they are taking home now and there is not much difference.

From Barry Cohen bcohen@onr.com:
I understand the young lady's perspective on tip pooling, however there really is another side to this coin:
#1. Is the obvious "no man is an island" syndrome. She does not excel on her own. If we removed the bussers, bartenders, cooks, dish operators and hosts would she really be as effective as she feels she is now?
#2. If its really a team then she should be able to share the success of the store with the team.
#3. I doubt strongly that her payout can equal 50%.
#4. Its probably difficult for the owner to pay bussers etc. the 7-8 dollars necessary to keep them employed.
Overall I think it builds a great team because everyone in the building has an ownership stake in the guest experience.

From Shanny Covey robins@robinsrestaurant.com:
In response to the letter about tip pooling. First I didn't understand what was meant by subcontracting or the bit about going back to the 9% average. However, tip pooling works well for us. We've had our restaurant 14 years and it seems to be the preferred system for us. My servers tip out anywhere from 15-25% of their tips into a pool depending on the number of other staff on and it is then divided between those that helped them on their shift. Management is responsible for dividing the tips and we know how each server is tipping out. As a result, we don't have problems with any certain people tipping out poorly and there is no resentment from the others because they do not know how each server tips out. We have tried tipping directly but it tended to breed ill feelings so we went back to the pool. We work well as a team and understand that tip wise some shifts and days are better then others.

From Steve Lantz lazyparrotinn@juno.com:
You asked for opinions on tip-pooling. I am a restaurant owner in Puerto Rico and my employees pool tips. It has been my experience that when they pool their tips they work better together and there are less complaints from employees and customers to management. Our customers now receive more consistent service because everyone is willing to make them happy. Example: if the customer comes in one night and gets the best server and the next time they get the worst server do you think they will come back? Consistently good service is what people are looking for!!! In our restaurant we have two totally different atmospheres: an indoor dining room and the other outside. Some nights it rains, some nights no one wants to sit outside so if you are stationed outside you can make big money or not a dime. We found that pooling averaged out the tips. If you worked in the rained out section you didn't go home empty handed. At first they didn't like it either but now they are seeing the advantage. It also promotes teamwork. The ones that have more experience are teaching the others in order to bring up the tip pool. And no one gets in the weeds anymore. It has also promoted lasting friendships.....if you like where you work you will be a happier person that treats the customers better. It is working great for us.....sounds to me like this person needs to find another job......if you aren't happy get out of that restaurant.

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