A few years ago, as you may recall, a bunch of restaurant owners proudly declared they were going to offer their employees a living wage. They abolished tipping, instituted a regular base salary, and announced that they had freed servers from relying on the whims of patrons.
It was a noble experiment. But unfortunately the no-tipping movement crashed into an unforeseen obstacle: inflation. As food prices soared and rent skyrocketed, restaurants have found it hard to stay profitable. According to the industry association Restaurants Canada, over half of all restaurants in Canada are currently losing money.
Some restaurant owners have taken a hard look at their finances and concluded that they can’t pay servers a living wage anymore if they want to stay open. And so, reluctantly, they have gone back to the old order. Nathan Middleton, a chef and co-owner of a Toronto pizza restaurant, describes for Maclean’s the painful process of abandoning his no-tipping policy. It’s a cri de coeur and a sobering portrait of the restaurant business.
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
