The Queen’s Feast, otherwise known as Charlotte Restaurant Week, begins this Friday, Jan. 17 and continues through Sunday, Jan. 26. The 10-day semi-annual event features 117 area restaurants that extend from Mooresville down to Fort Mill and everywhere in between. Participating restaurants offer a special three-course (or more) prix fixe menu for $30 (not including tax and gratuity) to Restaurant Week guests.
The event offers diners an opportunity to try new restaurants and brings business to dining establishments during a historically slow time of the year. Last summer, 130,000 diners filled seats at local area restaurants for $6 million in generated revenue.
Yet, with all the excitement from a large portion of Charlotte eaters, there are the naysayers who have created a longstanding debate, in town and across the nation, about whether or not Restaurant Week is a boon or a blemish.
The argument is that Restaurant Week brings in the wrong kind of patrons, those who don’t normally eat out and therefore, will not be back. For restaurants, this perspective could yield the perception (and possible reality) that they won’t see a return in the form of new customers. This article on TIME.com claims that some restaurants believe that Restaurant Week “annoys their best customers.”
Some seasoned diners imply that their restaurant experience is somehow interrupted during Restaurant Week, like this article from Charlotte Viewpoint where an unnamed foodie urges folks to “Save your money and boycott this aberration of pristine dining we expect and deserve, lest you’re destined to eat with – (quelle horreur!!) – The Cracker Barrel People.” Whether it be too crowded, too noisy or their favorite table is unavailable, it seems that some elite restaurant goers view Restaurant Week as a lesser experience.
While the numbers clearly show a visible economic impact, there are people who just don’t see the value in it. Bruce Moffett’s stalwart restaurant, Barrington’s does not participate. For his small 40-seat restaurant, the discounted menu does not make sense for his bottom line. He tells me that Barrington’s is often a place where diners seek solace and a good meal during the Restaurant Week madness.
As a person who enjoys eating out and writes about food for a living, I can say that I have a “take it or leave it” approach to Restaurant Week. Last year, a group of friends wanted to get together for a meal during Restaurant Week. I joined them and it was fine. Did I have a good experience? Sure. Have I been back to said restaurant? No.
Most of the time, I would rather eat off the regular menu and have even done just that during Restaurant Week. I realize restaurants have to plan for volume when they choose Restaurant Week menu offerings, but to me, those items are usually not the most interesting offerings.
I don’t knock Restaurant Week because I believe it has its merits in creating business during down times in the dining season. I do believe that some people use the opportunity to try out a new place and maybe some find a new place to patronize regularly. I also think that others use this time of year to try a place that is typically serving at a higher price point than they can afford, which is completely valid provided guests go in with the right attitude and tip appropriately, according to the level of service.
I have been on the other side of that table and know what it’s like to receive the opposite treatment. I spent two years serving tables at a Charlotte-area restaurant and cycled through four Restaurant Weeks. Did it generate more income for me as a server? Um, HELL NO.
Sadly, I was embittered by the clientele during Restaurant Week as a server. More often than not, I dealt with people who were not seasoned diners. They often tipped waaaaay below the standard percentage (which is 20 percent in my book) and the chaos of a busy restaurant and long hours was not worth it. I dreaded those 10 days.
So, the question is: Do you love Restaurant Week or do you loathe it? What has been your experience?
Let’s hear it, Charlotte.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2014.
If you’ve ever dined out in a party of six or more, chances are you’ve noticed the automatic-gratuity charge lurking at the bottom of your check.
The compulsory tip, typically 18 to 20 percent levied on large parties at restaurants and nightclubs, has proliferated in Las Vegas as group dining and bottle service have become mainstays of Strip nightlife over the past decade.
The “auto grat,” as it’s referred to in the industry, ensures that servers head home with a wad of cash in their pockets at the end of the night and serves as a buffer against stingy tippers.
Starting this year, however, the service industry is adjusting to life without the auto grat: An IRS ruling effective Jan. 1 has reclassified automatic tips as service charges, reasoning that the charge is not a true gratuity if the customer is not given a choice about whether to leave it.
The change might seem like a case of semantics, but it’s one that could affect businesses, servers and patrons from Las Vegas to Long Island in small but tangible ways.
Here’s how the change will be felt locally:
Businesses
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs will now have the option to list the auto gratuity as an automatic-service charge or replace it with a suggested-gratuity amount (usually 15, 18 or 20 percent) that leaves the tip up to the customer.
Larger restaurant operators including Darden Restaurants Inc., which owns the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, have already adopted the latter, and local restaurants and nightclubs might be inclined to do the same.
Because service charges are recorded as wages rather than tips, switching to them could mean adding to paperwork while losing out on tax credits for Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by the employer on employees’ tips.
“It puts the burden even more on them to report service charges, to collect them. It changes how they report on their payroll, it changes what average wages will be when applying for discounts. It puts a lot of work on the restaurants for that,” says Jean Hertzman, associate professor and assistant dean of operations for the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV.
Though the added burden might be minimal for larger operations with sizable payrolls and accounting staffs, Hertzman says smaller clubs and restaurants might find it easier to simply leave gratuity up to the customer.
“There’s a lot of employee regulation hitting at the same time, which makes it difficult for the smaller operators,” Hertzman says, pointing to regulatory adjustments from the Affordable Care Act, with which restaurants are already grappling. “Depending on the size of the operation, they may not want to have the extra paperwork.”
Servers
For servers, the difference means taking tips home as part of a paycheck at the end of the week or pay period rather than at the end of the night. Even though a service charge is taxed as a wage rather than a tip, the change won’t add to the server’s tax burden — assuming that they’ve been honestly reporting their tips to Uncle Sam.
However, workers could feel a pinch if their employer opts to forgo the service charge in favor of a suggested gratuity, leaving more of their pay vulnerable to the whim of the customer. Hertzman says servers at nightclubs could be particularly affected.
“People in bars and nightclubs tend to not tip as well as other people, on average. They’re not usually the same people who just won big on the casino floor and celebrate in a restaurant with a nice tip. I can see where cocktail servers would have some negative impact on their salary.”
In a town that caters heavily to tourists, particularly those from European and East Asian countries where tipping isn’t a custom, the auto-gratuity charge also has served as a way to secure tips from customers who might otherwise skimp.
Ruben J. Garcia, a UNLV law professor and labor and employment law expert, agrees that the effect of the ruling still remains to be seen and will ultimately vary according to industry and employee responses.
For now, it’s yet another consideration in continuing negotiations between the Culinary Union and their employers.
“The suggested gratuity takes a lot of the certainty out of people’s income. I think it’s clear that some people won’t follow the suggested gratuity, or it will vary,” Garcia says. “What the union is probably most interested in is certainty in their income. For those who work in chain restaurants that don’t have unions, they have less influence and so less certainty.”
Customers
For the customer, the ruling simply means tipping for large parties and pricey services is reaffirmed as a choice rather than a mandate. Hertzman says the new wording can help patrons avoid overtipping if they don’t realize an automatic gratuity was already added to their bill.
Moreover, tipping returns to being an incentive to employees to provide top-quality service. But without the promise of a large take-home at the end of the night, they may have less incentive to work larger parties.
“Either way, guests are going to have to spend a little extra time looking at their bill at the end of the night,” Hertzman says.
Restaurant week in CLT is a huge disappointment. Too crowded. Crappy service. Menus suck. I’m a foodie and dread it. I boycott and choose to go only to restaurants that do NOT participate during this 11 day foodie torture.
The menus don’t suck for most restaurants. Some places have great deals…
We are foodies and eat out every week at nice places yet we participate in restaurant week because many restaurants offer specialized apps or dishes not even on the menu. Yes there are those non seasoned diners but the revenue is good for charlotte and many servers I have talked to over the years say the like the fact that an otherwise slow Friday (since Jan is typically slow) is busier and they make more money. We eat out a lot and we tip very well. Plus most people who do restaurant week spend a lot in alcohol. There is money to be made.
As a self-proclaimed foodie that just moved to the Charlotte area, restaurant week is an ideal time for my husband and I to try out 4 restaurants in 7 days. So far we’ve been to Blue Restaurant and Heist Brewery and plan to return to both. For those who have not dined out during a restaurant week before, it doesn’t matter the city, the stereotypes are true: restaurants are filled with clientele who frequent restaurant chains (re: Applebees) more often than local fine dining. As a former server, that can equal bad tips, which is really unacceptable (climbing down from soap box now). The noise level is about 5 octaves higher than usual and service can slip as well, leading many regulars to ‘STAY AWAY AT ALL COST!’ during this time. For me, I go into a restaurant week keeping this knowledge in the back of my mind and enjoy a meal at a lower cost than usual as a payoff. So restauranteurs should keep patrons like myself in the back of their mind- if I leave happy, you just may well have gained a new “regular.”