Restaurant bar swaps tips for $35k salary

A bar and restaurant in the US plans to ban tips for its workers in exchange for paying them a US$35,000 salary with benefits.

Bar Marco, in Pittsburgh, US, will pay its bar and restaurant staff a US$35,000 with benefits as it bans tips

As reported by Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh’s Bar Marco has launched a new set of contracts for its employees that also entitle them to paid holiday, health care, and 500 shares worth US$1 in the company.

The new terms will be implemented before April 2015 and will affect 16 employees, who will work roughly 40 hours a week. As shareholders, employees will attend bi-monthly finance meetings.

“It makes our full-time team have consistent control of their finances, gives them a consistent schedule, allows them to hire and fire their assistants and gives them a share in the upside of the business, as well,” co-owner Bobby Fry told Tribune-Review.

Currently, Bar Marco restaurant workers and bartenders are paid US$5 per hour plus tips, more than the US$2.83 state-required minimum wage for tipped employees.

According to Fry, menu prices will not be raised in order to implement the plan, as it will be supplemented by the expansion of its wine room.

He also adds that there are plans to implement a similar pay structure at Bar Marco’s similar establishments.

While the restaurant operates a no-tipping policy, any gratuity that is given will be donated to it program that teaches cooking skills to young people in the area.

Of his employees, Fry said: “They deserve to be recognised as the professionals they are and have opportunities to turn what they love into a respectable career with upside potential.”