RICHMOND, Va. -- The Boathouse and restaurants in the HOUSEpitality Family restaurant group like Casa Del Barco and Island Shrimp Co. are eliminating the flat 20% service fee that has been applied on every check, beginning this week.
Paige Healy, the Chief Creative Officer for the restaurant group said they were pioneering the concept as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We didn’t know what to expect like everybody and we didn’t know if our restaurants were going to be empty, we didn’t know if we were going to have a huge influence of people or no people at all and we wanted to guarantee our servers would have a livable wage," Healy said.
For a while, they said their customers caught onto the idea and were also enjoying a QR-code ordering experience.
However, she said as recent feedback came in from customers, they felt it was time to abandon both ideas. She said they made the change to respect guests and allow them to have better connections with the servers themselves.
While it’s a welcomed change for customers, Healy says they are paying close attention to how the change impacts their employees.
The state of Virginia does have a law in place that requires restaurants to pay their servers a minimum wage if they do not receive any tips.
“We had someone who said they were a little nervous because their shift wasn’t always the most packed and we checked back in and they said everything is starting to work out and they are getting more confident about the change. But there is that apprehension because people did like knowing what they were taking home," she said.
At the end of the day, they said they feel like their server's service will speak for itself. They are able to retain their staff to connect with customers even more.
“We're really not just working on stabilizing. We are stable, let's maximize,” Healy said.
This service change is now in effect at all of the group's restaurant locations. They now have signs in view to let customers know of the change, and hosts will also remind guests when they are seated.
In honor of the change, they will be doing a 20% off everything night at all restaurants on Tuesday, February 20.
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