What Mass. servers really think about eliminating the tipped minimum wage

Do servers and bartenders even want Question 5 to pass? Boston.com asked nearly a dozen former and current workers.

Question 5, which would eliminate the tipped minimum wage, has proven to be contentious in Massachusetts, even among the workers the proposal aims to help.

The Massachusetts Restaurant Association, Gov. Maura Healey, and restaurant owners (Trina’s Starlite Lounge, Nightshade Noodle Bar, and Jamie Bissonnette, for example) have come out strongly against it. Labor organizers, One Fair Wage, and the Boston Globe editorial board on the other hand, want to make Massachusetts the eighth state to do away with a system they say is exploitative and perpetuates income inequality.

And diners wonder what such a proposal could mean for tipping culture, a point of frustration in recent years due to service fees.

But what do servers and bartenders think? Boston.com interviewed nearly a dozen former and current restaurant and bar employees. Some of the sources requested to not be named, or to not mention their workplace by name.

Many of these workers who spoke to Boston.com don’t want this ballot question to pass, and an overwhelming majority of their peers are for keeping the status quo.

What does tipping afford you?

Most servers who spoke with Boston.com said that though the tips they receive vary week to week, from just around $20 an hour in earnings during a slow week to some reporting $80 an hour during peak seasons.

“Because I work multiple jobs, I am fortunately in a comfortable position. If I didn’t have bartending jobs and just relied on my 9 to 5, I would be in a lot more of a tighter situation. I use the Massachusetts Health Connector, and my monthly is about $650 a month. Then you add on top of that student loans, rent, cost of living in this city. It’s very difficult just to have one standard job and then also have enough discretionary income.” – Evan George, bartender at a Fenway area bar and in Dorchester

“Because of the ability to make the excess dollars in tips, it funds my whole life. I live solo in Union Square. It allows me to take my vacation. It allows me to go see my family. Having the flexibility with scheduling and the excess money, you’re able to do that kind of thing — take off when you need to.” – Kevin McNally, bartender at Trina’s Starlite Lounge

“I actually don’t live in the city. I live by myself. I make more money here. I’m able to live comfortably and have a car and I have pets and a good life outside of work.” – Anonymous downtown bartender

“I got into this profession because I was taking classes in college, and I needed flexibility in my hours. It was one of the only jobs that could provide enough money while studying.” – Jason Sosa, server at Mystique Asian Restaurant & Lounge

Why are you against this proposal?

Restaurant owners have had to raise menu prices in the last few years due to the effects of COVID-19 and inflation. Owners, management, and many servers fear they’ll go up again to the point that dining out is no longer accessible, though those in support of the ballot question argue that the increase in prices would likely be modest.

“If our operating costs go up and the minimum wage goes up, the conversations I’ve had with [a Forcella co-owner] is that he’s going to have to raise prices even more… We’re going to have to drop quality or raise our prices to where they’re no longer accessible.” – Jordan Klysner, server at Forcella

Servers on both sides of the argument said they would still need tips on top of the hourly pay, but will diners still tip? Will they tip less? Some workers fear that diners will see this passage as an elimination of tipping culture, while others thought it was too ingrained in American culture to go away if this question passes.

“[Diners] are going to get confused. They’re not going to know how to tip. ‘These people are making money, we don’t need to tip them as much.’ In a perfect world, we’d get the $15 an hour and nothing would change.” – Avery Comai, works for catering company called The Beer Mobile, former bartender at Citizen Public House and Grendel’s Den

“The standard today is about 20%. That’s probably going to drop to 18% or 15%. People are pinching pennies nowadays — they have to. If [diners] know this law is being passed, they know the servers they’re tipping are getting more money, so they’re not going to be tipping as much.” – Vincenzo Vall-Llobera, bartender at Cottage Park Yacht Club

Workers are also worried that the extra payroll costs would drive out small, independently-owned restaurants, who already face challenges like sky-high rents in Greater Boston. In their place would be big restaurant groups and corporate chains, they argue.

“One of the biggest issues is the collapse of independently-owned restaurants. With the new regulations, you can’t afford to be able to pay rent in these major metropolitan areas along with trying to bring that same mom-and-pop mentality and individual creativity. It becomes uniform, and that really gives me the heebie-jeebies.” – Kevin McNally, bartender at Trina’s Starlite Lounge

Why are you for this proposal?

Tips are expected to make up the difference between the tipped minimum wage and the standard minimum wage, and if they don’t, management is legally required to pay out the remaining amount to the server. But the state annually reports wage theft issues in the restaurant and hotel industry, with the most current report stating that 23,000 restaurant workers were impacted by wage theft that totaled $5 million.

Some servers and bartenders that support the ballot question said that if they were finally paid the standard minimum wage, they wouldn’t have to worry about the potential of losing wages, reporting those cases to the state, and any industry retaliation.

“It’s about everybody’s income in general and holding restaurants accountable. You know, many times I’ve worked in this industry and made less than minimum wage, and I wasn’t paid it. That’s not OK, and that happens. And people want to act like that doesn’t happen. Wage theft is rampant in the industry.” – Kayla, server at a North Shore restaurant

The amount of money in tips a server or bartender earns widely varies because of many factors, according to servers: how many hours you choose to work or that you’re given, where you work, menu pricing, how many tables you’re able to turn, how many tables you’re given, and the work performance of everyone else on the floor and in the kitchen.

“Mostly the industry is full of poor and working class people. The beauty of working in this industry is that your income is variable, so it allows you to think you have an opportunity to not be poor if you work hard enough. Your management has been telling you a lie that if you work hard enough, you’ll make more money, even though you don’t control the cost of food, the marketing, your hours. This idea that you have total control over how much money you make is a myth sold to us by ownership.” – Mitch Gayns, works with One Fair Wage and former bartender at a Lynn brewery

A point made by several servers who plan to vote yes on Question 5 was that an increase in wages means that people have more money to spend in the community.

“[Bar owners’] labor costs will increase. However, what also happens is now you have this massive chunk of the population, being bartenders and servers, who have more money. No one goes out to bars and restaurants more than bartenders and servers, and that money ends up being spent back into the economy.” – Evan George, bartender in Dorchester and in Fenway area

“Income inequality is real, and it needs to be addressed. Giving a raise to all of the wait staff for next summer’s tourist season is going to have a huge impact on their pocketbooks and therefore a huge impact on their local economy.” – Gil Friedan, counter-service restaurant employee in Cape Ann

How do you feel about the tip pooling part of this bill?

Tip pooling is when tipped employees in restaurants share a percentage of their tips with other front-of-house, customer-facing staff, like servers, bartenders, food runners, and bar backs. How each restaurant decides to do this, if at all, also varies.

The workers who spoke to Boston.com said they’ve worked in restaurants where the servers decided among themselves to tip pool, while others said the restaurant required a usually small percentage of tips pooled. What would change, if this ballot question passes, is that the tip pool could be shared with non-tipped workers like kitchen staff.

Those opposed to it said it would mean even less tips for servers, or that they may have to share tips with workers who didn’t put in the same effort they did. Some servers and bartenders are also worried about how management or ownership may decide to pool tips.

“I try to avoid [tip pools]. In the past, when I was looking for a job, every time I saw that they pool, I didn’t apply. Everybody works differently, and I really try to work hard for my money. In a pooling situation, the management is going to control that money, and we may not know how much we’re making.” – Jason Sosa, server at Mystique Asian Restaurant & Lounge

“You get situations where you’re working with different calibers of bartenders, and the staffing in this industry has been really hard. I don’t know where the real motivation behind this came from. As far as tip pools go, they can work really well when you have a good house, but you can’t always bank on that with the given environment.” – Avery Comai, works for The Beer Mobile and former bartender at Grendel’s Den and Citizen Public House

“I’m not against raising the minimum wage. I’m against the way this bill is formed — specifically the [tip pooling] section. I have anecdotal evidence from my friends who are GMs who have said that for any increase in the front of the house minimum wage, the back of the house wage could be decreased if they were to be pooled between front of house and back of house.” – Anonymous downtown bartender

Those in favor of expanding the tip pool argued that many restaurants already have a tip pool, and now it will include the kitchen staff, who often make around $20 an hour. The Department of Labor also said that managers and supervisors can’t take from a tip pool, even if tipped employees are paid the standard federal minimum wage.

“All the tip pool part does is allow bars and restaurants … to decide for themselves if you want to tip out your back-of-house. If this passes, not a single bar or restaurant needs to change their current tip pool. If there is an owner out there that says ‘Half of your [tips] is now going to back of house,’ you’re just going to have bartenders and servers leave. You’ll just be one of those establishments that has constant turnover.” – Evan George, bartender around Fenway and in Dorchester

“The whole tip pool thing is being super misconstrued. Tip pool laws are federally mandated. The only thing the ballot question is asking is whether we remove the tip credit. Once you remove the tip credit, under that federally mandated law, if an employer is paying federal minimum wage, then non-customer facing employees can be included, which would be the kitchen.” – Kayla, server at North Shore restaurant

What other issues are a concern for you in this industry?

The minimum wage and ability to receive tips isn’t the only difference between a restaurant job and a 9-to-5 job. Finding restaurant jobs that offers benefits like health insurance can be hard to come by. Some servers also said it’s looked down on to call out sick, and that there are equity issues between the front of house and the back of house staff.

“It is stressful for people to take off. Sometimes when you go to a Subway and there’s two people on, and one of them gets sick, they have to come into work. I do find [if] I need to take like a Sunday off… I don’t know if I’m going to get the day off, and that is stressful.” – Gil Freidan, counter-service restaurant worker on Cape Ann

“Honestly I think they should pay bartenders $10 to $15 an hour anyway, on top of their tips because they don’t get benefits either. So maybe make health insurance mandatory before you make restaurants pay them [more]. That’s probably a bigger issue. You’re having to pay your own health insurance, and it’s not cheap.” – Avery Comai, works for The Beer Mobile former bartender at Grendel’s Den and Citizen Public House

“We work hard in front of house, but we’re not working the same hours. At least we’re moving. We’re not just stuck in a kitchen or the dishwashing pit, just standing for 12 hours at a time, almost every day of the week. Kitchen staff is just often overlooked in every restaurant. They tend to be highly skilled and trained people. I would say it’s a much more difficult life, and they work more hours.” – Jordan Klysner, server at Forcella

Katelyn Umholtz covers food and restaurants for Boston.com. Katelyn is also the author of The Dish, a weekly food newsletter.