At White Crow Cider in Wichita, no-tip policy drives a culture that benefits employees and patrons

White Crow Cider staff, front row from left, Dara Thavone, Katie Harmon, Denise Gardner, Christina Holt, Kelly Baxter and Taylor Carter, and back row from left, Damon Schwind, Kenneth Gardner, Gabriel Kenemer and Jake Somes. (Submitted)

“No tips! Seriously … we’re good.”

I missed the sign on the wall with this announcement the first time I went to White Crow Cider in Wichita. I asked the employee behind the point-of-sale kiosk how to leave a tip as I paid for our ciders. She enthusiastically responded, pointing to the sign, “We don’t accept tips!”

As a regular at White Crow Cider, I’ve repeatedly heard this same conversation. The staff are always exuberant in their support of the policy. At the same time, there is a growing societal frustration regarding “tipflation.” Increasing “standard” tip rates along with an increase in places with kiosks requesting tips is becoming the norm, so how are businesses like White Crow Cider bucking that trend and why are their staff so excited about it? These questions led me to sit down in the taproom with the owners, Denise and Kenneth Gardner, to learn more about their policy.

White Crow Cider became the dream of the Gardners after they experienced cideries in Europe. In addition to bringing unique cider flavors to Wichita, they also knew they wanted to bring a piece of European culture.

“We were getting tired of tipflation when it started about five years ago,” Kenneth said. “Having been to Europe, we really liked that a price included taxes and wages.”

During the COVID-19 shutdown, Denise, a communication major turned stay-at-home mom, and Kenneth, an aircraft engineer, decided to make their dream a reality. They opened White Crow Cider without staff in July 2020 and sold growlers of their cider in a small building with a max capacity of eight customers. It was too close to a school to allow them to sell cider for onsite consumption. The Gardners felt that, as the owners, accepting tips for just filling growlers or selling them out of the fridge didn’t feel right, so it was an easy choice to implement the no tips policy from the start.

When White Crow Cider moved to its current location in June 2022, the new taproom’s capacity expanded to 128 customers. With more space and the ability to serve their libations onsite, their business quickly grew and they needed to hire staff to help serve customers. The Gardners values include taking care of their employees and treating them like family. This led White Crow Cider to continue the no tip culture and start all employees with a base pay of $20 per hour. Once a staff member takes the SafeBar course, they get bumped to $21 per hour.

Not counting the Gardners, White Crow Cider currently employs a staff of nine. Only one of the nine is full-time. The other eight — mostly evening and weekend staff — have other full-time careers. The Gardners acknowledge many service industry businesses, especially those that serve food, may not be able to function with so few full-time staff, but this works well for their business model.

After sitting down with the Gardners, I stayed in the taproom as it was filling up with several of its regulars, which included staff who were off shift but just came to hang out at their favorite spot. I joined several of them at the bar and asked for their perspective of the pros and cons of the no tip policy. The staff energetically shared their favorite things about the policy, which they say is really more of a culture. Between the Gardners and staff, we compiled this list:

• Any staff member can wait on any customer so customers don’t have to wait for service.
• Customers don’t feel pressured to tip even when no service is provided, like when buying cans out of the fridge.
• Staff aren’t in a hurry to get customers out, so customers can sample products without the pressure of feeling rushed.
• Staff don’t have to put up with rude people for tips, which means they receive more respect from customers. The staff felt so strongly about this that they laughed as they discussed wanting to make shirts that said, “White Crow Cider — We don’t have to be nice to jerks.”
• They haven’t had any problems hiring people and the turnover rate is low.
• Nobody fights over shifts or customers.
• It creates a relaxed work environment where everyone is having fun.
• Closing out tabs for a room full of customers at the end of the night “is a dream,” because it’s so easy.
• They’ve curated the culture they want with their target audience being people who like to hang out in a relaxing, welcoming environment with happy staff.

Gabriel Kenemer, the only full-time employee, said his family of three have lived modestly yet comfortably off of his wages for the past few years.

“We have the best staff ever,” Kenemer said. “We have really active listeners, and none of that is incentivized by that person giving them money.”

The Gardners nurture each employee’s skills and passions so that work becomes a place where they enjoy being so much that they hang out there in their off hours and even celebrate life milestones together.

One employee, a teacher, hosts a kidney fundraiser once a year in the space because it’s an important cause to her. Another, an aircraft engineer, does the ordering because he wants to do it. Another, a pharmacist, likes to do the chalkboard art.

Kenneth acknowledged that payroll is the biggest expense, which can pose a challenge to a small business. But he was quick to add that all the benefits make it worth it. He created an elaborate spreadsheet that helps the couple calculate and balance staff hours and expenses.

Despite the no tip policy, sometimes customers will slide cash across the counter anyway. Staff collect these “tips” in a jar and then collectively decide on a local charity to support with the funds. It’s not exactly European culture, but it’s a Wichita small-business culture they love.

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