Part of being a small independent neighborhood business was we treated our customers like friends. We kept our prices purposely low and I wouldn’t have felt personally comfortable adding surcharges like that. Also, I was so curious to see how/if this guy would tip, haha.

We sold the restaurant, and the current owners raised the prices quite a bit.

Our tip jar said: “TIPS! (Thanks for supporting a small vegan business!)”

I mentioned in another comment that we paid the employees extra on days when tips were low. Like, they had a guaranteed tip amount, which they usually surpassed, but if tips were low, we’d add to it.

But one great thing about tips was it meant on the busier days, when the work was harder, they got paid more. Otherwise, everyone would want to work the slow days. Instead, there was incentive to work the rushes to make more money.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.