Waiters refuse to cooperate with Miller & Carter restaurants’ tipping policy

Waiters are refusing to co-operate over a controversial tipping policy at five Miller & Carter steakhouses, including two in Cardiff. More than 8,000 people have signed a petition calling on the company to change the policy, which it says is in place at branches including Cardiff Bay, Cardiff city center and Killay in Swansea.

Since the end of August, waiters at these three restaurants have paid tips equivalent to 1.5% of gross sales at their tables. This amount supposedly comes from your tips and goes to the kitchen, bar and management team. Waiters at some other branches are said to have “tipped” up to 2% of total table sales. One source said some servers cried over concerns about being charged “tip debt” if they didn’t earn enough tips to cover the percentage. And now, we know, some waiters have said they will no longer cooperate with the new system, especially in Cardiff city center and Cardiff Bay branches.

In a social media post on Thursday, Unite the Union said: “Starting at 5pm today, more than 100 unionized servers at five different Miller & Carter restaurants will take action on fair tipping, returning to the tipping system in which the kitchen and bar received a proportional amount. There is no % of sales. There is no more management involvement.”

READ NEXT: Police were “watching a football game” while driving with sirens

DON’T MISS YOURSELF: Luxury BMW and £250,000 watch double life financed by property developer

In the letter, the Miller & Carter team said it would return to a system based on “a percentage of the card tip and/or cash, or a fixed amount per night.” Whistleblowers told WalesOnline that waiters at a steakhouse in Cardiff city center will give back up to 15% of their tips, while waiters in Cardiff Bay will tip up to £10 per shift. Miller & Carter has not yet commented on this.

Unite accused Miller & Carter of asking waiters to attend meetings to discuss the tipping system before complaints about the policy were heard. A waiter in Cardiff said staff were refusing to attend meetings, adding: “I know we are doing the right thing. “It’s not that we don’t want to tip, but it has to be fair to both parties.”

Bartenders say simply sharing tips would be fairer than matching a gross percentage of sales. WalesOnline saw a message from a manager to staff at Killay’s Miller & Carter, which said: “In the unlikely event that the server’s gratuity does not cover your tip, the bill will be held until next week; this will continue until the tip is full.” is collected.”

If a server incurs “tip debt,” the amount owed will be deducted from their tip during future shifts, but Miller & Carter insists it will never be paid out of their paycheck. The chain claims that staff at each of its branches “democratically decide their own tipping policy” through voting. But a whistleblower in Cardiff claimed that all of his branch’s voting options in August included a percentage of gross sales. Full-time staff outnumbered full-time staff, he said, which reportedly resulted in the highest percentage of sales chosen among the options, 1.5%. Miller & Carter said some of its restaurants in Wales would “repeat the voting process” following the complaints.

In a Unite petition called ‘Give us back our tips’, organizer Brian Simpson wrote: ‘Previously, waiters had to ‘give’ around 20-25% of their tips to the kitchen and bar. Now they have to find [up to] 2% of *gross sales*, which is a huge increase and means some tips are due…. They can’t maintain the level of tips they need to subsidize the kitchen and bar staff’s measly salaries. “.

Around 80% of Hayes and Cardiff Bay teams lodged complaints. Earlier this month, a whistleblower said: “If we don’t reach an agreement, we will probably go on strike… Politics is very stressful because every time someone places an order, you think: ‘How much is this going to cost?’ cost?’ It’s hard to me?’ “We used to do everything we could to increase sales, but with this policy we are afraid.”

The Unite petition calls on Mitchells & Butlers chief executive Phil Urban to introduce a “truly democratic Honest Advisory Committee” to be elected at each restaurant without interference from management. Mitchells & Butlers announced an operating profit of £99 million for the 2023 half-year.

A Miller & Carter spokesperson said: “There has been no change in the approach to influencing decision-making at Miller & Carter. Assuming this would be fundamentally wrong. There are currently 124 Miller & Carter locations across the UK. Each team at each location democratically decides their own tipping policy.

“Certain HQ teams may accept options like this, but those options are up to each team across all companies who vote once a year. The final decision on voting options is made by individual teams, and to date, Miller & Carter has more than 70 options for how teams distribute picks.

“CEOs do not participate in voting and do not receive tips. All other team members are encouraged to participate in an annual team time allocation process to ensure equity for everyone. Employees will never be asked to contribute to the tipping process from their own paychecks. “While the process was carried out fairly, we can confirm that businesses in Wales will re-run the voting process for tip distribution following feedback.”