'Fair Wage' Charge: Some Bay Area Eateries Ditch Tipping System

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Zuni Cafe, a San Francisco fixture, is reopening for indoor dining in the coming weeks and when it does, it will adopt a 20 percent "fair wage" charge to all dining bills, according to the eatery's updated menu.

"A 20% Fair Wage surcharge will be added to your bill to ensure more fair and equitable compensation for all Zuni employees," the menu reads.

And the cafe isn't the only restaurant throwing out a traditional tipping system. Many other Bay Area restaurants are doing the same to bolster the wages of restaurant workers, who were severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Sons & Daughters, in Menlo Park, also announced in June that it would begin imposing services charges to diner's bills.

But the effort to make the serving industry more equitable will inevitably lower the wages of some servers, who said they were making more in tips before the change. At Zuni Cafe, the proposed wage will be $24 per hour as 20 percent service fees are split evenly among workers, the Chronicle reported.

"We need to create better, more fair compensation that people can live on and survive on and have only one job and make ends meet — that’s what our motivation is," Zuni chef Nate Norris said.

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle: Legendary Zuni Cafe gets rid of tips, joining a wage-equity movement in Bay Area

But Zuni Cafe isn't just charging customers a 20 percent service fee, it's also imposing a 5 percent surcharge to "support San Francisco employee benefit mandates," according to its updated dinner menu.

If diners would like to include a tip for "exceptional service," those tips would go into a pool to be distributed amongst all restaurant employees from kitchen staff to front of house. The eatery also charges $2 to package leftovers.