McLoone: $15/Hour Does Not Apply To Servers Or Bartenders

TINTON FALLS, NJ — When Jersey Shore restaurant owner Tim McLoone announced last week he will start paying his staff $15 an hour, he knew he would get noticed.

What he didn't expect was the backlash.

"A lot of people are misreading and saying this means no more 20 percent tips," he said. "Some of my employees are nervous and upset."

Today, on Monday, McLoone updated the policy: It does not apply to waiters, waitresses or bartenders.

It applies to: "The dishwashers, the people who clean the buildings, the food preps, the hostesses. All those people. The back of the house. We were trying to help the non-tip people," he said. "This does not apply to the servers, the bartenders. They usually make more than $15 an hour in tips anyway."

Here's how the restaurant business works:

Most servers or bartenders in New Jersey are paid the state-mandated minimum cash wage for tipped employees: $3.13 an hour. That's because the bulk of their income is in tips. On a good night, a server or bartender in a popular NJ restaurant makes a couple hundred dollars, which far outpaces the $90 they'd make even with $15 an hour for a six-hour shift.

On a really great night, let's say a Friday or Saturday, a waiter or waitress can make $400 a shift in tips.

But even on a quiet night, a server in a popular New Jersey restaurant can make $150 — all because of your tips.

The point? Don't stop tipping.

News of McLoone's $15-an-hour policy went viral Friday, and all weekend long McLoone said he was inundated with Facebook comments, messages and emails from customers, telling them they are a) no longer tipping, b) that he will now raise prices and c) that McLoone is only doing this to make money and that he drives a Lamborghini.

He sighed.

"I drive a van. I haven't raised prices one cent and I don't plan to. All of this can fall under the category of no good deed goes unpunished."

Initial Patch report: McLoone's New Jersey Restaurants To Pay Some Staff $15 An Hour

McLoone's currently owns and operates:

• Rum Runner in Sea Bright
• Supper Club in Asbury Park
• C.J. McLoone's in Tinton Falls
• Robinson Ale House in Red Bank
• Iron Whale in Asbury Park
• Robinson Ale House in Asbury Park
• McLoone's Boathouse in West Orange
• McLoone's Bayonne Grille in Bayonne
• McLoone's Woodbridge Grille in Fords
• Pier House in Long Branch

Coming this summer:

• A third Robinson Ale House at Pier Village in Long Branch
• Kahuna Burger at Pier Village

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