When You Next Eat Out
It is lovely when a food outlet has a staff member asking you how the meal went. This has been the practice in many mainstream establishments in the greater Sydney basin, but to observe it being carried out in a Chinese Malaysian culinary outlet recently was most welcome.
On the other end of the spectrum is the increasing tendency of Chinese restaurants, whether for dinner or yum cha, to ask for tips when a customer pays the bill at the counter. The staff member unabashedly asks the customer in the face. We are not the USA. Customers are willing to pay tips but not when pressured. Tips given are a voluntary token of appreciation for good service, not to burden customers who already pay a higher average cost for dining or lunching in Australia.
Are the tips collected shared amongst all staff members working that day or evening, or are they scooped up by the boss owner?
And then there are now tips asked for in Uber services - are these for the driver with still a percentage cut for the company?
The restaurant trade is not easy to run and there are heavy rental and high labour costs in a market as small as Australia's. Food outlets do provide much appreciated employment and income for youngsters and young adults who are forced to work on a casual and part time basos, to pay for costs of living and study.
Many of the kitchen and wait staff who labour to provide us a satisfactory dining experience are said to not even receive the official minimum pay per hour, not to think of superannuation.
The bane of many eating and food businesses are high costs of franchise, venue rental, renovation requirements in shopping centres and the seasonal nature of revenue spikes. Although some capital cities have become more vibrant at night, the absence of night shopping (except for one or two evenings a week) does not encourage regular daily dining revenues.
The operational costs of cafes are set off by getting volume in coffee and quick breakfasts in early mornings. Very few cafes are open after sunset, except in family run businesses in immigrant suburbs.
So called fine dining places do charge more than a quid for creative and unusual dishes, a remarkable setting and with excellenr wait service ( with more than the question of how your meal went). Corporate and government credit cards do go to pay for such establishments, with the ultimate costs borne by business customers, taxpayers and a rising cost of living for all.
Comments