Minimum wage for waiters

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southafricanrob

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I own a small cafe and have had a visit by the Dept. of Labour whom amongst other things are demanding we pay waiters a minimum wage of R16.91 per hour. They are adamant that tips (including those pf by credit card and this proveable on the point of sale) are not included.

My problem is not the min wage (which I believe is great in that it protects the permanent employees who may be pd too little in some places) but the fact that it applies to the waiters who are all earning a pretty packet already. The size of my business would mean the extra wage to waiters (I currently pay R50 per shift basic) would effectively cripple me. If I cut there shifts down to meet the hourly requirement they would earn way less and are all firmly against this.

Is there anyone who has experience in this and can suggest some sort of practical work around perhaps?

The red tape and admin from all sides in small business is relentless and crippling sometimes...
 
southafricanrob said:
Yes thats correct, not sure what you mean though.
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Was a waiter/bartender part time/after my day job as a teenager.

Unless you are a petite blonde that loves to flirt all day, tips are erratic and not something to count on if you have bills to pay.
 
The main 2 waiters are 9 hours a day Mon - Fri and then we have 3 waiters on the weekend who work somewhere between 4-8 hours on either one of both the days. We are in a neighbourhood and so trade is pretty consistent day to day. Weekday tips per waiter range from R600 -R800 on average and weekends a little less due to shorter shifts and more waiters.
 
southafricanrob said:
The main 2 waiters are 9 hours a day Mon - Fri and then we have 3 waiters on the weekend who work somewhere between 4-8 hours on either one of both the days. We are in a neighbourhood and so trade is pretty consistent day to day. Weekday tips per waiter range from R600 -R800 on average and weekends a little less due to shorter shifts and more waiters.
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9 hours gets them 50 or 100?
 
AstroTurf said:
Was a waiter/bartender part time/after my day job as a teenager.

Unless you are a petite blonde that loves to flirt all day, tips are erratic and not something to count on if you have bills to pay.
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I do have (some) petite blondes haha. I hear you and I guess thats why the m wage is there but in our case they waiters do really well on a consistent basis. I can't understand why provable tips aren't considered as actual pay, if it where cash only then would leave open to abuse by employers.
 
southafricanrob said:
I do have (some) petite blondes haha. I hear you and I guess thats why the m wage is there but in our case they waiters do really well on a consistent basis. I can't understand why provable tips aren't considered as actual pay, if it where cash only then would leave open to abuse by employers.
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Because you are not paying them that money. They are getting it directly from the customers.
Pay them a decent wage.

Not a fan of the tipping system, and it should certainly not be used as an excuse to pay people below minimum wage
 
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JStrike said:
Because you are not paying them that money. They are getting it directly from the customers.
Pay them a decent wage.

Not a fan of the tipping system, and it should certainly not be used as an excuse to pay people below minimum wage
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They are getting a decent wage.
 
Stop reading when OP put whole sentences together but couldn't be bothered to write out the word paid.

Stop being a cheap skate. I bet you earn an easy 10x what they do and feel you absolutely deserve it while doing not even half the work they do.
 
southafricanrob said:
They are getting a decent wage.
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Apparently less than R16.91 otherwise you wouldn't be here...which means not very decent at all.

That's hardly R3000 a month.

"Decent" my ass.

At your current R50 a shift going by a 22-day average (which I'm sure they don't even do) it's hardly over a R1000.

That's criminal.
 
There's no answer that's going to please everyone. Your staff are currently incentivised to provide better than average service by the tips they receive which you are using to create a living wage (your R50 per shift basic is below minimum wage and the minimum wage itself is kinda sad but that's a different story).

A mathematician would look at this and go, there's plenty of money to satisfy the Dept of Labours requirement. Remove tipping and add a standard service charge to the bill that then gets split up between your staff at cash-up. This ignores the human elements like why would a waitron provide better than average service if they're going to get the same income as the other guys? And how do customers respond to a flat service fee? Do they keep coming back? Do some of them like it? There's also far more admin involved not to mention how do you keep waiters from pocketing cash that should go into the pot?

I think splitting the pot over and above the minimum wage per waiter based on performance sounds good but like any method you're going to try, there is bound to be friction.

Disclaimer - not in the restaurant business.
 
Neoprod said:
There's no answer that's going to please everyone. Your staff are currently incentivised to provide better than average service by the tips they receive which you are using to create a living wage (your R50 per shift basic is below minimum wage and the minimum wage itself is kinda sad but that's a different story).

A mathematician would look at this and go, there's plenty of money to satisfy the Dept of Labours requirement. Remove tipping and add a standard service charge to the bill that then gets split up between your staff at cash-up. This ignores the human elements like why would a waitron provide better than average service if they're going to get the same income as the other guys? And how do customers respond to a flat service fee? Do they keep coming back? Do some of them like it? There's also far more admin involved not to mention how do you keep waiters from pocketing cash that should go into the pot?

I think splitting the pot over and above the minimum wage per waiter based on performance sounds good but like any method you're going to try, there is bound to be friction.

Disclaimer - not in the restaurant business.
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Well, thats not true. The best service I have gotten from restaurants have almost always been in restaurants that don't have tips.
 
JStrike said:
Well, thats not true. The best service I have gotten from restaurants have almost always been in restaurants that don't have tips.
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Sounds fancy...I've only eaten at places that take as much of my money as they can get :p
 
DA-LION-619 said:
This is the reason I keep some cash on me for tipping when going out
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It never occurred to me that restaurant owners/managers might be taking the money I leave for tip on the credit card and taking it to pay the waiters as part of their wages. Might need to start carrying some cash for tipping
 
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