Reasonable expectation for the salary for a food server, including tips?

Question

What would you think a "typical" food server should make? That would be a youngish person, not much education, working 8 hours a day, five days a week? At a middle price restaurant, perhaps a chain place like Denny's or Olive Garden.

Would it be better for restaurants to pay this salary and stop all tips? (Of course, raise food and beverage prices to compensate)

I understand why this could be a good thing; but what are the opposing view, and why?

Answer 1

I'd expect about $12 an hour. But of course some times will be better depending on the days tips..

Answer 2

I work at a restaurant like this and I make about 40,000 a year and I work about 38 hours a week.

Answer 3

Somewhere between $12 and $13 dollars and hour. As for the 8 hour day 5 days a week that just not how most restaurants work. Waiting tables isn't a 9 to 5 type job you work different shifts and may work 6 days a week.

No I don't think it would be better is servers got paid a salary.

I don't see this as being a good thing at all. Serving is a job where what you makes reflects on how good of a job you do. Good servers make good money and bad servers make little money. This helps keep people who are good at the serving there and get the people who shouldn't be serving to quit. If you went to a salary based system the one's who should be serving wouldn't quit. This is one of the reason I believe in tipping on how the service is and not just always tipping 15%.

oh yea one last thing ohmyhead69 you are a fool if you realy believe what you siad.

Answer 4

Someone who is working in a restaurant such as Denny's or Olive Garden should be making just below the minimum wage set by his or her state.  The reason for the "just below" is that there is the expectation of enough additional income from tips to reach or surpass the minimum wage.  

Since tips are based on level of service, I do not think it would be wise to change to a "No tip" policy.  The purpose of the tip is to reward a server who does more than just set food in front of the customer, but rather one who takes time to see that the customer has been well served.  

I tip at the 18 to 20 % level for very good service and for poor or limited service no more than 10 %

Answer 5

What do you mean by "should"? Do you mean "what is the typical salary" or do you mean "if you could raise the salary appropriately, what should it be"?

I have a friend who works those mid-level places a lot - she's worked at Olive Garden off and on for years, has worked at Red Lobster, Cracker Barrel, O'Charlies, and a few others that I've forgotten. She's a single middle age mom, raising 6 kids alone with minimal help from the dad of the kids...

The last time we talked, she barely could make ends meet, even though her tips were better than average. The jobs typically pay minimum wage or below, with the expectation that one's tips will "bring up the salary" to minimum wage.

Also, she typically couldn't get 8 hr shifts 5 days a week. Typically, it was 7 hr shifts 4 or 5 days a week, trying to keep the hours low enough that the store didn't have to provide benefits.

As long as prices for food are so high, as well as benefit prices are so high, a dining location has a choice of paying lower wages or going out of business... leaving the people making even less money...