- Karla Gonzalez is a server and bartender at a champagne bar in North Carolina that pays $18 an hour.
- Though customers are told that they're not required to tip, many still leave a tip of about 10%.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Karla Gonzalez, a 25-year-old server and bartender at a champagne bar in Raleigh, North Carolina. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm a proud Salvadoran who grew up in New York and moved to the Raleigh, North Carolina, area 16 years ago. About eight months ago, I was hired as one of the first employees at RBF, Your Authentic Champagne Bar to help get it up and running and welcome the first customers as a server and bartender.
I was attracted to the bar because of its goal of empowering women. We have 17 staff members, 14 of them women, of varying races, ages, genders, sexualities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
The bar also decided to do something different in terms of how the employees get paid — we all earn a living wage instead of relying on tips for the majority of our income.
Before working at RBF, I worked retail jobs
I had never worked at a bar or at a restaurant before.
Many of my friends and family members have worked in the hospitality industry. I've seen them live through the constant stress of feeling like they always have to be at 150% to make sure that they get a measly $5 tip and go home with something in their pocket.
Their experiences drew me away from ever wanting to work in an industry like that. I was always more drawn to earning a consistent wage.
I now receive the county living wage, which is $18 an hour
The fixed income is such a stress reliever for a lot of us who work here; we know for a fact what we're earning the second that we clock out.
Even though we do have the living-wage model, those who want to can still tip. It's not required or needed, and our model is explained all over our menus, website, and social-media pages.
But many customers still do tip, generally around 10% or rounding up an additional couple of dollars. We also share any tips evenly among all the staff. I typically make about $215 a week in tips.
One thing many of us have noticed is that we're not fighting
We strive to do better for customers because of that. We're not territorial over our tables — it's about helping each other no matter what. There's no competition to serve someone exclusively to possibly get a bigger tip.
We know that we're leaving with our own money and that anything else is just extra because we did great.
Most of our customers know about our living-wage model, and they come in because of it
A lot of customers have said that they wanted to check it out because they think it's such a cool concept. There also seems to be a lot of community support for living-wage models.
Since there are few living-wage-model bars and restaurants, there isn't an exact science to setting the prices.
The owner of RBF, Tiffany Welton, reviews comparable restaurant prices to set a baseline. If a comparable restaurant has a wine on their menu for $13, she will price our roughly equivalent wine at $14 to cover higher wage costs. To keep other expenses low, we also buy food inventory in smaller orders to limit waste.
Now, I'll only ever work for a living-wage model
Having experienced this way of working, I'm not going back. It takes a huge amount of stress off my and my coworkers' shoulders.
Because we're not competing, we all help each other and have become good friends.
The bar is full of people who are happy to be there, and that's the kind of environment I want to work in.