- The New York Times interviewed chefs about restaurant culture.
- Many said they dislike tipping, but it's an integral part of their work.
It turns out chefs dislike tipping as much as you do.
On Tuesday, The New York Times' Julia Moskin published a collection of interviews with some of America's top chefs, including Momofuku founder David Chang.
The chefs discussed everything from why they put burgers on their menus to Yelp reviews, peeling back the curtain on how the biggest restaurants in America stay afloat.
Many of them also spoke to Moskin about tipping, revealing disdain for a practice embedded into the very fiber of the American restaurant industry.
Chefs don't like tipping as a practice
Overall, the chefs seemed frustrated with tipping as they spoke to Moskin, particularly since diners often resent the practice that is unique to American restaurants.
Eric Huang, the founder of Pecking House in New York, told Moskin he noticed a huge shift in how people think of tipping in 2024 compared to how they did in 2020 when restaurant staff members were thought of as essential workers.
"Everyone was tipping so graciously and saying the restaurant is the backbone of our economy," he said. "And now, just three and a half, four years later, we're back to everyone complaining about a dollar tip on a touchscreen."
"Nobody likes tipping," Huang added. "It sucks. It's a stupid practice."
Geoff Davis, the chef and owner of Burdell in Oakland, California, agreed with Huang, pointing to people who undertip and impact servers' livelihoods.
"You want to control someone's pay because you didn't feel like your water got filled fast enough, or your food took a long time to come out?" Davis said. "It should be just like anything else: The price is the price."
Michael Rafidi, the chef and owner of Albi in DC, and Hajime Sato, the chef and owner of Sozai in Clawson, Michigan, both noted that kitchen staffers are often just as underpaid as servers but don't get the benefit of tips. But Rafidi seemed stumped on how to solve the problem without cutting into waitstaff's pay.
"How do we not take from one to give to the other?" he said. "How do we please everyone in the business, including the guests?"
Meanwhile, Tandy Wilson, a chef at City House in Nashville, said that although he doesn't like tipping, he doesn't see how it will ever go away in the US.
Corey Mintz reported for Business Insider that restaurants are experimenting with removing tipping by raising food prices or adding service charges to their menus. But he also noted that customers and waitstaff may be wary of the new model, making it an imperfect solution to the tipping problem.
Tipping culture as a whole has been under scrutiny
The restaurant industry isn't alone in reaching a reckoning with tipping.
Almost daily, a story or social media post goes viral about someone being asked to tip for a service they didn't expect, like a bride who was asked to tip for her wedding dress or a client who was presented with the opportunity to tip for a massage before getting the service. Others have started making guidelines for what services they will and won't tip, as tipping has become common in industries beyond food, like car services. Likewise, a Bankrate study from 2023 found that 30% of Americans "think tipping culture has gotten out of control."
But the minimum wage for waitstaff is still just $2.13 an hour, and many servers struggle to get the tips they need to make ends meet.
The practice of tipping is clearly at an impasse in the US, but it's unclear how Americans will adapt.