Global Courant
Nearly two weeks after former servers joined Jon & Vinny’s filed a class action court case to the popular Italian-American restaurant, claiming the establishment had violated California tipping laws, the restaurant changed language on the end of customers’ bills regarding the 18% service charge.
At the bottom of customer checks it now reads, “The service charge is not a gratuity or gratuity, but an additional fee that is controlled by the restaurant and allows for a higher living wage for all our employees. Scan the QR code at the top of the receipt for additional information or speak to a manager.”
As late as June, receipts at the Fairfax and Beverly Hills locations did not state that the service charge was not a tip. Instead, the receipt had a QR code that, when scanned, linked to a web page that said “What we believe.That’s where customers are told, “No, the service charge isn’t a gratuity or gratuity, it’s an additional fee that’s controlled by the restaurant.”
Over the weekend, servers received a message from management about the change.
“We have decided to further update the guest check and QR code overview page regarding the service charge,” the post read. “While we have always been very clear with our guests and staff that the service charge is not a tip or gratuity, unfortunately the recent LA Times article has created some confusion and we don’t want it to affect our staff or the experience of our customers . We believe in this team, the experience and our ability to come together to preserve what is so special about Jon & Vinny’s.”
A spokesperson for Jon & Vinny’s declined to comment beyond the note sent to staff.
The announcement and billing language change comes after a Los Angeles Times article published June 21 about the class action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Joint Venture Restaurant Group Inc., owner of Jon & Vinny’s. The employees claim that the company denied them tips and therefore cut them their take-home pay due to confusion caused by the 18% service charge.
California tipping law requires tips to be remitted in full to non-executive service personnel.
Through a spokesperson, the restaurant group — including partners Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo and Helen Johannesen, well-known figures in LA’s culinary community — denied the claims. The business partners said their service fee model democratizes a restaurant staff’s income for everyone in their restaurants, and customers are presented with information stating that the fee is not a tip.
“Ten years ago, we recognized that the traditional tipping model rewarded some employees but left many employees behind — creating a huge disparity where some employees did very well and others did not,” the group said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. The service fee, it added, “not only undoubtedly benefits hourly employees, but it is also unquestionably legal, having been vetted by independent leading professionals in the hospitality industry.”
Such service charges have become a focal point for the restaurant and hospitality industry.
The practice of adding a service charge to restaurant checks has been growing in California in recent years, and debates about how customers and employees should handle this lead to a fundamental question: Should every restaurant employee share in what customers pay to be served?
Workers who serve food and beverages typically rely on tips as part of their take-home pay. According to interviews and online accounts, the rates have led to confusion among diners. Complaints and questions about the increasingly ubiquitous extra charges crop up regularly on social media platforms such as Reddit, Instagram, and Yelp.
A server who currently works at the Jon & Vinny’s Beverly Hills location said the new language may be clearer, but some of their Sunday night dinners weren’t to their liking. The server declined to be named for fear of retaliation.
“It certainly doesn’t solve the problem because people are still mad about the 18% and where it’s going,” the server said. “And it obviously didn’t tip them more last night.”
Sunday night, the waiter said, diners left him fewer tips than usual. He said customers left “a lot of zeros” in tips or wrote “included” in the tip line.
