Leah & Louise adds 23% service charge in hopes of creating ‘sustainable hospitality industry’

CHARLOTTE — Leah & Louise will add a 23% automatic service charge to all guests’ checks beginning July 15.

Husband-and-wife team Greg and Subrina Collier say that step is tied to efforts to change the business model of their restaurants — current and future. It’s a move designed to help attract and retain top talent, at a time when hiring remains difficult.

”We’ve always tried to find ways to make it better. What we hope is it creates a sustainable hospitality industry,” Greg says. “We can be the standard for restaurant groups and also be Black.”

Leah & Louise is located at Camp North End. That Southern-inspired, modern-day juke joint opened in June 2020.

The duo — he’s a two-time James Beard-nominated chef and she’s a James Beard Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Fellow — recently formed BayHaven Restaurant Group, with a goal of launching as many as 10 restaurant concepts over the next decade.

Read more about how the service fee will work here.

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