DURHAM, N.C. — Customers at a Durham, North Carolina, restaurant may notice an extra gratuity has been added to all dine-in receipts.
Pizzeria Toro has raised the pay of its employees, but to offset the cost, the restaurant’s owners have added a 20% gratuity to all checks for dine-in meals, instead of raising prices, WNCN reported.
Gray Brooks, the pizzeria’s chef and one of its owners, called it a living wage fee, WTVD reported.
He plans to add the fee at other restaurants he owns, according to WTVD.
Brooks told WNCN the extra fee was added to make up the difference between jobs like prep cooks and dishwashers — positions that don’t receive tips — and jobs that do, in order to pay what owners consider a living wage.
The MIT Living Wage Calculator says a single adult in Durham County should make about $16 an hour. The current minimum wage in North Carolina is $7.25 an hour, according to the state’s department of labor.
Brooks said he had thought about raising prices and doing away with tips, but said that the fee was more transparent. He also said he doesn’t expect people to pay higher tips than the 20% listed.
Brooks told WNCN that most customers have supported the change, but there have been some comments online with people saying they wouldn’t tip if the service was bad, WNCN reported.
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