Patrons Steamed about Sauced Service Charge

LIVERMORE, CA- Popular Livermore BBQ restaurant Sauced made a fundamental change last month in the way it charges customers - instead of diners leaving a tip for servers, an automatic service charge of 20 percent is added to all bills. The money is distributed to service workers and kitchen staff, increasing the total compensation for cooks and prep workers.

The move has left many diners with indigestion. They’ve complained to friends and griped on social media. A brief question on the Livermore Patch Facebook page prompted dozens of responses. Kimberly Eklund wrote, “We’ve been once since they switched and the service was awful. Everything took too long. The servers have no incentive to be exceptional anymore yet you’re still forced to pay a ‘service fee.’”

Sharon Kramer also had a negative experience, “Service is horrible....they said service would not suffer with this change but it has. Won’t go back.”

In an email to Patch, Kristina Wulff, Director of Brand Development for Sauced, acknowledged the negative online comments, then added, “Frankly, we made a decision, a very tough decision, in an effort to provide a better work environment for our employees, and the amount of negative reaction that we have received on social media only serves one purpose; to hurt our business and in turn, hurt the very people we are trying to protect – our employees. It’s difficult to sit by and watch as people make incorrect accusations, incorrect assumptions and hurl personal attacks at us without knowing the facts.”

The facts are available online. Sauced reports that the purpose of the service charge is to provide a livable income to kitchen staff without raising their hourly wages.

Sauced isn’t the first restaurant to adopt this model. While the National Restaurant Association doesn’t have firm statistics on the percentage of restaurants in California or nationwide that have taken similar action, spokeswoman Rachel Salabes told Patch, “With over one million restaurants nationwide, the restaurant industry is filled with unique business models, ownerships and varying concepts. It’s vital that restaurants continue to have the freedom to choose what works best for their business and their workforce to keep the industry thriving.

“The move towards a non-tipped environment is a new and somewhat small concept with only a handful of restaurants testing it nationwide. As the industry of hospitality, we’ve found the practice of tipping has traditionally attracted millions of employees to our industry and still has strong support from American diners.”

And that’s the beef that most readers on Facebook had with the policy - a loss of control over the tip. Many said they routinely pay 20 percent or more for good service but they want the option to pay more or less, not have it forced upon them.

Add your voice to the conversation in the comments section below or on the Livermore Patch Facebook page.

--Sauced logo used by permission in 2012 Patch story