At work at Tavolata Capitol Hill (Images: Alex Garland for CHS)
With the opening Tavolata on E Pike, Ethan and Angela Stowell brought their Belltown-born, modern Italian fare to Capitol Hill — they also brought a continuing to grow, new way of doing business in Seattle as the city transitions to a $15 minimum wage.
“People really love the Uber experience, where you just get out and don’t have to worry about tips,” Angela Stowell tells CHS.
According to the influential and prolific restauranteurs, the new, second Tavolata that opened a few weeks back in the Dunn Motors building at 501 E Pike is their first attempt at recreating one of their original restaurants and is the last Capitol Hill restaurant opening for the foreseeable future. Capitol Hill’s Tavolata has been tipless since it opened in late June. Angela Stowell said that almost all Stowell restaurants switched over to a service charge model on June 1. Tavolata joins a small but growing group of tipless bars and restaurants on Capitol Hill.
“We kind of waited to see how other people did it,” Stowell said.
The 20% service charge that the restaurants implemented in June was the result of studying what restaurants in areas where tips were going out of practice were doing, including Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Stowell said that based on conversations with staff and observation of other tipless restaurants, a 20% service charge seemed to “feel right” and meet the needs of compensating staff.
The charge is divided up between the front of the house and the kitchen staff. According to Stowell, 80% of revenue from the charge is divided up between the front of the house, and the remaining 20% goes to kitchen and front of house wages.
The only restaurants in the Stowell empire not operating with a service charge are the three Ballard Pizza Co. locations. Stowell said that because those restaurants are counter-service, a service charge did not make sense.
“Counter service is a different business model,” she said. As the restaurants continue raising wages to phase in the $15 an hour minimum wage, Stowell said that a small price increase may be instated at the Ballard Pizza Co. locations in lieu of a service charge. “We’ve considered a slight increase, though nothing concrete at this point,” said Stowell.
Stowell said that she and her husband chose to add a service charge rather than raise the price of food at most of their restaurants because higher food prices could put the restaurant at a disadvantage in perception, especially in the eyes of people from out of town. Stowell also said that the restaurant industry seems to be shifting towards a service charge model in large West Coast cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.
So far Stowell said customers are taking the change in stride. “People have asked about it, but nobody really finds this to be outrageous,” she said.
Tavolata Capitol Hill is open daily from 5 PM to 11 PM at 501 E Pike. You can learn more at ethanstowellrestaurants.com.
I love this trend towards a service charge instead of tipping, and hope that it catches on even more. My only concern is whether some restaurant owners might keep some of the service charge for themselves, and kudos to the Stowells for not doing this.
The article states that 80% of the service charge is divided among front of the house staff, and the other 20% among kitchen staff and also front of the house staff. I’m a little confused. Does the kitchen staff only benefit from increased wages and do not get an allocation directly from the service charge?