Food Industry News® December 2017
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Page 29
“Tip Pool” Tips
Furious Spoon originated from Chef Shin’s dreams. In them he peers back in time to 1960 Muroran Japan in Hokkaido, a port town where his grandfather owned a modest ramen shop. In these dreams he worked in the store with his grandfather where they had daily conversations about noodles. He could smell the aromas and taste the flavors in striking detail. Today Chef Shin with the help of restaurateur Anshul Mangal has realized these dreams and recreated his grandfather’s ramen shop. At Furious Spoon, guests are given a chance to experience a more traditional ramen experience with chef-driven food in a fast casual setting. Affordable prices, handmade noodles, late night hours and a focus on eating the ramen fast (or furiously) all reflect characteristics of a typical ramen shop in Tokyo. Ramen is meant to be eaten at a “furious” pace. If not the noodles get soggy in the hot broth. Similar to Japanese shops, customers order and pay at the counter receive a ticket and have their ramen brought to their table. Customers can watch bowls being prepared by grabbing a seat at the ramen bar facing the open kitchen. Furious Spoon has locations in Chicago and Evanston. They are planning on opening another location at 810 W. Randolph in Chicago in 2018.
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If your restaurant’s employees receive tips, you should understand your obligations and restrictions regarding tip pools. Restaurant companies that fail to operate Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) compliant tip pool arrangements put themselves at risk for fines or penalties, as well as expensive civil lawsuits. Tips belong to employees, not an employer. Therefore, an employer can’t require its employees to share any of their tips with other employees. An exception is when a valid tip pool is set up, which is generally initiated by employees. In this case, employees that participate in the pool must contribute a portion of their tips which are then divided among the group of employees. Tip pooling is allowed in many states and is a common practice among restaurants. If your restaurant implements a tip pool, rather than simply encouraging tip sharing, make sure to have a formal, written agreement that is shared with and signed by all tip pool participants. This ensures that all employees are provided the facts they need in order to understand and comply with the arrangement. Check with the states you operate in regarding any specific requirements that they may impose. Your restaurant may need different agreements for different states. The FLSA permits tip pools among employees who “customarily and regularly” receive tips. Eligible employees are generally those who have contact with customers, such as wait staff, service bartenders, and bussers. Employers, cooks, dishwashers, janitors, etc. are not eligible for the pool. Generally, managers and supervisors are not eligible either. Depending on the type of establishment, hosts and hostesses may be eligible to participate in the pool. Be careful not to rely on job titles to determine participation, but rather actual job duties. When you create your tip pooling agreement, ensure distribution of tips is fair and reasonable. Employees must be allowed to keep an amount of tips that bring their earnings (cash plus tips) up to minimum wage before contributing to the pool. Also, automatic gratuities or service charges, such as a 20% mandatory charge for large parties of more than six people, should be excluded from the tip pool. Automatic gratuities or service charges are not tips, but rather income to the employer. An employer’s ongoing role in the tip pool is only to provide ministerial or administrative services. Complications can arise with administration such as tip credits and new hires so seek assistance if you are unsure what to do. Expert help can help you avoid later headaches.
The perfect spell was cast at the Monsters’ Ball on Saturday, October 7th at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel. Chefs conjured up a tantalizing banquet worthy of selling one’s soul! Ghouls, Ghosts, Zombies and Monsters of all kinds paraded through the party as snakes danced, cannons fired and the dead came to party! For The Love of Chocolate’s Nobody Sleeps was the perfect showcase of Chicago’s Culinary Institutions wrapped in Hospitality, Theater and Spectacle. Pictured above is a Frankenstein monster made from 550 pounds of Barry Calebaut chocolate, which was created by Chef Omar Martinez of Dessert Concepts in Chicago.
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