Hospitality workers have seen their cash tips tumble during the pandemic as customers increasingly pay by app due to social distancing and table service.
While pub and restaurant workers still get service charge – a percentage automatically added to bills in most establishments – they may also receive cash tips from more generous diners.
But these have all but disappeared in some cases as interaction between waiting staff and guests has been kept to a minimum.
Will Campbell, who works at the Ox Club in Leeds, said he would walk away with as much as £400 a month in busy periods, but might be lucky to now get a fiver.
“We still have service charge, which is taxed and added to our salaries, but cash tips have almost completely gone,” he told i.
“We used to get about £250 on average a month – it’s split evenly between waiting staff and chefs. Now we get under a tenner.
“It’s a big cut to us. Hospitality is relatively low paid and we’re dependent on that extra cash. I don’t think people realise.
“I think it’s down to apps. We’ve lost that face-to-face interaction. Nothing’s as personal any more.”
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A waiter in London, who asked not to be named, also told i tips have fallen sharply as “diners pay on their phones and don’t really think about or see the people serving them as much”.
Mr Campbell said his team, like many others across the UK, had discussed getting rid of tipping entirely and suggested raising menu prices in order to pay staff more without the need for traditional extras.
This happened most recently at Mana, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manchester, which increased its tasting menu price and removed service charge earlier this year to allow workers to be paid more as a salary, rather than relying on the varying generosity of customers.
“I think the situation might accelerate the conversation around being paid more and losing tips completely,” said Mr Campbell.
“But it’s a big move and we’d be brave to do it – we don’t want to raise food prices and then lose covers, because that might hurt the business, and hurt jobs.
“We all care a lot about the restaurant doing well. Especially now when everything is so uncertain.
“Going cashless is probably always going to happen – more people are paying digitally now. But it’s more robotic, and we don’t want to lose what makes hospitality great, which is making people happy.”
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