Did you know that $2.13 is the hourly wage of those restaurant workers who ferry the food from kitchen to client?
Of those servers who also interact with the rush-time floods and mid-afternoon trickles of customers, and take the food orders, and deal with the cooks and other back-of-house personnel – not to mention those Managers On Duty with the occasional fascist streak – and maneuver that whole getting-the-tasty-stuff-to-your-table-in-a-timely-manner rigmarole of foodservice?
It’s a hard fact of business, in most restaurants, that $2.13 – which is why customers’ tips are so important. Well, yeah. Of course, right?
But maybe not everybody knows that.
“My hope is that we can help bring awareness to the people of Texas around how crucial they are to the hospitality community – and vice versa,” says Kc Hensley, community manager of Seasoned – In the Weeds, a service-industry-focused app in Austin. “The tipping payment structure was meant to provide more opportunity for these professionals to thrive based on performance,” he says, “but it only works if customers understand and respect what’s at stake.”
Hensley, you may recall, is also the man who last year wrangled Governor Greg Abbott’s official recognition of 2.13 as Hospitality Industry Appreciation Day in Texas.
“I join in recognizing and celebrating the importance of the hospitality industry in Texas, and encourage everyone, Texan and non-Texan alike, to explore this industry’s contribution to the state’s continued growth and prosperity,” noted the Guv in his document at the time, offering a proclamation a skosh more worthy of respect than some of his others.
Well, if that guy can be bothered to remind you about this $2.13 state of affairs, and if the Seasoned website is still busily providing a network for connecting restaurateurs with the service people they need to thrive – and he can, and they are – then this former waitron of a journo can certainly take a thick minute out of his coffee-fueled day to remind you as well.
Thank you, and come back soon.
This article appears in February 7 • 2020.