News / Society
Controversy for restaurant founded in Bristol
Bristol-founded Latin American restaurant chain Las Iguanas is at the centre of controversy after an Observer investigation claimed its tipping policy has meant employees are “paying to work”.
The 41-strong chain, whose first restaurant opened off St Nicholas’ Street in 1991, operates a policy that requires its waiters to give up three per cent (or over four per cent, for those working in London) from all total sales, to be divided up into tips.
The money is supposed to come out of the waiter’s tips from their tables, but if the tips are low it can mean that waiters can be effectively “paying to work”
A Las Iguanas waitress revealed how she ending up paying back up to £30 on any given shift, “which over five shifts in a week is a substantial loss of my tips”, she said. “Sometimes it works out as if I am paying to work, as for a five-hour shift I am paid £32.50 before tax.”
Similarly, a waiter from Turtle Bay, another chain with the same founder as Las Iguanas, revealed to The Guardian that “the tips didn’t cover three per cent of the sales I’d made, and by the end of the night I had to get £20 out of my pocket and give it to my manager.”
The company says it is not aware of any “occasion where a floor server has not earned any tips” or of any situation where waiters have had to cover the three per cent sales charge through their wages if the tips didn’t reach this amount.
Las Iguanas adds that their policy it means that tips can be shared more equally between both front and back of house staff, notably through reward and staff development schemes.
The company was recognised as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by The Sunday Times this year, and also received an Investors in People Gold Award for 2015 that recognised its training excellence.
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