CLEVELAND — Music Box Supper Club Vice President Mike Miller said he puts a note on every table in the restaurant, notifying customers of how they’ll be billed.
This way, a customer won’t be surprised when they see a 20% service charge added to their bill
“We wanted to be very upfront of it,” Miller said. “We didn’t want it to be hidden.”
Miller implemented the charge as a way to help pay his employees $15 per hour wage, almost double what he paid them before the pandemic.
“We have a lot of hourly workers, dishwashers, ticket takers and hosts and so forth that were making minimum wage, and it just struck us that that’s not enough,” Miller said.
This isn’t a tip, or a surcharge related to higher business costs. He said he sees the industry moving in this direction. Customer Mike Sickle said he likes the idea if it means more money in the pockets of the staff serving him.
“The public should support that. They’re not asking us to hand over money hand over fist,” Sickle said. “This is a little bit from everybody will add up for the servers and bartenders.”
Miller said he has gotten little pushback from customers. He said this is a way to properly compensate workers, and he doesn’t expect it to backfire and cause customers to go somewhere else.
“You come to a restaurant, you buy food, but you’re also buying service,” Miller said. “Somebody to bring you your food. Somebody to bring you your drink. Somebody to make you your food.”
Miller said customers can still add a gratuity on top of the service charge if they’d like to.
