As you take your last few bites of your meal and the bill arrives, you’re suddenly faced with a familiar dilemma — should you tip 15, 18, 20 per cent, or maybe even more? You might find yourself reflecting on your waiter’s service, the quality of the food, or how perfectly your steak was cooked.
However, at this new Toronto restaurant, you can forget all that. Here, the servers do all the deciding for you.
That’s right, at Revoir le Calendrier, located in Toronto’s Financial District, servers are given the power to decide exactly how much you need to tip. The restaurant, which officially opened its doors on Tuesday, is shaking up the traditional tipping concept with its revolutionary take, and some customers are still finding it difficult to wrap their heads around the idea.
General Manager Alfred Pols tells blogTO that the restaurant’s unique approach aims to reward both excellent service and customer etiquette.
“People are struggling financially more than ever. Food is expensive, rent is expensive. So, this new tipping structure allows our staff to be masters of their own destiny when it comes to how much cash they walk away with at the end of the night,” Pols said.
“A common misconception is that our servers are calculating the tips randomly, or that they’ll just automatically give themselves a huge tip, because why wouldn’t someone do that?” he added.
“First of all, we take great pains to employ very decent, honest people to ensure that doesn’t happen, but we also have some strong criteria in place that allow our servers to calculate their tips.”
“Some of the areas they’re encouraged to consider are, obviously, the customer’s attitude and behaviour during the meal, any substitutions that may inconvenience our kitchen, whether they bring children who cause a ruckus for other diners, their level of adherence to our dress code, and the number of items they’re ordering.”
The tipping process, Pols says, is based on way more than just service quality — it involves a detailed evaluation of the entire dining experience for both parties, but with a particular emphasis on the customer’s behaviour.
Customers at Revoir le Calendrier have to be on their best behaviour — the amount they have to tip depends on it. Photo: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com.
“A patron’s ‘attitude’ is maybe the most decisive factor in calculating tips, because it has the greatest lasting impact on our servers. A bad, rude, or misbehaved customer can outright ruin the night, week, or even month of a server,” Pols explained. “We have a saying that we regularly use around the restaurant: ‘You chose to act that way, you better be prepared to pay.’ I think that sums it up pretty well.”
Revoir le Calendrier takes the concept of a real French bistro experience seriously, according to Pols, who believes that the food and atmosphere should reflect certain expectations of both the restaurant and its guests.
“If you walk into a bistro in Paris, you won’t see people schlepping around in sweatpants or sweaty clothes after their pilates class. French people really do care about appearance, and so do we, so if you don’t make the extra effort in matching the restaurant’s vibe, you will be expected to put in extra effort in the form of monetary compensation. It’s that simple,” he told blogTO.
Pols also noted that large parties, which often require additional attention from servers, would result in higher tips.
“They often require a lot of extra attention from our servers, including having to push tables together to make extra space, having to remember or write down multiple orders, and trying to gain the attention of the table. All of this is extra, in our opinion,” he said.
While some customers might take a bit of time adjusting to the idea of servers deciding their tips, Pols says his staff appreciates the model. “Our employees are big fans of it. It’s not every day that you can request exactly what you think you deserve to be paid and have that honoured. Servers and restaurant workers in Toronto are really artists in their own right, and they deserve to be compensated as such.”
After the dining experience is over, the tip, which is decided by the waiter, is automatically added to the bill. Customers can dispute tips with the restaurant’s manager if they feel as though they have been unfairly judged, but Pols says exceptions will only be made in rare circumstances.
In most instances, Pols says respectful customers shouldn’t see a tip percentage above 18 per cent on their bill.
Though some folks on social media have expressed initial skepticism about the concept, Pols is confident that this new model will gain acceptance over time.
“I think a lot of people are still coming around to the idea. We make our tipping structure very clear via a pop-up on our website, which can be accessed by scanning a QR code that’s located in each bathroom stall in the restaurant. I do think people will eventually warm up to the idea, though,” Pols said.
“People are always slow to open up to new ideas that could change the world forever. Just look at electric cars — they’re everywhere now.”
Revoir le Calendrier is located at 40125 King St. W.
This is an April Fool’s joke. Revoir le Calendrier is not a real restaurant in Toronto, and this tipping policy is not actually in effect.
