Eatery faces blowback against 15% automatic gratuity

Feb 9 2023, 5:57 pm

A local restaurant has removed an automatic tip it was adding to dine-in customers’ receipts after receiving angry feedback from customers.

The online reviews had many saying the automatic 15% tip was confusing, awkward and pressuring as it required the customer to opt out of paying the gratuity.

For the past three years, customers who ate at Tokyo Joe Sushi Factory in Richmond have been handed a bill at the end of their meals which includes 15% “gratitude.”

Under the total amount due, the receipt explains, “For dining in customers, this bill includes 15% of gratitude which is not mandatory. Please ask your server for more options.”

While the tip can be adjusted if the customer asks, one person on Twitter criticized the move, suggesting it was “another dirty way to pressure customers to pay minimum tips.”

“They will adjust and reprint the bill if you want to pay less on tips,” the Twitter user added. 

It’s not unusual to see an automatic tip applied to large groups of diners at restaurants in Canada; however, many admitted they were surprised to see it when they were dining solo.

This feedback is echoed in several Google reviews for the restaurant, as dozens mention the tipping feature. 

“When it came time to ask for the bill the server let me know that there is now 15% gratuity automatically added to the bill. I was surprised [sic] since I dined alone,” said one person. “Normally I don’t like this type of tactic, but the service was very good.”

Many reviewers claimed the fee was “mandatory,” which is why one person suggested the gratuity fee should be called a “service charge.” However, the restaurant owner assured Daily Hive it was optional. 

Others said they found the automatic tip to be confusing and made it difficult to interact with the server. For example, one person claimed they “didn’t even have a chance to speak before she handed the machine to me. I ate alone so it wasn’t like [a] party issue or anything.”

Another person said they also wished they had questioned why the tip was already added, saying, “I was taken aback.”

“We were in a rush I just paid and left. Looking back, I really wished I had argued about that,” they said. This person added they would have appreciated if the restaurant allowed customers to select the amount they preferred.

“The icing on the cake was when the server cheerfully told me that the tip was already included in the price, like they were doing me a favor. I generally tip 15% anyways, but that experience really left a bad taste in my mouth,” the reviewer continued to write.

Kei/Google Maps

The owner, Sojin June, explains that the restaurant has been around for over two decades and has many regular customers. 

However, after the pandemic started to impact businesses, regular customers told the restaurant they were uncomfortable touching the card machine. 

“Before customers used plastic gloves when using it,” June explained. So the restaurant shifted to the automatic 15% tip after regular customers requested, “to make it more easier.”

“Over 80% [of] customers said they want it,” she insisted. 

Under the restaurant’s Google reviews, there were some folks that mentioned they liked having the tip automatically added. 

“Loved the convenience of the tip being included (however it was not mandatory nor forced) would 100000% recommend to anyone!”

June added servers do explain to customers a tip is already added.

“Some people they want more and some people they want less,” she admitted, in which case she said the server will reprint the receipt. 

After Daily Hive called to inquire about the tipping feature, June said to make it easier on the customer and servers, the restaurant is not adding the tip to bills. 

“Sometimes a new customer [are] surprised, but we always explain again, explain again, but now it’s very hard.”

What do you think of this kind of tipping option? Let us know in the comments. 

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