Good Morning Everyone! Lots of craziness going on still, slowly working on getting everything ready for the rebrand and relaunch of my bar in a few weeks! Been finalizing some incredible new cocktails, getting some custom aprons for the bar team and training some new staff.

Speaking of which! I am looking for someone with ambition and leadership skills to join my team. We need a manager to help us in this new phase and are looking so if you or anyone you know in Massachusetts would be a good fit send me an email [email protected] !

We are trying to expand out from being pigeonholed as a Brazilian bar and into the bonafide cocktail bar that we have always been, but our name just didn't reflect it. So new name, new image and we need some kick ass new team members to help us get there.

The Changing Landscape of Tipping and Minimum Wage in America

Recent legislature changes in Massachusetts and Seattle highlight a broader shift in how tipping and minimum wages are handled in the restaurant industry. These developments are reshaping pay structures and could impact dining experiences across the country.

Massachusetts: Ballot Question 5

In Massachusetts, voters will decide on Ballot Question 5 this November. The proposal aims to gradually raise the tipped minimum wage to match the standard minimum wage by January 1, 2029. Currently, tipped workers earn $6.75 per hour as a base wage, with tips making up the rest to reach the $15 minimum wage.

Supporters’ View: Advocates like Grace McGovern from One Fair Wage believe that raising the tipped minimum wage will help reduce employee turnover and improve job satisfaction. They argue that this change would ensure fairer pay for all restaurant workers and make it optional for businesses to share tips among all staff, including those behind the scenes, in the kitchen.

Opponents’ Concerns: Critics, including Chris Keohan from the Committee to Protect Tips, worry that the wage increase could lead to reduced overall earnings for tipped workers. They argue that higher base wages might cause customers to tip less, and the introduction of tip pooling could dilute individual earnings.

Others have said that this change could cause an exodus of workers leaving the service industry as a whole, which already has issues keeping staff employed.

Seattle: Upcoming Wage Changes

Seattle is set to end its two-tiered minimum wage system in 2025, which currently allows tipped workers to earn less than non-tipped workers. This is a result of a law they passed in 2015 to raise the tipped minimum age, but they put a hold on it for about 10 years. After this change, all workers will need to be paid the same minimum wage, potentially increasing base pay for tipped workers by up to $3 per hour.

Expected Impacts: Restaurant owners in Seattle anticipate higher labor costs, which could lead to increased service fees, more use of technology like QR code ordering, and shifts toward counter service models. Some restaurants may even close due to the financial strain.

Debate Over Fairness: Supporters of the wage change argue that it promotes fairness and reduces exploitation. However, some restaurant owners and workers fear that it could lower overall earnings for servers, who often make more through tips. The industry is also concerned about how these changes might affect customer service and business sustainability.

What do we think?
As a restaurant owner myself, I can tell you that I am very worried about this.

I think if this passes no one wins.

Inflation has not been kind to restaurants and we all have been floundering since the Pandemic just to stay afloat. It’s not that I’m against paying my staff more, and making it equitable its about the fact that profit margins are already razor thin and finding staff is one of the biggest concerns for so many in the industry as it is.

I think that this would cause a lot of people to abandon the industry as a whole because if the tips they could receive go down as a result of people not tipping as much anymore because of this law. Restaurants will most likely need to raise prices to pay their staff more and to comply. Which will cause even more restaurants to suffer because a lot of people have reduced the amount they go out to eat because of high inflation as it is. This will create a vicious cycle.

I think Restaurants will have to reduce team sizes and downsize to accommodate this change, meaning slower and possibly worse service and were in an age where people are not exactly patient, especially with wait staff. So then people are going to start looking down on restaurants.

If this happens, I fear local family owned restaurants wont be able to compete with corporate restaurants at all anymore. All we’re going to be left with are strip malls with Applebees and Buffalo Wild wings. Forget fun experimental neighborhood joints and mom and pop places doing cool things.

Alcohol IS Poison. So Why Do I Still Drink?

This week, I posted this video across social platforms, on YouTube, Instagram and on TikTok, and I wanted to expand upon this a little bit. The conversation this has been generating in the comments has been actually quite inspiring. So many other people shared their own stories of their relationships with alcohol and I think we need more of that. To be able to talk openly about it, so that it doesn't remain a taboo.

Firstly, I want to say I am alright! I am good! Nothing specific prompted this other than it's been on my mind ever since before I ever posted my first cocktail video 4 years ago and last week felt like a good time to talk about it. I didn't have any scary thing happen to trigger this, those happened many years ago.

I wanted to expand further on the conversations this has generated and share some comments that people left me on Instagram and Youtube that I felt were very poignant and interesting.

One of my favorite comments came from a friend Colleen, who is a bar director down in Charlotte, NC.

And I thought it was such a great thing to point out that our relationships with alcohol evolve and change over time. And that it's important that we continue to check in and reassess that relationship.

This next comment had me thinking through all of this from a completely separate lens. Religion.

I hadn't considered the religious implications at all. Some religions, like Mormons, don't consume alcohol at all and there are folks who grew up in that religion who may want to explore that relationship, in a moderate way. And just how much how were raised can impact our relationships with it as adults.

And this comment here from YouTube just cementing why I thought it was so important to talk about this in the first place.

A lot of people thought I was making this for the general everyday audience that makes cocktails as a hobby and while it certainly was for them as well, I thought it was even more important for those who work in the industry to start talking about it.

Anyway, I hope you have a good understanding on your relationship with alcohol. I'm not going anywhere. I'm safe. Just an important topic to talk about more openly.

Best Content We Saw This Week!

If you work in the service industry or have ever worked in the service industry and don't follow Mover & Shaker, youre missing out. Admittedly the cover photo for this carousel wasn't he funniest but slides 3 & 4 on this one made me laugh out loud.

Unfortunately our newsletter platform doesn't allow me to only show those so trust me, click on it and go have a laugh. They make some very funniest posts about the bar ad service industry and really poke fun at how insane all of this really is.

Definitely worth the follow.