PRESS RELEASE

TIPPED OUT? – A Forum on Gratuities

Is it time to re-think tipping? 

GUELPH, Ont.  March 19, 2013 - The School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, University of Guelph;  and George Brown College Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts are thrilled to announce Tipped Out, a forum on handling tips in restaurants.  The forum will be held on Monday, April 29th, 2 – 4 p.m. at George Brown College, St. James Campus, Room 128, 200 King Street East, Toronto.  There is no charge to attend.

“You can’t get a group of restaurateurs in a room together without the conversation turning to tipping”, said Bruce McAdams, Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph and Director of the University of Guelph Sustainable Restaurant Project.  "As an industry we need to think about what we're doing and whether it’s working as well as it can, and if not, how we might do things differently”.

Join us for an afternoon of panel discussions, experiences and perspectives from restaurateurs and researchers.  Topics will include results of experiences with different approaches to tipping in restaurants to research insight on the implications of tipping practices for restaurant operations.  Michael Prue, MPP Beaches – East York will also speak to his private member’s bill on tip pooling. 

“We’ve paid a lot of attention to the interaction between the customer and the tipped server, but what we’re seeing is there are also significant implications on the internal operations of the restaurant resulting from tipping and how tips are handled,” said Michael von Massow, Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph and a researcher who will speak at the forum.  “It’s important that we consider current practice and the implications of that on the restaurant and the service experience.”

The panel will include San Diego restaurateur Jay Porter. His restaurant the Linkery was one of the first in the United States to have a 'no tipping' policy.  Porter will share this experience, including how his customers reacted when they moved to a fixed 18% service charge.

Other speakers include;  Chris Klugman, Owner, Paintbox Bistro, Regent Park, Toronto;  Yasser Qahawish, Owner, Artisanale Restaurant, Guelph;  and Lydia Dobson, a researcher from Carleton University.

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