Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:19 pm
I think the story exposes the secret to Cote's "low prices": the price is actually higher than stated on the menu!
Would be interesting to see the aggregate service charge income, and compare it to the aggregate difference between their staff's regular pay and the industry average. I think, as lucky suggests, the service charge income, will far exceed an extra £1 or so an hour on basic pay for all staff.
Now, I agree with them that good service isn't just about the waiter - I don't expect the waiter to keep it all. But I expect it to be a top-up to staff wages, shared in some ratio between the waiter, and the kitchen staff. So a "tronc" system basically. If the company were to deduct a couple of pennies from that per pound to check compliance, I'm not too bothered actually.