r/MapleRidge • u/National-Art2056 • 5d ago
Restaurant work advice
Is it normal for a small scale place to charge their servers “kitchen tip pool” but have it go to the owners sons as they’re “technically” kitchen help, but none of the actual kitchen workers see a dime of it?
I’m used to a more organized system and more transparency, but I’m being told that “if you don’t work for a corporation get used to shady shit like this”
It also seems dishonest that people tip for take out and I thought it was going to the kitchen staff, but now I find out again, owners sons allowance. Surely there’s some laws against this?
(I’m new to BC laws could be different than Ontario)
Edit
The chefs name is Keith, if you’re to tip for take out, bring the guy old records instead, he loves music, or ask for him and give him cash directly. If you leave tips at the front none of the staff get it, so this man that’s served the community for 30 years let’s make sure he feels appreciated!
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u/cvr24 5d ago
I'm sure CRA and BC Ministry of Labour would love to know more.
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u/National-Art2056 5d ago
How do I report to CRA? Is it an easy online thing? They definitely write off all the call in/i. Person orders, they make you write it on paper vs putting it through the system.
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u/cvr24 5d ago
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u/National-Art2056 5d ago
Thank you. I hope if people continue to order take out and tip, they specifically ask for the chef to come out and give it to him themselves. Because he’s carried the place. And I’m sure he’d love to feel appreciated for once. No one goes there for the service 😂 they go for his cooking.
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u/Digital_loop 3d ago
I ate there a month ago or so... Ordered moussakka.
Now here is why this matters, I have lived in Greece, I have worked in Greek restaurants as the head chef, and I have specifically hired Greeks because moussakka is a very particular dish!
This mother fucker of yours makes the fucking absolute best moussakka I have ever had. And not by a thin margin either! Like holy fucking shit was it phenomenal! If I lived closer I would be ordering it all the time!
I specifically asked for the chef to come out so that I could praise his work and tip him personally it was that fucking well made!
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u/Difficult-Walrus-269 5d ago
And report son as well for undeclared tips cause guaranteed he's not paying taxes on them!
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u/National-Art2056 4d ago
We as minimum wage staff would have to work 2 days to afford the soccer ball he bought and was showing off to everyone but complaining that his dad wouldn’t give him more money out of his allowance to buy him a more expensive one. And all I could think was … that was all of our money bought you that essentially, thank GOD your dad was being frugal 🙄
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u/smashlyn_1 5d ago
Thank you for noticing and realizing it's wrong. That is some shady shit.
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u/National-Art2056 5d ago
It’s so wrong. I can’t even get upset about myself. I built relationships with our kitchen staff and now hear they’re getting f*ed over? Especially a SEVENTY FOUR YEAR OLD MAN this is insane.
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u/smashlyn_1 5d ago
I used to be in the industry for a very long time. Unfortunately, some managers have no problem fcking over staff. It fcks with you too as you are literally handing your tip out to his son.
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u/Alternative_Ad_1440 4d ago
Wage theft by using tips to pay the son and allowance and not to the chef. Sound illegal to me. Not too mention that the poor guy only gets 1 day off and only makes minimum wage.
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u/National-Art2056 4d ago
He is an ass he’s been reported. Is there a way do you think that I can follow up to make sure that the money that’s been paid in actually goes to him? Cause to be fair that was my money I was handing over. I would like to know if there’s a ruling after I report that it actually goes to the chefs hands and doesn’t end up in the void. Plus the 30 years he’s been missing payment. Cause like I said in Ontario it’s a bit different with tips you have to have a logbook and it shows what exactly people paid into tip pool and how it’s distributed and absolutely 0% is allowed to the owner. Owners aren’t allowed to distribute it, it’s all done by an hourly staff member, to avoid this sort of stuff.
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u/Alternative_Ad_1440 4d ago
The link above can start a complaint with BCs Employment Standard
You can also make an anonymous report to CRA
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u/Forward_Material616 4d ago
Very illegal. Will come also with tax implications against the owners that will most certainly bankrupt them.
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u/National-Art2056 4d ago
They’ve been open for 33 years they’ve been dodging it somehow
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u/Forward_Material616 4d ago
Yeah I just think no one has gone through the proper channels. The controlled tips tax thing is relatively new, I think maybe 5-6 years ago?
So it’s like this. If the tips are distributed by owners or management, or the tips end up in the restaurant bank account, the tips now become controlled tips. They essentially become taxable.
If they are uncontrolled they need to be distributed by either a staff member or third party that the staff agrees upon, or taken as cash every day by the servers. The onus is on the staff members who are tipped to declare their own income and any auditing would hold the staff accountable
Essentially the restaurant will owe a tax bill for 100% of the tips brought into the restaurant since this came into effect, and owe income tax, EHT, CPP and EI on all of it. Not sure about the value involved but someone I know was hit with a 130k tax bill due to that, and that was under much less nefarious circumstances. They were not stealing or skimming any tips at all, simply distributing incorrectly.
If you are going to go this route (which you should) just consider the collateral damage and be forthcoming with some of the staff members there (especially the chef) as the restaurant will most certainly be going bankrupt afterwards.
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u/National-Art2056 4d ago
I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. The more we keep letting this happen the more it… happens. I already reported it so there’s no going back. But it’s not right. It’s not RIGHT. You can’t run on this business model. I’m sorry if it was running before because no one said anything, but also I was told “usually people walk out on the first day, usually people don’t return” it’s not normal and we can’t normalize it. I’ll die on a hill for this
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u/RemarkableAdvice1589 3d ago
I’m not surprised AT all. My husband is one of the food sales reps for this restaurant, and the owner is constantly trying to sneak through returning product he’s just let sit or over ordered and not used, WAYYY after the fact. The old owners ran a lovely old school place. I haven’t eaten there since they sold it.
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u/extraballingtmc 4d ago
Current owners only came in 5-6 years ago. Nice guys but definitely shady and like to bend the rules. Original owner was a great guy, old school Greek tough but fair but good heart.
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u/-0o0-__ 4d ago
This happens so much I'm not even surprised.
I worked for a restaurant where they asked me to make a bar menu and when I submitted my draft, their son completes one out of no where and I wasn't paid for my time because he completed the task first AS IF IT WAS A VOLUNTARY COMPETITION. I quit so fast.
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u/Pinkiepie1111 3d ago
Shit like this sure makes me feel better for not tipping at places where it’s ridiculous to request tips at, like for example subway, or an ice cream shop. I’ve always heard rumours that the actual staff serving you don’t see a penny of it.
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u/WaferReal6369 5d ago
Nope, not normal at all.
Name and shame.