Restaurants owned by renowned chef Tom Douglas plan to start a 20 percent service charge in place of a tip.
The restaurants are The Carlile Room, Palace Kitchen and Dahlia Lounge, and the service charge is set to begin February 1.
"Our research and internal data shows that this is the average amount our customers tipped for the last three years," a letter from Douglas said. "This charge will go to 'the house' and then 100 percent of the charge will be redistributed to our team through wages, commissions and benefits."
Douglas' actions follows the example of Seattle restaurants such as Ivar's and The Walrus & the Carpenter, who made similar changes last year.
RAM restaurants also eliminated tipping by adding a 19 percent service charge.
"Because of our size, of which I am quite proud, our minimum wage schedule is accelerated versus many of our peers," Douglas wrote. "We are committed to everyone on our team making $15 or more immediately instead of following the schedule as laid out in the Seattle ordinance regulations."
Douglas also said his restaurants have committed donating $1 million dollars over the next ten years for construction of Food Lifeline's new Hunger Solution Center.
KIRO
