'Not A Tip:’ LA Eatery’s Service Fee Prompts Confusion, Outrage And Lawsuit: Report

LOS ANGELES, CA — After former servers at Jon & Vinny's sued the restaurant last month over a "service charge" added to customers' bills, diners' checks now come with a disclaimer — the 18 percent fee is not a tip, according to reports.

Customers' checks now read: “The service charge is not a tip or gratuity, and is an added fee controlled by the restaurant that helps facilitate a higher living base wage for all of our employees. Please scan the QR Code at the top of the receipt for additional information, or speak with a manager," the Los Angeles Times reported this week.

The fee — and others like it — have drawn the ire of customers and former servers alike for its lack of clarity and transparency.

Former Jon & Vinny's servers in June filed a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Joint Venture Restaurant Group Inc., which owns the Beverly Hills and Fairfax Italian restaurants. The workers claim that company shorted their take-home pay by denying them tips, because customers were often confused about the nature of the fee.

In a statement to the Times, the restaurant group denied the lawsuit's claims and wrote the fee “not only unquestionably benefits hourly employees, but it is unquestionably legal, having been vetted by independent leading professionals in the hospitality industry.”

Previously, customers would have to scan a QR code at the bottom of their checks to navigate to a written explanation of the fee on Jon & Vinny's website: "The service charge goes to our entire staff: including servers, bussers, dishwashers, cooks, sous chefs, drivers, farmer’s market team, bakers, dough rollers, etc."

The restaurant believes in "everyone making a more equitable wage," according to its website, which does not specify what exactly that means. The only specific mention of pay is minimum wages in the city of Los Angeles and California and the federal minimum wage.

Former server Kara Jobe told the LA Times that diners frequently did not ask about the fee — and often wouldn't leave a tip.

“I mean, how do you tell someone: I need you to pay my hourly wage but then I need you to tip on top of that because we don’t get enough money from our hourly wage. As a guest at Jon & Vinny’s, I need you to basically have all the responsibility for paying me,” Jobe said.

One of the most popular comments on a recent Reddit post about the lawsuit illustrates the growing frustration diners feel about a barrage of added-on fees — for service, health insurance, wages and more — that are appearing on restaurant bills in Southern California and around the country.

"It doesn't seem fair to the diners," the comment reads. "So they pay 18% service fee and then the servers are asking for an additional 18 or 20 (or whatever) on top of that? That's really expensive. If you raise prices to what it honestly costs to produce food and pay workers and pay the overhead, then restaurant dining will admittedly be really expensive. And maybe only a select few will be able to dine out, but maybe that's the way it has to be."