Whacking NY Waiters

MILTON Friedman once said, “Governments never learn. Only people learn.”

That unfortunate truth is alltoofamiliar here in New York, where the cost of doing business keeps getting steeper, thanks to mandates and regulations handed down by state government.

Once again, Albany is poised to raise the bar on hospitalityindustry employers through an action that would kill jobs and ultimately close the doors of many businesses altogether.

In the restaurant industry, we’re still adjusting to the impact of the state’s threephase hike in the minimum wage, which will rise to $9 an hour by the end of 2015. Now, the state Labor Department is getting set to tack on yet another wage hike — as high as 80 percent — for tipped employees.

Understand, tipped employees don’t get paid a “subminimum” wage, as some activists charge. The law requires employers to ensure that all of our team members receive at least the state minimum wage, including tipped employees. In reality, our tipped employees average much higher wages.

Labor expenses easily account for a third of a typical restaurant’s costs. Imposing a sharp increase in tipped wages (on top of the recent minimumwage hike) will force many to cut employee hours and jobs.

The biggest injustice of this isn’t just the lost job; it’s the lost opportunities for many young employees.

It’s a very sad truth — especially for someone like me, who started on the first rung of the ladder in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher at 15.

I worked hard and flipped burgers all through high school. I then gained experience working behind the bar, then joined TGIF in its early growth stage. Throughout, I learned firsthand how hard work and good service can bring a tipped employee great rewards and income.

After 11 years, I moved to management, working my way up to a districtmanager role and running a few independent restaurants before becoming president of TL Cannon, which owns and operates 54 Applebee’s in New York, six in Connecticut and one in Pennsylvania. We created jobs and opportunities — helping more than 3,500 associ ates and managers in many small towns and cities fulfill their dreams.

Time and again, I’ve seen working as a tipped employee spark an entrepreneurial spirit. Servers take pride and ownership, treating their four to fivetable stations as their own small businesses. They provide excellent service and are rewarded as a result.

Contrary to what critics of our industry suggest, our tipped employees average $16 to $17 an hour and have built sustainable careers around it, with a flexible schedule that doesn’t require working a regular 40 to 50 hours a week.

Those who work hard and excel have a clear path to management, in the restaurant business or another industry.

Again, restaurants operate on slim profit margins, just pennies on the dollar. When a substantial increase in costs hits us, we can’t simply absorb the hike. Another wage hike for tipped employees at my restaurants means price hikes and costcutting.

Restaurant managers across New York are already running the numbers on what this new wage hike could mean, and the math is ugly. They’re planning to make big adjustments to employee shifts and menus and even changes to our overall business model. There’s no other choice if the Labor Department ties our hands.

For our tipped employees, it will mean that hours and shifts get cut, which means their earning potential from tips goes down. Sure, the base wage goes up, but the net effect will be a loss of income for them.

One longtime server summed it up best in public testimony to the Labor Department. She says, “I work hard because my tips are my incentive. I make more than minimum wage because of my hard work. I have many regular customers who request me because of the service I provide. I am a salesperson, the more I sell the more money I make.

“The career of serving has helped me to pay for vehicles, my house and my college education, and now both of my children have entered the restaurant industry and are earning their way through college.”

The government could learn by listening to stories like this. The tippedwage hike is a reactionary and unnecessary fix to a problem that doesn’t exist.