ok officially are TIPS(propina?) always included in the meal price?

[Andy B]

"BTW, as a retired owner/operator of a fairly successful resort restaurant in the US, I do have an appreciation of the business and can see your side of it. Just don't try to dazzle me with BS."

Now here you go comparing apples to oranges. A sucessful restaurant in the states is nothing like what it is here. We work 4 months out of the year, you probably 12.

Do the math: Salaries run from $4,000 to $5,000 per girl per month. They won't work for less. At 4 girls, I have to collect $17,000rd with the 10% service fee to cover them. That means I have to gross over $170,000rd per month. The way business has been the past several years, the restaurant barely does that in a season much less one month. Now, just where do you think their salaries come from? The 10%? No way.

As a former restaurant owner you know we work on a formula with a mark up of 3 to 4 depending on the item. You know it's 1/3 food, 1/3 overhead including salaries and 1/3 profit (supposedly). Only here food now costs as much or more as what I pay in Florida at major grocery chains, including Walmart Superstores, except I can't CHARGE the same as I would in Florida. Also, I pay 11 cents per kilowatt of power in Florida. Here I pay 11.75 rd (this month-next month higher). Eleven cents in Florida, about thirty-three cents US here or 3 times as much. So my utility bill is 3 times higher but is the price of your food correspondingly priced? No because if it were, even I, Mister Moneybags, couldn't afford to eat in my own restaurant.

It's like this with many small restaurants in the DR. They're barely making it and the 10% service fee certainly helps keep them in business. In the 10 years I've been here in Las Galeras I've seen as many restaurants come and go usually within the first six months. If we didn't have the hotel revenue to supplement the restaurant costs we'd be like many others, struggling to keep our heads above water much less make a reasonable profit.

 

[HOWMAR]

"BTW, as a retired owner/operator of a fairly successful resort restaurant in the US, I do have an appreciation of the business and can see your side of it. Just don't try to dazzle me with BS."

Now here you go comparing apples to oranges. A sucessful restaurant in the states is nothing like what it is here. We work 4 months out of the year, you probably 12. .

On the Jersey shore our season runs from Memorial day to Labor day, that's 13 weeks. We learn to adapt the rest of the year, including closing for real slow periods.

Do the math: Salaries run from $4,000 to $5,000 per girl per month. They won't work for less. At 4 girls, I have to collect $17,000rd with the 10% service fee to cover them. That means I have to gross over $170,000rd per month. The way business has been the past several years, the restaurant barely does that in a season much less one month. Now, just where do you think their salaries come from? The 10%? No way..

Before you were saying the 10% doesn't cover one girl. Now you at least will conced it may not cover all 4 girls when it is slow. In any event, if you can't gross RD$ 170,000/month or roughly US$ 165/day why bother, or certainly why have 4 girls working?

As a former restaurant owner you know we work on a formula with a mark up of 3 to 4 depending on the item. You know it's 1/3 food, 1/3 overhead including salaries and 1/3 profit (supposedly). Only here food now costs as much or more as what I pay in Florida at major grocery chains, including Walmart Superstores, except I can't CHARGE the same as I would in Florida. Also, I pay 11 cents per kilowatt of power in Florida. Here I pay 11.75 rd (this month-next month higher). Eleven cents in Florida, about thirty-three cents US here or 3 times as much. So my utility bill is 3 times higher but is the price of your food correspondingly priced? No because if it were, even I, Mister Moneybags, couldn't afford to eat in my own restaurant.

It's like this with many small restaurants in the DR. They're barely making it and the 10% service fee certainly helps keep them in business. In the 10 years I've been here in Las Galeras I've seen as many restaurants come and go usually within the first six months. If we didn't have the hotel revenue to supplement the restaurant costs we'd be like many others, struggling to keep our heads above water much less make a reasonable profit.

You failed to mention a few of the off-sets. The cost of labor, the lack of air-conditioning, the absence of health department regulations to conform to, etc, etc.

The patrons simply resent the attitude that the 10% service sharge that we pay is considered by the resauurant owner to be his to use in running his business. You can respond all you want. Case closed for me.

 

[Andy B]

"On the Jersey shore our season runs from Memorial day to Labor day, that's 13 weeks. We learn to adapt the rest of the year, including closing for real slow periods."
This is about the same length as our season. However, I'll bet you serve more than 4 tables a night, which is a good night for us.


"Before you were saying the 10% doesn't cover one girl. Now you at least will conced it may not cover all 4 girls when it is slow. In any event, if you can't gross RD$ 170,000/month or roughly US$ 165/day why bother, or certainly why have 4 girls working?"

Try staffing a restaurant from 8am to after 10pm with less. BTW 2 of them also double as maids which is why the hotel supplements the restaurant costs. And yes, the 10% hardly covers one girl. At a salary of $5,000 per month, for that one girl we have to gross $50,000.

"You failed to mention a few of the off-sets. The cost of labor, the lack of air-conditioning, the absence of health department regulations to conform to, etc, etc."

Yes, and our prices also reflect the lack of these added expenses. How about your cost of electricity? I'll bet it's CONSIDERABLY less than the 33 cents US per kilo that I pay. That makes up for some of your other costs you mentioned.

"The patrons simply resent the attitude that the 10% service sharge that we pay is considered by the resauurant owner to be his to use in running his business. You can respond all you want. Case closed for me."

The 10% is NOT OURS TO USE IN RUNNING OUR BUSINESS. It is a tax imposed by the government that we HAVE to give to our employees in one of the several methods I described or run afoul of the law. THAT is the law NOT my decision. And even with the 10% service tax I also pay MORE than I'm required to by law. And yes, I guess the case is closed as you can take it up with the DR Minister of Labor, not me. I simply follow the law.