We thought it might be interesting for our customers to understand how your tip money is divided up around the restaurant. Tipping in a restaurant is easily the most talked about topic amongst employees no matter the restaurant. Let's be honest here, this is how these people make their living. Everyone pretty much understands how to tip servers. You get your bill, you do the math based on what you think they deserve and you leave the tip. But, what about at the bar? How do you tip your bartender?

There are several different ways that restaurants will handle their tips. In some restaurants the bartenders are responsible for tipping the busboys or the bar-backs. At other restaurants, the servers are responsible for tipping the bartenders. In a lot of places the tips will be pooled together. It ultimately is up to the owner to decide what is going to work best for their staff.


Here, our bartenders are on their own. They also are not responsible for tipping out the bus crew or their bar-backs. Our servers are the group that tips out this portion to our staff. The servers leave a very small percent of their sales as tip money. This goes into our bus tip fund in which our bus people are tipped out of. Now, a lot of restaurants will have their servers leave a larger percentage of their sales to contribute to tipping out the bartenders. We have never done that here. Instead of treating our bartenders as "tipped" employees, we pay them more as an hourly employee. At the end of the day, what the bartender makes is what the bartender makes. They might make every drink for a server all night long, but they won't be compensated for that.......unless that server is REALLY nice!

This brings us to tipping at the bar. At some places your $5 tip is a $2 tip. Here, your $5 tip is a $5 tip. The main confusion occurs when customers start their evening at the bar and then transfer that tab to a table. The question becomes, "if I tip the bartender on that bar bill now, do I also have to tip my server a percentage on that bill later?" So what happens is that 75% of customers do not tip the bartender assuming that their server will be contributing a portion of their tips to the bartenders later. (We do have a policy in place for these situations amongst staff, but it is very difficult to follow through on when you are completely swamped.) Whereas, customers that dine or drink strictly at the bar tip their bartender almost 99% of the time.

Below is a short video of a bartender explaining the do's and dont's to tipping a bartender. It's spoken a little tounge in cheek and the whole fight part, well that's just over the top. But, overall a lot of unspoken truths are spoken in this video.

Tipping at the Bar

This year's Bald Eagle watch weekend is coming this weekend at Starved Rock State Park. It is January 22nd and 23rd at the park from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it includes lectures and exhibits at the lodge.

The Illinois River Valley has become home to numerous bald eagles during the cold winter months and over the years, more and more of these birds seem to find their way to our area to build nests in the trees and prey on fish in the Illinois River near Starved Rock. Guests are invited to view from the Veranda, the riverfront, Eagle Cliff and The Illinois Waterway visitor center to best catch a glimpse of our nations bird. Plan a trip to the Starved Rock area to see them in their winter retreat and then come join us for lunch or dinner. Warm up here after a long day out at the park.

Click Here for a Video on the Eagles

 

Each week in the newsletter we will ask three questions from the foodie fight cards. The first person to email us (see link below) the correct answers to all three questions will receive a complimentary lunch. The winner has to have the exact answer for all three questions, no exceptions! The following week we will publish the correct answers and the winner of the previous week. So come in and have a drink, study the cards, test each other and have fun. Good Luck!



1. Which splurge has more calories-an Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Onion with dressing or 1 pint of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby original icecream?

2. What cultivated mushroom are baby portobello mushrooms?

3. What is schmaltz?


Email your answers to foodiefight@uptowngrill.com

Fine Print...
You must be the first person to respond with all three correct answers.
The response must go to the email address in the above link.
You must reply within 24 hours from the time the newsletter is published.
Participants are eligible to win a limit of 3 times a year.

Last weeks questions and answers...

1. What is the marketing name for a mushroomlike meat-substitute made of a fungus? QUORN

2. What fruit are Amish Paste, Aunt Ruby's German Green, and Brandywine?  TOMATOES

3. What determines the distinctive flavors of pure honey?  THE FLOWER TYPE

Last weeks winner of the free lunch ....... Pam Cavanaugh