A new message appearing at the top of the menu at Camino, a high-end restaurant in Oakland, California, declares the end of an age-old American practice. “No more tips!” it reads. “Our prices now include service so we can pay our employees a living wage.”
The new prices—which have gone up 22 percent, and which now range from $29 to $37—and the restaurant’s corresponding tipping policy went into effect earlier this year, around the time the city’s minimum wage rose 36 percent to $12.25. And the two are related. While the new policy probably won’t put more into pockets of Camino’s decently paid servers, it will do something quietly revolutionary: it will help them offer a living wage to their (traditionally underpaid) cooks, dishwashers, and bussers. Read more on Civil Eats.