Posted by Carl on July 12, 1998 at 01:14:02 :
In Reply to: Re: An answer to the problem.... posted by Gabriel Cohen on July 11, 1998 at 12:04:41 :
: Dear Carl,
: Thanks for your latest post in regard to the issue of waiter gratuities. It's clear that you are making a big effort to deal with the matter in a conscientious way. I also appreciate the fact that you didn't get overly defensive about my original irate post, but were able to focus on the portion of it which might have been valid.
: If anything, I think perhaps you are even actually being too honest in your billing. I know that may sound weird, but I'm referring to the portion of your bill in which you explicitly tell the client that a charge reflects "a profit" to your company. I think that any client could reasonably assume that you are in business to make a profit, but when it comes time to pay, I think clients feel better about paying for specific, tangible, itemized goods and services (food, labor, rentals, etc.) Planning an event certainly takes a great deal of work, and I include it as a line item in my proposals and bills. I don't think any client should be able to complain about that, especially if we make clear that it reflects certain definite responsibilities on the part of the caterer (consulting with the client and with location managers, ordering rentals, planning the layout of the event, coordinating with other contractors involved in the event, etc.) In my opinion, saying that part of the bill is devoted to "profit" sounds a bit stark.
: Let me know what you think.
: All the Best,
: Gabriel
Hey Gabriel, good advice.... I think you are correct... they do know you are
making a profit... but they may prefer a "coordination fee" or maybe the
service charge could be described as "This is our fee for consultation, planning,
coordinating and managing your event."
I still think that clients more readily accept the term "service charge" and if
we give a description like above, and continue to say "gratuities for staff are at your
discretion" this will not only appease the staff, but be the right thing to do..
I hope others will join us in this discussion as this is a big issue
in catering.....
Carl