Tipping ballot question looms over Vineyard restaurants

On Edgartown’s Main Street, the Wharf Pub has several flyers displayed on its windows advocating against a ballot question proposing to gradually increase the minimum wage of tipped workers. 

The flyers reflect the sentiments of many in the Vineyard’s restaurant community, as the state has reached a tipping point over the ballot question.  

There are concerns that passing question 5 could financially rattle full-service restaurants on the Vineyard, many of which open seasonally and are a significant part of the bustling summer tourism season. Some service workers and restaurant owners say passing Question 5 would be a big blow to the Island’s economy, underscoring that it would discourage servers from entering the industry, raise prices for customers, and could increase costs to the point restaurants may have to close.

“Yes on 5 is going to hurt everybody in the restaurant,” said J.B. Blau, who owns the Year-Round Restaurant Group — which includes Sharky’s Cantina and Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Company. He called the ballot question a “scam” and “pointless,” highlighting the requirements already placed in the state for restaurants to cover servers’ wages.

Question 5 on the state ballot proposes gradually raising the minimum wage of tipped workers, like servers, to the full minimum wage of $15 an hour by 2029. Currently, tipped workers have a minimum wage of $6.75 an hour. Proponents argue that this is a matter of wage fairness. 

While the proposed change does not eliminate tipping, the ballot question states employers would have the option of implementing a pooled tip system, which collects tips and divides it among workers. This model is in place at several Vineyard shops, like cafes.

“I think it sounds good on paper, it sounds like you’re doing people a fair deal, but in reality you’re not,” Oneil Sinclair, a server and bartender at the Wharf, told the Times. 

Sinclair told the Times that tip pools would reduce workers’ pay and take away incentives to work in a restaurant. Outside of layoffs, he said this could push people to leave the restaurant industry. 

“It wouldn’t be worthwhile, especially [with] the living expenses on this Island. It just wouldn’t make any sense,” he said. 

Still, not all tipped workers feel the same way. One bartender on the Vineyard, who requested to only be identified as Emily, told the Times she does not think the proposal would change people’s tipping habits so much that it would significantly cut into employees’ pay. She also does not think the change would be “as catastrophic as restaurant owners suggest.”

“Restaurants operate with very high overhead and low profit margins already[,] but taking for granted low labor costs as a way to make ends meet is not a solution for the type of society I want to be a part of,” she said, saying government agencies need to find ways to promote and aid small businesses. “The service industry is inherently local and cannot be outsourced[,] but we need a living wage to exist on the Island!” 

But local restaurant owners are particularly worried about the bill’s passage. Blau said increasing labor costs will particularly make it significantly harder to operate a year-round restaurant. 

Larkin Stallings, owner of the Ritz in Oak Bluffs, said he works under “crazy thin margins” to operate his business and any change could be problematic. Stallings also told the Times that it isn’t just him opposing the measure, his workers have expressed opposition to Question 5 as well. 

Meanwhile, the Ritz owner worried that increasing labor costs would raise prices of products, making the Island less accessible for those who aren’t the wealthy.

“We’re going to price ourselves out,” Stallings said. “I think it’ll change the fabric of this Island.” 

Opponents of the ballot measure also underscore that restaurants in Massachusetts are already required to make up the difference if a server’s hourly wage, including tips, don’t meet $15 an hour.

At the state level, there is a schism as to whether the proposal is the right path forward.

Restaurant owners and servers, like on the Vineyard, worry that the wage increase would significantly increase operational costs that could lead to layoffs and closures. And servers are concerned that it could disincentivize customers from tipping, and cut into their pay. 

Restaurateurs aren’t the only ones calling foul over the ballot question. Gov. Maura Healey tossed her opposition against the measure, echoing concerns of the restaurant community during an appearance on Boston Public Radio earlier this month. 

Conversely, several local officials, including state Attorney General Andrea Campbell, have sided with increasing the minimum wage of tipped workers as a means of fair pay for employees. This is a part of a campaign by New York-based One Fair Wage, an organization advocating for tipped workers to be paid the “full minimum wage with fair, non-discriminatory tips on top” nationwide. 

Jade Deslauriers, a longtime bartender at the Wharf, told the Times she thinks a tip pool would negatively affect employee performance since the incentive of tips is eliminated. 

“I would prefer to work off my tips, being a better server and better at my craft,” she said. Deslauriers said she makes much more than minimum wage under the current system. 

Blau told the Times if people want to become tipless, like in European countries, that’s fine. But, he said it should be done at the federal level instead of trying to implement “anti-tipping legislation” state by state. Otherwise, he said it would stir “chaos” for the mom and pop businesses in border towns, where servers could leave for better pay in another state. 

And, he pointed out that there is no law requiring people to tip. 

“Tipping is voluntary,” he said. “It’s just a social pressure.”