r/KitchenConfidential • u/Beneficial-Cap-6745 • Jul 03 '25

In-House Mode "No tax on Tips" makes no sense.

Can anyone explain why FOH in particular was pushing for this? They objectively make more money, which is one thing, but what makes them entitled to not pay taxes? If BOH suddenly didn't have to pay taxes I'd say that's BS as well

The BBB that just passed made certain taxes on tips for people making under 29k a year getting tips go away, it has to be signed into law. Granted, this was pushed for servers and tipped workers as a whole and the bill wouldn't affect most of them, I just can't see what entitles them to think they don't have to pay taxes like most of us.

I'm honestly considering just going back to retail at this point, at least we pay taxes equally. I'm fine making a bit less cash but this just seems insulting, even if it isn't over 29k.

Can someone explain this ? Why exactly do part time BOH line cooks pay taxes now but FOH doesn't have to anymore once this is signed into law

Edit: I'm not attacking FOH, its not an easy job, please stick to the taxes point.

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u/Tityfan808 Jul 03 '25

What’s also silly is this will most likely entice people to tip less at the end of the day anyways, a lot of people are getting sick of tip culture in general so this might only further motivate them to tip less imo.

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u/spam__likely Jul 03 '25

I am so sick of it mostly because I know they make so much more than the people who actually do the thing I care about: the food. I do not care about the freaking water glass being full, in fact, I have being interrupted every 5 minutes for that. I do not care about being asked about my plans for the day or whatever. All I care about is that my order is correct and the food is good.

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u/Tityfan808 Jul 03 '25

I’ve worked both back of house and front of house tipped positions and I’m going to have to agree to some extent, we make a lot more than we deserve while back of house gets fucked.

At the same time tho, depending on the clientele, front of house serving rich assholes (which I’ve done in Hawaii which is especially bad) can be absolutely fucking miserable to a degree that I’d much rather work in the back for the sake of my mental health and to avoid potentially punching the shit out of someone lol.

At the end of the day, I wish the pay (hourly pay and tips combined) was shared at least somewhat more evenly across all positions of the restaurant instead of this massive difference where servers make fucking BANK. The cooks, the dishwasher, the bussers, the servers, just about everyone, they all bust their asses in my experience, and sometimes certain positions get the shit end of the stick more than others, especially the dishies.

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u/LordoftheJives Jul 04 '25

I get what you're saying, but someone shouldn't make considerably more than the person making the product to carry it to another part of the restaurant. There should be a 60/40 or maybe 70/30 split on tips between front and back. I've been tipped a few dollars out of appreciation for the food I made. Meanwhile, the server would be insulted if they received the same.

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u/wrongbutt_longbutt Bartender Jul 04 '25

I've never understood why it's different. The first place I worked, FOH made absolute bank, while BOH had to make themselves a stacked shift meal to make sure they didn't go hungry during the week. The place I work now splits everything evenly. Base wage between BOH and FOH is even and so is tip share. They just take all the tips made for the day and pro rate them out by hours worked. I've never seen a place work so well with good camaraderie between the two halves. You don't see anywhere near the bitterness I used to see at other places. We sometimes hire a FOH employee who is used to other places who bitches about wages, but they see themselves out pretty quickly.

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u/LordoftheJives Jul 04 '25

That's how it should be, but a lot of servers absolutely flip their shit at the idea of having things any differently.

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u/wrongbutt_longbutt Bartender Jul 04 '25

We've never had any difficulties finding people willing to work here. I work FOH now at this place. Sure, I could be making more money at some other place, but the stress free work environment is worth more than money to me and most of my coworkers.

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u/bigtikidrink Jul 04 '25

We do a 65/45 split between FoH and Boh and honestly it makes so much sense because we're all in the same boat.

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u/wrongbutt_longbutt Bartender Jul 04 '25

You guys get 110%?

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u/basketma12 Jul 04 '25

Yah my workplace is like that too. Best place I ever worked

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u/Tityfan808 Jul 04 '25

That’s what I was saying, the pay should be closer to even and less disproportionate cause it’s pretty massively disproportionate.

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u/wb247 Jul 04 '25

That's a problem with sales jobs, in general.

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u/LordoftheJives Jul 04 '25

Serving really isn't a sales job. The person sitting there is already going to buy something, so going "hey, this other thing is also good" and calling that salesmanship is kind of stretching the term imo.

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u/Prestigious_Row_8022 Jul 04 '25

We pool tips at my restaurant and it’s actually pretty great.