I’ve noticed many Athenians making the effort to buy locally in recent weeks and months, and as a local business owner, I can’t say enough how much I appreciate it. I’m sad to say, though, that since this recession began, I have seen a sharp increase in the number of people who are hurting my business by trying to save a few pennies. I’d like to tell you some things you may not know about the restaurant business, from the perspective of an owner.

Jason Crosby

First, a restaurant is a business of pennies. The profit margin during good times is small, and nearly nonexistent in bad times. In most local restaurants, the owner pays his bills or not based on a penny or two out of every dollar. You might know that already, but did you also know that most of the profit from a meal comes from your drink and dessert? It costs a lot of money to put good food on a plate, and very little to make tea or refill a fountain machine. Unfortunately, when customers feel the pinch, the first place they skimp is on drinks. A fountain drink may be only a buck-fifty to you, a single customer, but to me, an owner, it’s a buck-fifty times 50 a day times seven days a week. Since the recession began, I have seen a drop of around $400 a week profit just from customers ordering water instead of a soft drink!

Yes, I mean I’ve taken a pay cut of $400 a week. No, I wasn’t making much more than that before. Restaurants can, and do, live or die on this kind of thing.

If you’re drinking water for your health, please ask for bottled water. If you’re trying to save money, please think again. It’s only an extra couple of dollars to you, but it can be the difference in an owner having take-home pay or not. (Oh, and if you’re going to ask for water and lots of lemon to make your own lemonade, you’re not going to make many friends. That’s bad form.) Consider grabbing a dessert to go if you’re full after your meal, or take home half of your meal and save room for dessert. You’ll be stretching your money into two meals and helping the owner out tremendously.

If you want to help restaurant employees through the tough times, here’s how. Tip 20 percent every time. It’s as simple as that. For people who haven’t worked in the restaurant business before, it may seem like tipping is an option, or that it’s a reward for extra-good service. It’s neither. If restaurants paid their employees a living wage, you’d see price increases of at least 25 percent on all menus. You, the customer, pay the employee’s bills. Please realize that just as you are scrimping to make ends meet, so is everyone at the restaurant. I’ve had to cut labor to account for fewer customers and less income. My servers are working less—sometimes half what they worked this time last year. In other words, they have fewer chances to make a good tip.

Oprah is wrong about it being okay to tip 10 percent. Eighteen to 20 percent tip is industry standard now. Servers make next to nothing without tips, but they have to report at least minimum wage. (Some restaurants pay minimum wage, but trust me: it’s not enough to live on.) In an hour with no tips, the server is paying to be at work. Additionally, most restaurants do a tip pool. Tips are split among the servers, hostesses, dishwasher and kitchen staff. Every employee is depending on every customer to leave tips. When you stiff the server, you’re stiffing everyone in the building. Even on to-go orders, at least half the employees contributed to making your food. Your tip is the difference between them paying their bills or not.

Finally, I want to encourage you to help your local restaurants in the way that is probably most important. If the service or food is particularly good, tell everyone you know. If something—anything at all—is wrong, tell the manager or owner. We work very hard to make sure everything is as pleasant as possible, but we simply can’t be everywhere at once. We’re running on smaller staffs now because we have to.  Please don’t take it personally if your server is harried and busy and can’t see to your every desire instantly.  She’s one of the lucky ones who at least gets to come to work.  Be nice.

Strengthening your commitment to buying local is a great idea, and I hope everyone starts doing it, but please try to remember that it’s not just about spending money. It’s about genuinely helping both local owners and employees.

Thanks again to everyone who supports local businesses. I hope together we can see this thing through until better fortune comes our way. 

Bill Hamby

Bill Hamby is the owner/operator of Five Star Day Eastside.