Ram Vishwanathan Photo
Mory’s on York Street.
As Mory’s private eating club reopened its doors this week, it instructed customers not to tip the help — but instead to pay a 20 percent “house charge” that may or may not make its way back to the servers, bartenders and bussers.
Mory’s, which reopened at its York Street location next to Toad’s on Monday for the first time since mid-March, explained in a letter to members that the decision was taken in light of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the club’s revenues.
In the letter, obtained by the Independent, General Manager Carla Cruzoni wrote that Mory’s will collect the “house charge” of 20 percent of each member’s food and beverage bill “in lieu of a member leaving a gratuity.” The charge, she explained, would help transition Mory’s bartenders, servers and bussers from being paid under a pooled tipout system to an hourly wage system.
Cruzoni wrote that the charge will not be disbursed directly to employees. “The wage rate paid to the server is not related to the house charge and is at the discretion of Mory’s,” she wrote.
She declined to elaborate on the letter to the Independent or to disclose the wages Mory’s workers will now earn.
Asked about the policy change, two Mory’s employees (who preferred to remain anonymous, as management has forbidden them to speak to the press) said they remain uncertain about how the 20 percent surcharge will be distributed to employees.
One employee expressed concern about losing out on valuable income from tips and the chance to be rewarded for good service. Still, the employee needs the job back and the money to pay bills. The conditions of the unemployment benefits they collected between March 13 — their last day at Mory’s before the pandemic closing — and the end of August mandated that they accept their job if it was offered back to them.
“It’s like a Catch-22 — you can’t really say no,” they explained.
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, all workers apart from office professionals are taking a cut, the employee said, so they were braced for similar circumstances.
“You gotta do what you gotta do. It’s the new normal — this is how it’s going to be,” they said, shrugging their shoulders in resignation.
“It was a bit of a shocker,” the other employee stated when asked about the new policy, explaining that tips had been their main source of income when they previously worked at Mory’s. When asked if their wages had been increased to compensate, the employee admitted to not having a clear answer, stating that they hadn’t received their check yet. The tipping decision left them “upset, but not mad,” the employee said, explaining that they understood the struggles Mory’s is facing in the pandemic. They also expressed their satisfaction with the new Mory’s chef, as well as with the various hygiene and safety precautions Mory’s has been taking.
Mory’s is currently operating at half capacity. The largest of the private dining rooms, for example, which typically seats 32 people, is approved for a maximum of 16 people under Covid-19 health restrictions. The student menu at the restaurant has been removed, and guests are not allowed to walk in to the bar as in the past. The patio, meanwhile, only has space for four to five tables, an employee told the Independent.
Combined with the fact that food safety regulations limit the number of people handling food, this also meant that Mory’s has been able to rehire only three servers. Both employees interviewed noted that most labor cuts involved former part-time workers at the establishment, and some employees have not had hours decreased. The loss of tips, however, remains a frustration and a worry.
Mory’s relies heavily on revenue from “cups” (large shared vessels of alcohol) and private celebrations, including many that would have taken place around Yale University’s Class of 2020 graduation week if not for the pandemic.
When a reporter asked other employees for comment, Restaurant Manager Jeffrey Ortiz appeared to declare that no one affiliated with the institution could offer comment. General Manager Cruzoni later replied that Mory’s board decided no one would offer public comment on the decision.
Mory’s branding is centered around its connections to Yale. Some traditional events involve Yale varsity athletic team, as well as the Yale Whiffenpoofs, a college acapella group. Membership at Mory’s is typically restricted to Yale affiliates, a decision that was made back in the year 1912, when Mory’s moved to its current location at 306 York St. It is registered as a federally tax-exempt 501(c)7 “social club” that operates for “the pleasure and recreation of its members.” The organization’s leadership includes several prominent Yale alumni and executives; its 2017 IRS Form 990 lists among its officers Deborah Armitage, Yale’s associate controller, and Amy Rich, a senior associate director at the Yale Development Office.
Ryan DiCapua, a restaurant server at the Omni Hotel in New Haven and an active member of Local 217 of the UNITE HERE union, said that the Mory’s decision fits a food-service industry trend.
“Tips are being slowly phased out by owners, and us servers, we depend on our cash tips. That’s why we go to work,” he said.
But the situation is different in the hotel industry, DiCapua said. The hotel industry — in contrast to the restaurant sector — is unionized.“My contract says exactly what you can and cannot do. After every single shift, I get to walk out with cash, and it’s in the contract that they have to do that.” DiCapua, who worked in the restaurant industry for many years before his current job, described his time there as marked by “a battle to keep your tips.” The chance to work in a unionized sector, in fact, was a large motivating factor behind DiCapua’s decision to move to the a job at the Omni.
Jennifer Klein, a Yale history professor who has written multiple books on American labor history, noted that the demands of workers in the likes of the food service sector seldom find their way into public discourse.
“All this valorization of the auto worker and the steel worker — if you look at it, there are only about 1.5 million auto workers in the country and 150,000 steel workers … There are millions more restaurant workers, and millions more healthcare workers, and millions more retail workers than in those other, valorized sectors,” she said.
Multiple states, meanwhile, still have no state minimum wage, Klein reminded. In these states, workers are protected only by the currently mandated federal minimum wage of $7.25. In Connecticut, Public Act No. 19 – 04, signed into law by Governor Ned Lamont last year, will raise the minimum fair wage in Connecticut to $15 an hour by 2023. As a part of this policy, the minimum fair wage in the state will be progressively increased every year. As of this Tuesday, the state’s minimum hourly wage rose to $12.
Connecticut is one of many states that allow for exemptions on minimum fair wage regulations to be placed on tipped workers. Connecticut’s minimum tipped wage for hotel and restaurant employees remains $6.38 per hour and $8.23 per hour for bartenders. (Connecticut employers are required to cover the difference between the tipped wage and the state minimum wage if the workers do not receive the difference in wages with tips.)
The Mory’s Letter
Following is the text of the letter from Mory’s to its members.
August 31, 2020
Dear Members,
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, revenue for Mory’s (and the restaurant industry as a whole) is projected to be down appreciably compared to past years. This means less traffic in the building and less opportunity for front of the house workers (servers, bartenders and bussers) to receive tips. As a result, for the fiscal year 2021, we have converted servers, bartenders and bussers, who had been paid via a pooled tipout system, to an hourly wage system.
Under this system, in lieu of a member leaving a gratuity, Mory’s will collect a “house charge,” of 20% of the member’s food and beverage bill. This house charge belongs to Mory’s and is not disbursed directly as tipped income to the employees.
Mory’s will use this house charge to pay servers, bussers and bartenders each higher hourly wage, based on comparable wages for similar service in the New Haven area. The wage rate paid to the server is not related to the house charge and is at the discretion of Mory’s. A server will be paid for his/her full scheduled shift, thus guaranteeing hours and rate. Mory’s absorbs the risk should there be reduced business.
You will see a memo regarding this change at the bottom of your restaurant receipt. In light of these changes, tipping is no longer solicited and cannot be added by leaving an additional amount on the credit card slip or member charge.
Please be assured that that before enacting these changes, we consulted with restaurant industry associations, other local private clubs and our own labor advisors, to ensure that we are proceeding in a fair and equitable manner for all of our employees.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Carla M. Cruzoni
General Manager