21-05-2025
In D.C.'s new world of eating out, when is a service fee a tip?
In 2022, D.C. voters approved Initiative 82, a ballot measure that makes restaurants take more responsibility for paying their tipped workers instead of having wait staff rely on customers' generosity.
But after two years of operating under the new system, in which restaurant workers get a minimum of $10 per hour rather than the old tipped wage of about $5 an hour, there's trouble in the eateries of the capital city. Dining out in the District has become akin to flying on Spirit: The price is rarely the price. When the check comes, it's often so laden with explanations of new service fees — levied by restaurant owners trying to afford the new pay scale — that bills now rival CVS receipts in yardage.
