What to know
- A small number of GTA restaurants and cafés, including High on Chai in Pickering and Richmond Station in Toronto, have eliminated tipping and instead build labour and service costs into menu prices.
- High on Chai’s philosophy is “the price that you see is the price that you pay,” while Richmond Station says hospitality should be included in the listed price. Both businesses say the approach reduces tipping pressure and provides employees with more stable, documented income.
- High on Chai says customers appreciate knowing the final price upfront, while Richmond Station initially received some negative feedback but found many critics became more understanding after the model was explained. Both owners say overall reactions have been largely positive.
- Both owners believe hospitality-included pricing is feasible, but the transition can require significantly higher menu prices and payroll costs. Richmond Station estimates that moving $1 million in tips onto payroll would add about $100,000 in employer costs. Bakali believes more GTA businesses should adopt the model, while Donovan says interest exists, but the expense has stopped other restaurants from making the switch.
It’s become a standard across most cafés, restaurants, and businesses – a tipping screen at the end of a service. For many Torontonians, adding an additional tip has almost become as routine as paying the bill itself. However, is removing the option altogether feasible?
A 15, 18, 20, or even 25 per cent option is a common sight on a payment terminal nowadays, often seen ahead of a customer’s payment.
A couple of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) restaurants and cafes are changing up the model and eliminating tipping altogether by adding the cost of labour and service into the cost of menu items themselves.
The no-tipping model, sometimes referred to as “hospitality included,” has been around in Toronto for a number of years, although it remains uncommon in the hospitality industry.
Two local business owners shared their experiences with Now Toronto on the model, which they implemented into their operations.
It’s a practice that they say is feasible for many other businesses in the city, but also acknowledge that making the switch comes with additional, and at times expensive, costs.
‘The price that you see is the price that you pay ’: How the no-tipping model works
Abrar Bakali, the founder of the café High on Chai in Pickering, recently turned her 2022 pop-up business into a concrete location in May 2026.
In doing so, Bakali also removed the tipping model, with a goal to keep menu items at one price, with no additional fees.
“The price that you see is the price that you pay,” she told Now Toronto. “We simply don’t want a tipping option.”
The cafe also does not charge customers extra for alternative selections, such as milks, including oat, almond, or lactose-free milk.
Bakali said she wanted to remove the pressure customers can sometimes feel when presented with a tipping screen.
“Sometimes you’re just forced in a corner to make a tip,” she explained. “You don’t want to, but you have to because you’re forced.”
Bakali added that it also takes any judgment away from pressing the “No Tip” option on the screen.
“Don’t judge me if I’m not paying, or if I’m paying, or how much I’m paying,” she said.
Rather than tips, High on Chai ensures they pay staff a livable wage, rather than making their income dependent on gratuity.
Bakali added that the café pays its employees above the average market rate and provides monthly and holiday bonuses.
Bakali said her two employees, aside from her and her husband, have been with the business since it began in May and that the team is supportive of the model.
Pandemic hospitality switch
Downtown Toronto restaurant Richmond Station has taken a similar approach.
The restaurant opened in 2012 and had accepted tips for multiple years before switching to a hospitality-included model during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Co-owner Ryan Donovan said was researching the idea for years before making the switch, but when the pandemic closures rolled around, the decision became urgent.
Donovan said the restaurant industry’s reliance on tips in terms of livability became more apparent because tips weren’t reflected in employees’ earnings towards the federal government.
“The social safety net that was created by the government during COVID didn’t catch hospitality workers,” Donovan explained, adding tips usually weren’t taxed. “If you don’t pay into the safety net, there’s no room for the safety net to catch you.”
This led to the restaurant removing the option for gratuities, instead leading it to raise its menu prices.
“The service is included,” Donovan said.
He explained it’s a common practice in other industries.
“Most things you buy, the service is included. If you go to Home Depot and you buy a ladder, and someone helps you find the ladder…their service is built into the price that you saw,” Donovan said.
The restaurant’s reasoning for making the change was partly about employee protection, but also about transparency towards customers.
“Menu prices are not fairly represented because you’re expected to tip more,” Donovan said.
He added it’s a model that has been around for decades, but may not always work anymore.
“We knew tipping didn’t exist practically. It wasn’t practically doing anything. It really was just there from legacy,” he said. “It’s a tradition, and it’s not really a tradition that works.”
Additionally, both Bakali and Donovan say customers have mostly responded positively.
At High on Chai, Bakali said customers are often surprised when they realize there is no tip option.
She added customers appreciate knowing exactly what their purchase will cost.
“I think people like knowing exactly what they are paying, and there is no awkward moment of deciding where you have to tip or wondering what percentage is expected to pay,” she said.
Donovan on the other hand said he received emails from people who strongly opposed the decision, but after explaining the model and the pros of the change, many came back more understanding.
He also added that those messages represented a small portion of the overall response.
“Guests love not tipping, and they hate tipping,” he said.
Are Toronto businesses able to pick up the model?
While both businesses believe a no-tipping model can work, both owners admit that the transition over isn’t easy.
“It’s expensive, and it’s not for the faint of heart,” Donovan said.
He said that about half of the restaurant’s overall pricing reflects the cost of service once the previously counted tips are accounted for.
He also pointed to the additional employer costs associated with putting more compensation through payroll.
“If I take a million dollars in tips and I put it on my payroll, it costs me 10 per cent of a million dollars, which is $100,000,” he said. “We knew how much money it was going to cost, and it’s expensive.”
That cost is one reason Donovan said restaurants should not make the switch without first understanding exactly why they want to do it.
“I think you have to know why you’re in it because that’s going to help you know whether it was successful when you made the change,” Donovan explained.
For a GTA business that might already be strapped for cash, replacing a tipping system with significantly higher staff wages can also mean raising menu prices and absorbing additional payroll-related expenses.
Despite the cost, Bakali believes it can be a realistic model.
She said restaurants considering the change need to be transparent with customers about why their prices may be higher.
“If you’re going to have a no-tipping model, customers need to understand that the price reflects the actual cost of running the business,” she said.
Bakali added a no-tipping model should become a common practice with the GTA.
“We need to make this a norm, is what I feel,” she said. “If I can do it, others can do it. It just needs one person to change.”
Donovan said making it a norm could be difficult.
He said that Richmond Station regularly speaks with other restaurant owners interested in its model, but none have made the switch so far after learning about the costs involved.
“Not one of the people we’ve spoken with yet has done it,” he said.
He isn’t opposed to other restaurants adopting the system. He believes it could provide important benefits to workers by making their earnings logged and concrete.
“I think it’s right, and I think it’s good, but it is also definitely very difficult,” Donovan explained. “It’s very expensive, and there are a lot of challenges that come with it.”
For High on Chai, that incorporation has been worth it, and for Richmond Station, the same model has worked for years.
Whether it works for another restaurant depends on the business, its margins, its staff and why it wants to make the change in the first place.
