At Keoni by Keo's in Waikiki, the policy is to charge customers who don't speak English an automatic fifteen percent tip. They say it's because the majority of its customers don't speak English and don't tip:
According to Eater, the restaurant says it's because the majority of its customers don't speak English and they don't tip. The restaurant says this way the staff is taken care of.So the charge is basically a pre-emptive tip on behalf of the wait staff. I get that. But considering that this restaurant is in Waikiki, I'm guessing the majority of their customers are tourists. And I have to wonder if there's some profiling that happens -- do they just charge every non-English speaker? Or just the Japanese tourists?
The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, which hasn't received a complaint about the restaurant but may investigate has a problem with the restaurant's speedy fix, saying “discrimination based on language is ancestry discrimination,” and the restaurant may need to find a better way to cover staff wages.
Note, however, that the restaurant told KI-TV that if customers really didn't want to pay the 15 percent they didn't have to. There was no mention whether this policy were explained on the bill or in a language other than English.
