MINNEAPOLIS – The owners of the Blue Plate Restaurant Group are dishing up some palatable paychecks for many of their employees. They are boosting their minimum wage workers pay and returning more of credit card paid tips to the servers.
David Burley and Stephanie Shimp were former wait servers at Minneapolis' Nicollet Island Inn. They founded Blue Plate with the Highland Grill in Saint Paul in 1993. It has grown to include the Groveland Tap in St. Paul, Longfellow Grill in Minneapolis, Edina Grill in Edina, 3 Squares in Maple Grove, Scusi in St. Paul, The Lowry and The Freehouse in Minneapolis and now the new Blue Barn in the new West End Market at the Minnesota State Fair.
On Wednesday, they announced that they are boosting the minimum wage of non-tipped employees from the new state level of $8.00 to $9.69. The higher level is based on calculations by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of a livable wage specifically for Hennepin and Ramsey Counties.
Burley and Shimp also announced that they will resume paying the two percent fee for tips paid with a credit card. For two weeks, the fee was taken from servers' wages, but now will be paid again by Blue Plate.
"In the short term, it will be a cost," said Burley, "but we think by taking better care of our employees that our turnover rates will go down and we will have happier, better people."
The resumption of paying the tip fee was to begin immediately. The raise in the minimum wage will occur very soon, according to Burley and Shimp.
The co-owners say their decision was reached after speaking with customers and employees. They said they hope other restaurants will follow their lead for their own workers.
