Providing a consistently excellent dining experience requires all staff members working together, including the kitchen team. Since 1987, our kitchen teams are the foundation of the made from scratch goodness our guests have come to expect.

Like many industries, the hospitality industry is undergoing significant shifts. Providing equitable wages for all team members is a huge priority for us! To provide higher wages for kitchen members and non-tipped staff, we have made changes to our service charge/voluntary tipping practices.

Effective March 17, 2022, we reduced the automatic service charge implemented in November 2016, from 6% to 4.5%. We now have the servers & bartenders sharing a small percentage of tips with their support staff (hosts, bussers, bartenders, & hourly kitchen staff.)

Servers & bartenders do not retain any part of the 4.5% service charge. Lombardi’s retains 100% of the 4.5% service charge to provide equitable compensation packages to all team members.

Our servers and bartenders continue to experience strong base wage & tip income growth through annual minimum wage increases, and menu price adjustments. We believe the best way for full-service restaurants to address the huge wage disparity between service and kitchen staff, is to use a hybrid tipping model, made up of a small service charge, while leaving tipping up to the guest’s discretion.

FAQ’S

Why don’t we raise our prices instead of adding a service charge?

Due to skyrocketing inflation, we have already raised our prices to reflect
increased product costs. As restaurant operators continue to address large pay inequities between dining room and kitchen staff, a fixed service charge will become more the norm as it’s transparent, and allows restaurant operators to compensate all staff with higher wages.

Guests are encouraged to calculate any voluntary tip from the subtotal amount on the guest check, which does not include the service charge or sales tax.

We appreciate your patronage and support of local restaurants!

Kerri Lonergan - Dreke Diane Symms,
CEO Founder

Andy HIlliard Kris Korshaven,
Corporate Chef Director of Operations