LANSING — Traverse City restaurants say they’re ready for the summer tourism rush with a successful Memorial Day weekend and uncertainties about state wage policy behind them.
“We had some record numbers this weekend already,” said Leslie Bilbey, co-owner of Oakwood Proper Burgers. “Very exciting and very energized for what we hope to be another great summer tourist season.”
This summer will be the first that businesses have to work with newly implemented tipped wage laws, which went into effect in February.
“Last year was a very scary year with the unknowns, about the ‘what ifs’, and they have squelched those ‘what ifs’ for us for at least the summer of ‘25,” said Megan Cox, co-owner of Sleder’s Family Tavern.
Currently, the hourly tipped wage is $4.74, up about 25% after starting the year at $4.01. Under the original law, the tipped wage would’ve jumped nearly 50% to $5.99.
Restaurant owners say the smaller wage increase has helped them adopt the new policies without disruption.
“It’s a lot more reasonable than what they were originally discussing,” Cox said. “We are in a much better position than we were when the bill was just floundering out there, wondering what was going to pass.”
The original law would’ve begun a phase-out of the tipped wage, a policy that many servers warned could have decreased their take-home pay due to higher operating costs and changes in customer behavior.
But businesses say their Memorial Day traffic bodes well for the months ahead.
“Certainly this last weekend, consumers were out in droves, supporting and having a great time relaxing and tipping as they were last year,” Bilbey said.
Under the original law, the tipped wage would’ve been brought to the same level as the minimum wage by 2031.
Under current law, the tipped wage will increase through 2030, capping at 50% of the minimum hourly wage — at least $7.50 an hour, increased for inflation.
Restaurant owners say the new policies calmed many of the concerns they had with the elimination of the tipped wage.
“I think everybody from both the employee and employers perspective, going into summertime, have a sense of confidence — that we feel as though we have some answers that we didn’t have last year,” Cox said.
