San Francisco Restaurants Can’t Afford Waitstaff

Times are tough in San Francisco, according to the New York Times. So tough, in fact, that residents forced to do things like order at the counter at restaurants (gasp!) and bus their own tables (say it isn’t so!). A piece titled, “San Francisco Restaurants Can’t Afford Waiters. So They’re Putting Diners to Work” attempts to draw a parallel between the high cost of housing and its effect on the style of popular restaurant in the city — the type without a formal waitstaff where patrons need to do the majority of the heavy lifting. Restaurant businesses do not operate in a vacuum. And perhaps, given San Francisco’s rising minimum wage and California’s law prohibiting a separate tipped minimum wage, this type of fine counter service has become a feature, not a bug. Washington