Gaucho restaurant chain to slash share of service charge for waiting staff

"Staff said they feared all waiters' shares of the service charge would drop to that level in the new year, placing all workers on a similar level. Gaucho's troncmaster, a company called WMT Troncmaster, wrote in a letter to workers that the service charge would now be shared with staff located at non-public places of business such as head office and central production units. This may also include staff working at Gaucho restaurants who are provided by an agency but who are not directly employed."

"The new tronc distribution has been set by the independent troncmaster following industry benchmarking across our Gaucho employees. The new distribution takes into consideration all our front- and back-of-house colleagues. It is an equitable solution for all of our excellent people. The employee costs borne by the Gaucho business remain as before and the business itself does not benefit in any way from the amended tronc system."

Gaucho is reducing the proportion of service charge that waiters and bar staff receive, cutting existing waiters' shares to between 25.45% and 29.4% from 37%, down from 45% earlier, and reducing bar staff from 20% to 17%. Newly employed waiters will receive 17%. The service charge will now be shared with non-public staff such as head office and central production units, and possibly agency-provided staff not directly employed. The troncmaster argues all team members who impact the customer experience should share tronc funds. Gaucho says the change was independently benchmarked and is legally compliant.

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