As from 01.10.2009, restaurants and food establishments in the UK are no longer able to count tips as part of a waiters/waitresses pay making the amount up to the minimum wage.This possibly came as a bit of a blow to Carluccio's caffè as they were once reported to take as much as sixty percent of tips given to their staff. A BBC investigation found Carluccio's paid some waiters £3.75 an hour in the knowledge that it was below the legal minimum – what a caring company!
According to their website they’re now as pure as the driven snow apart from two conflicting statements:-
“We do not operate a blanket service charge (other than for large parties) or ask our waiters to pool and share tips between themselves”.
“A proportion of tips are shared with non-waiting staff but not management at any level”.
The Reading based Carluccio’s has recently been fined almost forty thousand pounds for the loss of a diners’ finger tip in 2006; in 2008 the company pleaded guilty to failing to register with the Environment Agency and not bothering to recycle any waste packaging; and last year Mr Carluccio bizarrely stabbed himself in the chest with a kitchen knife, nearly puncturing a lung and requiring hospital treatment.
Look, I’m sure it’s perfectly safe to eat there and the chances are; you’re going to return to work with all of your digits; the waitress will probably get some of the tip you’ve left and they may even recycle the odd glass bottle – good luck!
There are some great Italian restaurants in Reading: Pepe Sale – Nino’s (when they’re not too busy) - Mari e Monti (the dog’s bollocks)
If you’re a ex Carluccio’s worker and you would like to grass the company up for breaches of health & safety regulations, employment law or hygiene misdemeanours, please contact your nearest HSE office here or find our nearest Foods Standard Agency Officer here.
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