1) We want to present the best quality food & drink that we are capable of.

A passion for good bread and coffee is what started us on this path, and we have no intention of veering off track. We constantly strive to make our food and service better.

2) Workers deserve safety, fairness and dignity.

We believe in the importance of fostering a workplace culture that: prioritizes respectful behaviour and communication, is dedicated to physical and psychological safety, mental and emotional well-being, has an awareness of systems of oppression and barriers faced by marginalized groups of people, and is dedicated to anti-oppression and anti-colonial principles.

We believe that workers deserve living wages, a work-life balance, and access to resources that allow them to take care of their health. Our tipping policy reflects these values, which you can read more about below.

3) We are in service to the broader community.

Businesses are important spaces in communities. They are gathering places, places where people go to seek refuge, to seek connection, to cheer up, to work, to study, to access amenities. We take our role in the community to heart, and we understand that we are in a shared space.

In this same vein, we believe in creating an accessible space and service model. From smart and accessible spatial design to serving customers in patient and non-judgemental ways, we strive to ensure that people’s experiences in our space are as barrier-free as possible.

4) We care about using our position and platform within the food industry conscientiously.

Businesses are not apolitical. They have power and political clout, and we have social and moral obligations to contribute positively. The food industry has a long way to go in raising the bar on ethical standards and overall working conditions.

We have used our platform to advocate for higher minimum wages, paid sick days, and better community care/crisis intervention.

Why do we not ask customers for tips?

Ultimately, we believe that the tipping model is unfair to workers. We are sensitive to the ways in which tipping and low-wage & precarious work can lead to toxic work environments how dependence on tipping can tip the scales in favour of problematic customers and dis-empowers service staff. Although not asking for tips is a bit unconventional in the current restaurant/food-service paradigm, it is not unheard of; in fact, there is a strong push in Canada and the US from labour groups to ask states and provinces to raise server minimum wages in order to reduce dependency on tips.

Until recently, servers in Ontario were not entitled to the regular minimum wage, though this has changed in recent years. Historically, servers were dependent on tips in order to make a living. This means that their compensation was not strongly tied to the hours they put in; rather, it was tied to how customers perceive their level of service. We have always thought that that was unfair, and in some instances, potentially dangerous.

We believe that it is the employer’s job to make sure workers are adequately compensated.

Our business model is predicated on building a workplace with people who have job security (i.e. permanent positions with predictable schedules), a living wage, health and disability benefits, employee bonuses (in good times), training opportunities, and a say in company decisions.  We have modelled our business this way because we think that is fair & equitable for the people involved, and so that we can build our business around a stable and dedicated team.

We hope that employee of ours has ever had to bend endure harm for the sake of pleasing a customer who was being unreasonable or abusive. Our goal and intention with our compensation package, working conditions, and non-reliance on tips is that workers can feel empowered in each and every interaction they have with customers.  We never want workers to wonder “how much money will I make, and what will I have to tolerate to make it?” 

This is also an equity issue. According to US data, 70% of servers are women, and nearly half are younger than 25 years of age.  Customers are more likely to tip female servers who fit a narrow standard of beauty, and white servers are tipped more on average than racialized servers. Toxic tipping culture disproportionately impacts women, especially women of colour. At BBU, we are trying to practice an equitable model for compensation in an industry that has historically exploited workers.