The celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr faced further embarrassment yesterday after admitting that his restaurant Le Gavroche, which has two Michelin-stars, does not distribute the service charge added to bills to its staff.
The former MasterChef judge, who apologised earlier this week for paying his chefs £5.50 per hour, which is below the legal minimum wage, said that he regards the 13 per cent charge as “revenue”.
The government said earlier this year that discretionary payments for service should be given to employees after tax is calculated. It ran a consultation this summer and said it was considering barring employers from taking any cut, in order to provide greater protection to workers.
The fixed-price menu with wine at Le Gavroche in Mayfair, London, costs £212 per head, and the restaurant is estimated to take several thousand pounds in service charges a week.
A spokeswoman for the restaurant told The Guardian: “Wages are not dependent on fluctuating levels of discretionary service charges or cash tips. Gratuities form just one part of the payroll each month. Service charge is treated as revenue and the restaurant pays all taxes accordingly.”
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The situation at Le Gavroche came to light when chefs complained last month that their low pay was made worse by the fact that they did not get a cut of the service charge that many diners assume supplements staff wages.
At the time a spokeswoman for the restaurant said: “All Le Gavroche staff, front of house and kitchen, share in the 13 per cent discretionary service charge.” A spokeswoman for Mr Roux said that in the initial statement he was trying to make clear that the waiters and chefs were treated equally regarding the service charge.
Mr Roux has also said that the 13 per cent charge will be included in customers’ bills in the future rather than accepting tips but it will still not be passed down to staff. “There is too much ambiguity between service charges and tips,” the chef added.
Chefs told The Guardian that they would be expected to start their shifts at about 8.30am most days and work through till about 11.30pm.
Mr Roux apologised on Tuesday for under-paying his chefs for working up to 68 hours per week and claimed that he was unaware of their long working hours.