Love Kupcakes leased 469 Fore Street earlier this year and have been working to develop a new quick service business concept called Baristas + Bites which they plan to launch later this year.
Baristas + Bites will be open all day serving grab and go foods three meals a day aiming to attract repeat customers from the downtown area.
Owner Amy Alward is working with USM to build a mobile app that will notify customers when food is new items are just about ready: “when our fresh roasted free range organic rotisserie chicken… [or a] sheet tray of triple treat warm chocolate chip cookies gets pulled from the oven.” The app will also enable customers to pre-order and pay for curbside pick-up.
Alward plans to put in place a tip-free pricing model through a standard fee added to all sales that will enable her to pay staff front of house and kitchen staff $15/hr.
Hours for the Baristas + Bites will be 5 am – 9:30 pm Monday through Saturday, and 6 am – 9 pm on Sundays.
Update: The Bangor Daily News has published an article on Baristas + Bites and their strategy of being a tip-free eatery.
The BDN story says she “sunk seven figures into the rebrand of her cupcake business and the new concept she is building at 469 Fore St.” She’s gonna need to sell a lot of Bites.
She’s not really being all that bold with her tipping policy. Crass, yes.
It’s a tip free pricing model because it will be a tip free business. Mobile app, self checkout, grab-and-go etc all add up to no service, ergo no tips. To add an 11% surcharge is cynical at best, and insulting to her (potential) customers at the very least.
John’s right — tipping’s dying off for grab and go businesses as tipping via digital paying, be it a credit card or mobile app, is dying off. The business model she’s going to will be commonplace. And yes she’s being cynical.
What I would like to know is why can’t eating/drinking establishments just factor all costs, including paying staff a good livable wage with benefits, into the price of the food/drink and just charge me that much?
I would prefer that model to the standard now — which is that I am presented with a tipping option on nearly every transaction I make now, whether at a coffee shop, take out pizza place or deli. In addition to the ubiquitous tip jar, every receipt has a line for a tip and every time the screen is turned around for me to sign there it is: 15%, 20%, 25%.
And I always leave a tip, even if it’s just an iced coffee or I’m picking up takeout, because I want and believe that everyone should make a good wage, even in the coffee shop or pizza joint. However I don’t think it should work this way. Pay a good wage and then charge me whatever it takes to make that happen, and get rid of the tip jar!
Does anyone else remember when every Dunkin’ Donuts had a “POSITIVELY NO TIPPING” sign? And that was when they had counter service and real china!