Surcharging may become the new tipping in NYC

Tipping in restauඣrants in foodie-centric New York City may be about to go the way of the three-martini lunch.

A growing number of restaurants want to take tipping out of diners’ hands a🐼s early as Jan. 1 and replace it with 20 to 30 percent surcharges to help pay for a perfect storm of rising wages, increasing health care costs and a powerful movement sweeping across the country🃏 calling for a $15 minimum wage — of which Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a big supporter.

“The timing is right to make a fundamental change to how we pay our workers,” said Michael Stillman, who runs Smith & Wollens🍬ky and five other restaurants in the Big Apple, and would like to add a surcharꦇge.

The industry is desperate to make the change before it gets slammed with hefty wage hikes that go into effect Dec 31. New York’s minimum wage will rise to $9 an hour from $8.75 and the wage restaurants pay servers — not counting the tips cust🌺omers leave — is going up by 50 percent, to $7.50 an hour.

The move to higher wages and no tipping got a big boost in October when famed restaurateur Danny Meyer aౠnnounced th🗹at, beginning next year, he’s eliminating tipping at his 11 New Yo꧅rk restaurants. To pay for hig🎀her staff wages, Meyer will raise his menu prices about 20 percent.

But unlike Meyer, many o𒊎f his competitors feel that they don’t have the pricing power to do that without🍎 losing customers.

“Danny is ဣin a unique position because his restaurants are destination eateries,” Stillman said. “If I raised m♏y prices 20 or 30 percent, the average tourist or New Yorker wouldn’t understand that service is included and might go to the steakhouse across the street that hadn’t raised its prices.”

New ♏York City restaurants have lagged behind San Francisco, Seattle and Miami, for example, in getting rid of tipping because of a 40-year-old city regulation meant to protect consumers from hidden fees. That regulation, the only one of its kind in a major city, prevents eateries from adding a surch꧒arge to bills.

But even the city agency responsible for enforcing the arc♊ane rule said recently that it is open to discussing getting rid of Section 5-59(♓a) of Title 6 of the Rules of the City New York.

Julie Menin, commissioner for the Department of Consumer Affairs, told The Post she would “work with the restaurant industry to solicit feedback on this evolving issue,” but꧒ she also pointed out that surcharges are not allowed under the current rules.

That hasn’t stopped a handful of eateries from doing so anyway, including Dirt Candy, a popular vegetarian restaurant that added a 20 percent administrativ🔥e fee to its menu last year. Owner Amanda Cohen said the fee is prominently displayed on the menu and that the restaurant pays taxes on the income from ꦅthe fee.

“I get s🎀everal calls a week from restaurant owners who want to add a surcharge,” said Carolyn Richmond, a Fox Rothschild lawyer who focuses on restaurants and labor issues. “But I have to tell them it’s not allowed.”

The idea behind a surcharge or, in Meyer’s case, higher menu prices is to🤪 give restaurants more revenue to pay all their employees more fairly, say experts.

The pay disparity between the kitch♉en and front of t🤪he house is 50 to 75 percent.

“This is a long time coming,” said Stillman. “The average kitche♈n worker does not earn a living wage, but we are a😼ll challenged to compete within the same system.”