"Dining while black": tipping as social artifact.

Recent studies suggest that black American diners tend to tip less than white American diners. Rather than address tipping directly, this study uses in-depth interviews of white restaurant workers to frame the issue of how restaurant workers view and respond to customers of color. The present research indicates that white American restaurant workers actively participate in derogatory stereotyping of black American customers, engaging in the use of racial code words and derogatory ethnic labels, while discriminating--both overtly and covertly--in their service interactions with black customers. Among other things, servers attempt to negotiate with other white employees to avoid having black parties seated in their sections and actively try to trade off such "undesirable" parties. Servers' logic regarding tipping is self-perpetuating in the sense that they avoid serving parties of black customers because they anticipate poor tips. These results suggest that evidence of racial tipping differences needs to be viewed cautiously in the service context in which they exist and that the industry should take special care to ensure that when servers serve black Americans, they should provide service that justifies a good tip.

Keywords: race relations; tipping; restaurants; discrimination

**********

Recent studies posit that black American diners often leave smaller tips than do white American diners. Using in-depth interviews of white restaurant workers (who dominate front-of-the-house positions), this study frames the issue according to how restaurant workers view and respond to customers of color. The research indicates that white American restaurant workers actively participate in derogatory stereotyping of black American customers, engage in the use of racial code words and derogatory ethnic labels, and discriminate in their service interactions with black customers. Among other things, servers attempt to negotiate with other employees to avoid having black parties seated in their section and actively try to trade off such "undesirable" parties. Servers~ logic is self-perpetuating in the sense that they avoid serving parties of black customers because they anticipate poor tips from those parties. These results suggest that evidence of racial tipping differences needs to viewed cautiously in the service context.

A majority of white Americans are fond of thinking that racism is a thing of the past and that black Americans no longer face intentional or widespread discrimination. (1) While overt, aggressive, institutionalized racism has been outlawed, many black Americans believe that a different set of rules applies for blacks than what applies to whites, and they understand that racism is an integral, permanent, and indestructible component of society. (2)

The restaurant-tipping debate introduced by Michael Lynn's accompanying article demonstrates one aspect of the divide in people's beliefs about racism. (3) To summarize this article, many white servers believe that the majority of black customers tip poorly regardless of how well they are served. Lynn considers this a matter of the need to educate black American customers on current tipping practices in the United States. In this article, however, we present a different perspective--a perspective in which tips by black Americans may, in fact, correlate with the level of service they receive. Based on our research, we see restaurants as an institution plagued by racial discrimination not unlike many other American institutions, places where black Americans face continued and various forms of racism, regardless of law or official policy. Our research focuses on tipping in the broader context of restaurant race relations and offers a lens by which to view tipping in the context of racial discrimination and continued racism in restaurants.

In an effort to extend the limited empirical work that exists on black Americans' experience as restaurant customers, this study examines one exemplar of everyday racism: the spoken and unspoken and organizational rituals that govern restaurant experiences. (4) Using in-depth interviews of restaurant workers, the study examines how restaurant workers (primarily, servers) address issues of race, explains how elements of social exchange (tipping in particular) play out in the restaurant's interracial "theater," and examines the extent to which restaurant workers view their racial stereotypes as rational beliefs. We ground our study within a broader institutional context, embedding this study's data points into the broad sweep of ingrained belief systems and institutionalized restaurant practices.

Institutional Misconduct and the Black American Experience

The majority of everyday examples that we introduce in this article involve interpersonal interactions between restaurant servers and customers, fellow servers, and dining-room hosts, hostesses, and managers. But as Feagin et al., Bell, and others suggest, when one speaks of differential access or opportunity based on biology, one cannot separate the interpersonal from the structural; they are in many ways variants of the same problem. (5) It is in this vein that one must begin to understand the historical precedents that still, some argue, govern black American customer experiences in a full range of leisure and commercial establishments.

Probably the best-known case of discriminatory malfeasance in the restaurant industry involves the Shoney's Corporation, in the case of Haynes v. Shoney's. (6) In 1992, after two years of bitter court battles related to a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 21,000 persons, the Shoney's Corporation settled the Haynes case for $132.5 million, the largest such settlement in United States history. (7) As detailed in the accompanying sidebar, the lawsuit included well-established examples of overt and covert racism on the part of Ray Danner, Shoney's cofounder and chair of its board, and other senior managers. With regard to formal policies and procedures, Shoney's was also found to lack an affirmative-action plan, a formal application process, and objective criteria for promotions.

Although most observers point to Haynes v. Shoney's as the most egregious example of formalized racist practices in the restaurant industry, serious charges have also been levied against Denny's (e.g., management's often publicized use of the word blackout as a code for having too many black customers in a Denny's restaurant at one time), Red Onion, International House of Pancakes, and Domino's. Also part of the restaurant industry's sad history was the case of the Sambo's restaurant chain. This firm drew human-rights complaints in the 1970s because its name invoked the stereotype from "Little Black Sambo." Indeed, the chain used the story's cartoon-type character as a logo. (11) In short, formal complaints against U.S. restaurant chains suggest complex and persistent patterns of discrimination related to race, power, and culture.

By the Numbers

To better understand differential patterns of treatment based on race, we present the following snapshot of the black American experience within the restaurant industry, which is the largest employer of service workers, regardless of race, in the United States. The numbers suggest distinct patterns of "preferred" roles and missed opportunities. Although black workers make up one-tenth of all those employed in the United States, black Americans constitute 13 percent of those in foodservice jobs. Sixteen percent of kitchen workers and 19 percent of cooks are black, compared with only 5 percent of waiters and waitresses and less than 3 percent of bartenders. (12)

The issue extends beyond the fact that black workers are more likely to be in the back of a restaurant than in the front. Few black Americans are to be found in the ranks of the industry's management, and few black entrepreneurs have been able to secure franchises in major family-restaurant chains. Black entrepreneurs have also had difficulty obtaining bank loans to start restaurants, either on their own or as part of a franchise arrangement. (13) With this background, we turn to our examination of blacks' experience as restaurant customers.

Dining While Black

In addition to examples of racial discrimination made evident in the Denny's and Shoney's cases, many research studies on racism indicate that discrimination in restaurant dining is not uncommon for black Americans. (14) Feagin and Sikes revealed the following forms of restaurant discrimination: black Americans were slow to be greeted, were seated in undesirable locations such as next to the kitchen or outside, and were largely ignored by service-staff members while dining. (15) Researchers have suggested that these examples are extensions of Jim Crow-era denials of service (16) and typify the more subtle and intangible acts that characterize today's "modern racism." (17)