No more cover charge Da Burde: the Gori brothers' “award-winning trattoria” has permanently abolished it in early 2025. The reasons for the choice? We tell you here, attempting to simplify a very complex discourse that invests the issue of tips and current Italian regulations. Our interview with Paolo Gori.
Cover charge yes, cover charge no: it seems simple to justify one of the oldest customs in our local restaurant industry. For the customer, it still represents a hostile concept, an ill-digested addition on the final receipt; for the business owner, an anti-bump cushion against the incessant rise in expenses (from team salaries to restaurant set-up). Without prejudice to their respective points of view, the real news is that one of Italy's best trattorias has chosen to abolish it altogether, ushering in 2025 with a big news: those 2.50 euros incorporated in the “default” bill have now run their course. Behind the idea, Da Burde, an ultracentennial organism kept in shape by the Gori brothers, with Andrea at the reception and Paolo at the fires.
Since last January, then, the Florentine sign has banished the usual extra to redesign much of the management line. But what does this mean in concrete terms and what are the reflections that led the well-known hospitality family to change step for the first time since 1901? We talked about it with Paolo Gori, who lucidly analyzes a crucial issue in modern entrepreneurship.
Paolo, why is Da Burde abolishing service charges right now?
Actually, the discourse starts from afar. Upstream there is the negative perception of this historic surcharge, which tends to be seen as a means of the restaurateur to take advantage of customers (while sometimes it barely allows to cover the purchase costs of the tablecloth!). That said, we have chosen to abolish it as of 2025 both to make it easier for our guests and to benefit the staff and the health of the business; in fact, waiters are often the ones who suffer the consequences, where patrons avoid tipping if they already know they have to pay for the cover charge. Not surprisingly, we also reviewed the tipping mechanism in parallel.
Let us explain well the correlation between tips and service charges.
In Italy, unfortunately, tipping has always been literally drained by the tax burden of high taxation, so that little or none was left in the staff's paycheck. The result? Under such conditions, companies do triple somersaults to sustain themselves, and staff do not enjoy the proper reward for their efforts. Of course, it's better for Ghost Kitchens or for all those businesses that forgo waiters. I'm thinking of fast food formulas where convenience foods are regenerated and the diner serves himself, without even realizing it. There the brand makes huge amounts of money by “investing zero” in human labor, and maybe you end up paying for a simple sandwich from 12€ upwards. But you lose the experience of eating out, as well as the “artisan” wisdom of a trattoria like ours.
So going back to tips, how have you overcome the problem?
Fortunately, if until now you couldn't manage them with the electronic system, the latest regulations allow the owner to disburse them “cleanly” up to a ceiling of €5,000 per year, if the boys' income is below a certain threshold. On the practical side, the “tips” button on the cash register now also appears (previously the tax beat was not equivalent to the final consideration, ed.). To adopt this procedure, of course, it is necessary to have a substantial input of monthly tips, which in light of current measures become almost "exempt ”-specifically, they present a very low rate of 5 percent.
Translated into simple terms?
At Burde, we have eliminated the cover charge and encouraged the customer to leave tips at his or her complete discretion. Then we distribute them to “third parties” (in our case, the team) through the payroll, with minimal taxation that finally does not burden the sign. Simplifying it as much as possible, we collect from the restaurateur and pay out to the employees. We could call this an income supplement through tips, in some ways similar to the American model, although not directly comparable to the situation in the US.
The goal seems to have been achieved! Yet, several unresolved knots remain in the Italian legislative framework. Or do they?
Exactly. Let's not forget that food is a fundamental asset of Made in Italy: a positive experience at the table is a flywheel for the economy and tourism. For example, someone at a restaurant is impressed by a great dish with Parmigiano, the next day he buys the cheese as a souvenir, pouring his satisfaction into further purchases. And the following year they feel like spending their vacation again in the same place! However, if France and other countries are betting with their eyes closed on the driving effect of food and wine, we are still lagging behind.
Why?
First, in the Peninsula, restaurant owners are often branded as tax evaders who do not pay taxes, and the narrative of institutions greatly disadvantages the sector. What is needed is a de-taxation of the restaurant industry, accompanied by an honest and objective narrative. To date, a utopia.
Second, we note that the rhetoric (media and political) insists on raising wages in hospitality, not considering that such a move would in most cases risk penalizing family-run businesses, other than the large groups I mentioned above: in the trattoria, labor is substantial and margins minimal compared to other businesses, so prices would rise, with an inevitable decrease in bookings. A dog biting its own tail.
Innovation chapter. What is your opinion on the development of technology in the culinary branch? Does it help?
In general, it plays a decisive role and it is absolutely necessary to continue with research in different areas. However, at the operational level, I cannot “hire” artificial intelligence software to answer the phone and take reservations! Innovation cannot optimize production processes to do without staff. On the kitchen side, trivially I need a brigade that knows how to execute each specific gesture by hand-the opposite of “assembly-line style” simplification. The ham you eat at Da Burde we de-bone, it does not arrive boneless. These seem like details, but it is exactly the opposite.
Let's come to the practical part: how do you tip, at your place?
Not only with cash payment: nowadays also through credit card machine enabled (on which the item of the tip is newly present, ed.), avoiding complex systems: with the limitations of the old regulations, we were using an application that prolonged the wait too much at the time of the bill. We wanted to make it a smooth gesture, since many people -for business or pleasure- travel exclusively by credit card and do not have immediate liquidity. If you have to go through a cumbersome process after lunch, you eventually get out of the mood, lose time, and leave. So we changed the method, with as much transparency and as much care in the process.
What has been the reaction of the public? Have you communicated on social media the abolition of the cover charges Da Burde?
The change is there: people are enticed to support the kids with a fee of their choice and they value the absence of a fixed amount that automatically covers the service. On the other hand, we are not strategically communicating the new course. The key aspects of our work still remain conviviality, the warmth of the room and the aggregating power of food seasoned with family recipes. Da Burde continues to represent all of this, with an extra dash of modernity in the management.
