• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • 5 DOUBLE-U’S
    • MASTHEAD
    • DISTRIBUTION
    • ADVERTISE
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

TERMS OF SERVICE: RETHINK KITCHEN

Written by HALEY HAMILTON Posted April 25, 2017 Filed Under: COLUMNS, Drinks, Eats, LIFESTYLE

Photo courtesy of Juliet

 

Experimental profit-sharing restaurant in Somerville hits milestone

 

 

Juliet, joint venture of chef Josh Lewin and Katrina Jazayeri, operators of the Bread & Salt pop-up who paid dues feeding the cocktail-sippers at Wink & Nod in the South End, generated a fair share of buzz when it opened last winter in Somerville’s Union Square, and it has earned a steadfast following in the last 14 months.

 

Why not? Juliet is, in many ways, something entirely new. In the space that once housed the Sherman Cafe, Lewin and Jazayeri pair fine-dining quality and service with a laid-back atmosphere for breakfast, lunch, and dinner—not exactly something found on every corner.

 

But what’s most intriguing about Juliet is its business model. For starters, the restaurant is one of very few establishments in the region that operates completely without gratuity. That’s right—no tipping. Juliet runs on Open Book Strategy, a business model that prioritizes staff participation not just on the floor or in the kitchen but in the business of the restaurant itself, teaching each employee about overhead, profit margins, rent, labor costs, etc. And it pays them via a baseline hourly wage and quarterly shares of profits—the first checks of which were cut last week.

 

“We are greatly appreciative of our staff for being so open and patient with us,” Lewin said at a public meeting hosted at Juliet last week to celebrate and to discuss the process of operating on a profit-sharing model. The chef continued: “There wasn’t a model to compare us to when we opened, but we knew we didn’t want to be used as an excuse for the tipping model to be okay.”

 

And what’s so wrong with tipping? Well… a lot, really. But the short version is that if your employer isn’t paying you fairly for your time you can, in certain spaces, actually end up working for free. Also, when your income is based almost exclusively on tips, work culture can be downright demeaning—when the people you work for aren’t responsible for the bulk of your paychecks, any reciprocity between owners or salaried management and staff can break down quickly.

 

“We had the mission of creating a great place to work as being part of what we create with Juliet,” Jazayeri said. “We suspected compensation was at the bottom of a lot of issues in the industry. Harassment, turnover, wage theft, these all have tipping as a common factor.”

 

“Compensation has to be addressed differently,” she added. “We’re not going to have a tipped workforce.”

 

With profit sharing also comes a more level playing field for back-of-house staff. It’s no secret that cooks and dishwashers, often pulling shifts that are twice as long as those worked by the floor staff, aren’t fairly compensated.

 

“There is a canyon between front- and back-of-house [in terms of income in most restaurants],” said Noah Clickstein, a server at Juliet. “I would walk with three times what the back-of-house was making. And the lack of unity and culture drove people away. Which is why I love being here.”

 

“It changes everything from how you work with each other to how you treat guests,” said sous chef Will Deeks.

 

By being paid quarterly shares of profits and having a hands-on understanding of what the restaurant’s finances look like, each staff member has a stake in how time, money, and resources are allocated.

 

“Talking to people about where money goes shifts attitudes,” said Deeks. “It eliminates any ‘not my problem’ mentality. We all have a stake.”

 

While this all sounds excellent, you’re probably still wondering: Does it pay the bills?

 

“Front-of-house took a hit financially,” said Katie Rosengren, Juliet’s operation manager. “I make less money than I probably could, and less than I have, but I don’t necessarily look at it in those terms. I have decided this is a career … If I look at it in terms of money I could leave, make more money as a server somewhere else, but be burnt out, not have health insurance, I wouldn’t get maternity leave when I want to start a family … The benefits of this job outweigh the financial differences for me.”

 

Ten employees had shares in the first profit checks that were cut last week. Each share is weighted by the number of hours each staff member works, much like in a pooled house where tips are divided among all front-of-house sections based on hours and job title (e.g., an hour of a bartender’s shift qualifies for a higher percentage of tips than an hour of a bar back’s time on the clock).

 

People have the right to own a business, Lewin said, but being a business owner does not entitle you to the financial success of the restaurant.

 

“The people working for us should be folded into that success,” he said.

 

Copyright 2016 Haley Hamilton. Terms of Service is licensed for use by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and media outlets in its network.

HALEY HAMILTON

Haley is an AAN Award-winning columnist for DigBoston and Mel magazine and has contributed to publications including the Boston Globe and helped found Homicide Watch Boston. She has spearheaded and led several Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism investigations including a landmark multipart series about the racialized history of liquor licensing in Massachusetts, and for three years wrote the column Terms of Service about restaurant industry issues from the perspective of workers.

More from author
  • HALEY HAMILTON
    https://digboston.com/author/haley-hamilton/
    Restaurants offer classes
    SILVER DINING PLAYBOOK: RESTAURANTS FOSTER PHYSICAL COMMUNITY THROUGH REMOTE CLASSES
  • HALEY HAMILTON
    https://digboston.com/author/haley-hamilton/
    A PANDEMIC EMPLOYMENT SURVEY FOR GREATER BOSTON SERVICE INDUSTRY WORKERS
  • HALEY HAMILTON
    https://digboston.com/author/haley-hamilton/
    Al Fresco Boston
    SILVER DINING PLAYBOOK: DON’T FORGET TO OVER-TIP YOUR SERVER
  • HALEY HAMILTON
    https://digboston.com/author/haley-hamilton/
    Solutions covid restaurants
    SILVER DINING PLAYBOOK: HOW TEXAS IS LEADING ON RESTAURANT WORKER SAFETY

Filed Under: COLUMNS, Drinks, Eats, LIFESTYLE Tagged With: Josh Lewin, Juliet, Katie Rosengren, Katrina Jazayeri, Open Book Strategy, SOMERVILLE, Terms of Service, tipping, union square, Will Deeks

WHAT’S NEW

WU ASSERTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTS IN HER CAMPAIGN

WU ASSERTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTS IN HER CAMPAIGN

STREET MEDICS BOLSTER PROTESTS IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

STREET MEDICS BOLSTER PROTESTS IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HONORED, SPEAKERS ADDRESS RACISM

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HONORED, SPEAKERS ADDRESS RACISM

FORMER MASS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE PREDICTED VIOLENCE BEFORE ASSAULT ON CAPITOL

FORMER MASS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE PREDICTED VIOLENCE BEFORE ASSAULT ON CAPITOL

PRISON HORRORS BY THE NUMBERS

PRISON HORRORS BY THE NUMBERS

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • APPOINTED SOMERVILLE OFFICIAL SPURS OUTRAGE WITH TWEETS FROM DC MOB SCENE by MARC LEVY
  • Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common. CC BY-SA 4.0 2017 by AbhiSuryawanshi. NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM by MATTHEW ANDREWS
  • VIDEO: COP WHO BRAGGED THAT HE HIT PROTESTERS SHOWS HOW BAD APPLES THRIVE IN BOSTON by CHRIS FARAONE
  • PRISON HORRORS BY THE NUMBERS by SARAH BETANCOURT
  • IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT’S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT? by ZACK HUFFMAN

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 1.9 – 11/26/20

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

Footer

digbos

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO A HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP https://digboston.com/no-justice-how-officials-in-one-mass-town-took-extraordinary-measures-to-appease-a-controversial-cop/ #ArlingtonMA #police #reform #cop #racism #controversy #BlackLivesMatter #Massachusetts
Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for host Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers … What happens to those #jobs if virtual kitchens continue to flourish? https://digboston.com/ghost-story-virtual-kitchens-appear-to-be-the-next-big-thing-but-at-what-cost/ #restaurant #labor #work #Boston #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
“I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan “I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan. 7 in the same country we went to bed in on the 6th.” https://digboston.com/former-mass-gubernatorial-candidate-predicted-violence-before-assault-on-capitol/ #politics #Massachusetts #national #Capitol #WashingtonDC #MAGA
RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL http RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL https://digboston.com/radical-and-relevant-the-life-of-harry-brill/ #obituary #organizer #radical #sociologist #democracy #politics @UMassBoston @BklynCollege411 @UCBerkeley #Boston #Massachusetts #NewYorkCity #Berkeley #California
NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 #PROTEST ON BOSTON CO NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 #PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM https://digboston.com/no-honeymoon-for-biden-1-20-protest-on-boston-common-4-pm/ #opinion #progressive #left #action #inauguration #Boston #Massachusetts
Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this lat Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this latest incarnation of a #beer that’s been in the making for months. https://digboston.com/video-jacks-abby-x-boston-celtics-pride-and-parquet-hoppy-lager-unboxing-tasting/ #fun #video #review #Boston #Massachusetts
Jostling for position and influence are the disadv Jostling for position and influence are the disadvantaged candidates, existing industry participants, and municipalities … https://digboston.com/the-road-to-home-delivery-pt-5-dogs-in-the-fight-identifying-the-players/ #cannabis #politics #analysis #Massachusetts
The candidates will be interviewed about the upcom The candidates will be interviewed about the upcoming race. https://digboston.com/wu-and-campbell-to-speak-at-mayoral-candidate-webinar/ #politics #mayor #campaign #Boston #Massachusetts
Participants took to the streets in the hope of sw Participants took to the streets in the hope of swaying the Biden administration. https://digboston.com/on-national-day-of-action-protesters-call-for-eviction-moratorium/ #housing #justice #protest #national #Boston #Massachusetts
“They refuse to respond to this humanitarian cri “They refuse to respond to this humanitarian crisis where people really need them. We’re just ignoring this problem and it’s getting worse and worse.” https://digboston.com/its-harder-than-ever-to-find-a-bathroom-in-boston-whats-the-city-doing-about-it/ #politics #unhoused #homeless #bathroom #public #health #Boston #Massachusetts
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]