If a waitress in Arkansas had earned a $4,400 tip from the “$100 Dinner Club,” it would have been the best day of her life. When the restaurant management hinted that Ryan Brandt could only keep 20% of the tip and the rest would be divided among the other staff members, Ryan Brandt had planned to use the money to pay off college debts. Brandt was forced to hand up the majority of the cash after being fired for going against the restaurant’s tipping policy.
The owners of the “$100 Dinner Club” met for a dine-in gathering at the Oven and Tap in Bentonville, Arkansas, thanks to local real estate business owner Grant Wise. Each participant provided a $100 tip.
Prior to the event, Wise phoned the restaurant to make sure the waiters did not split tips. Ryan Brandt, the waitress, was pleased and in tears when he gave her a check for $4,400, which the manager divided between her and the other staff.
When the management of the restaurant learned that Brandt had been given such a large amount of tips, they informed her that she would be required to share a portion of the money with the other people who worked at the restaurant. This was a request that had never been asked before at that same restaurant where she had worked for the last three and a half years.
“I was informed that I was going to be passing my cash over to my shift manager and that I would be taking home 20%,” Brandt told FOX 59, saying that in the three and a half years that she had worked there, she had never been asked to divide her tip before.
Brandt, who is in the early stages of her 30s and studies Spanish at the University of Arkansas, was supposed to use the money to pay off her college debt when she was left heartbroken to hand over the large amount to her superiors. Instead, she was forced to hand over the money.
After a few days, Brandt was fired from her job at the restaurant for ‘violating’ its rules by informing Wise about the restaurant’s policy on receiving tips. The rule that Brandt broke was telling Wise about the restaurant’s policy on receiving tips.
Wise noticed that many restaurant waiters are suffering and were severely impacted by COVID-related circumstances during the COVID-19 epidemic and the global lockdown. Thus, he developed the concept of the “$100 Dinner Club.” When he was hosting a real estate conference in Arkansas, he planned for it to take place at their favorite dine-in restaurant, the Oven and Tap.
Wise and his wife carried out their plan after getting confirmation from the restaurant management that they did not have a policy on tip sharing.
The tender moment quickly turned tragic when Wise learned that the restaurant managers had made Brandt split her tip with the other staff members. She was fired shortly after. He was unable to talk with the owner of the restaurant, so he texted her instead.
He found out she was fired when he went back to the Oven and Tap restaurant to get his money back and personally give it to Brandt. On December 7, he used his social media to post about the event.
On the GoFundMe page, Wise said, “My only desire is to help her get through this experience with the least amount of stress and anxiety possible and onto whatever her next chance may be.”
Wise recently shared an update on his social media accounts stating that Brandt got a new job offer from another restaurant and started working there on December 8.
At $8,700, Grant Wise decided to end the GoFundMe campaign.
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