My list of new deal-breakers for restaurants.
#1) The tip prompt goes above and beyond 20%. Even those tip prompts that offer "15-18-20%" are wrong. If the owner/proprietor sees nothing wrong with doing this - dine elsewhere. They don't have a fucking clue. And this is not to suggest that in some instances people might not want to tip their server better - but the "other" option provides for that.
#2) They employ any "Students of Hospitality". By these people I mean those international students who are brought in from abroad specifically to fill low-paying roles in hospitality under the guise of taking "a course" from Columbia or Selkirk College. This is clearly a ploy to get low-skilled workers at bargain basement prices. It's wrong. No one should have to take a course - 2 or 3 years in some instances I've heard - for a minimum wage job.
#3) They advertise a shortage of staff. This is Bullshit. They have a shortage of competent managers. Refer to the St. Eugene Staff Motivational Poster. Restaurants have no problem raising prices to reflect increasing food costs. If they don't realize they have to raise prices to pay their staff better or find other ways to be competitive then they should not be in business. The first few months after the pandemic, fine, but this now is too much.