We believe all Jojo’s employees contribute to every guest's experience.

Our 18% Service charge guarantees all of our staff is paid a fair wage for their contribution to daily service.

We Believe in gratuity and tipping and accept tips.

We do not expect nor do we solicit tips.

Any and all additional gratuity is the sole property of the individual receiving it.

A service charge allows all staff to earn their wages in a more fair and equitable model, and unlike gratuity, a service charge can be shared between all positions. Despite common misconception, this also demands that we pay higher base wages than a traditional tip model at an increased cost to the business. A traditional tipped employee in a traditional tip model makes a sub-minimum wage; we do not pay sub-minimum wages. The service charge collected functions exactly as commission, and 100% of it is distributed fully to all staff members involved in daily service.

No part of the service charge is kept by the business.

We wholeheartedly believe this is the best and most equitable model for all our guests and staff. Our service charge allows us to keep menu prices competitive while using the best ingredients possible and simultaneously investing in the growth of all staff members, allowing us to pay higher wages.

We believe that if and when we inevitably make a mistake or have a service issue, it is the business's responsibility to correct it at our expense. A traditional tip model can place the blame on an employee, whereas our service charge model places the responsibility on the business.

We believe our hospitality, cooking, service, and prices should be the deciding factor of our success, and like any other business, it’s our sole responsibility to take care of our staff, which we do. Any additional tips are solely the property of the individual receiving them. Tips are accepted and appreciated, but in our case, unlike tradition, they aren’t required or expected to support our staff’s income.

*A (long) note regarding service charges:

Federal tip definition and state and federal laws regarding service charges and tips have become increasingly stringent and are changing constantly. Our decision to collect a service charge has been met with pessimism from day one. Frankly, it’s one of the most difficult, controversial, and contested things we could ever do, and we are fully aware of this as a hotly contested topic. I’m writing this to address several of the standard misconceptions. I can assure you that our model saves our guests money and allows us to provide better service to them. A service charge allows us to pay our non-(traditionally)-tipped staff members wages to allow them to focus on culinary careers. I believe those careers continue to build the hospitality industry in our community. We can do this while providing well-paying, above-average, long-term, and year-round employment for our front-of-house teams in a historically seasonal and transient location.

It has been difficult to do what we are doing, and the backlash has been overwhelming. I write this as a 30+ year restaurant veteran who works on the line as a chef, cook, and dishwasher in our restaurants, and I have since day one. I do not receive money from the service charge in any way. As a pioneer of local and regional sourcing who has been a proponent of building the hospitality industry throughout the Grand Valley since 2009, I can say with 100% certainty my commitment to our community and industry is my top priority. My focus is on the health of our local economy and workforce, and I will always do my best to support these goals and build my business practices and policies with these in mind.

We have a strong community of local restaurant owners in the Grand Valley who all want to provide as much as possible for their staff. The reality is all of us are losing to the chains that could care less about our community, fair wages, health, and the strength of our industry. While I write this, I am fully aware of a line out the door of a national burger chain charging 30% more than we do for a burger and fries. Theirs is a foil-wrapped 1/4# well-done patty in a brown paper bag while we are trying to provide hospitality and ambiance, a full beer, wine, and cocktail menu, fine china and crystal glassware, and infinitely higher food quality yet still be price competitive. At the same time, the chain in question has a pay-at-the-terminal card reader asking for 15%, 18%, or 20%. Yet here I am defending my decision to pay my staff more by collecting a mandated 18% service rather than the historical 20% gratuity we collected at the same location and with the same menu items for the previous nine years.

In many cases, most of those profits (like theirs) do not stay or benefit our community in any way other than basic sales tax collection and entry-level job positions. Our use of a service charge comes at a greater cost to our business than a traditional model, but it comes with a greater benefit to our guests, employees, and community.

The general understanding and negativity surrounding these issues are based on perception, not legal functionality. The reality is that the laws are changing and will continue to do so. For one example, laws such as CO HB19-1254 have changed what tipped employees are and are not permitted to do regarding how they share their tips and with whom. It is important to note that under no circumstances can an owner, manager, or supervisor be included in a tip pool (even if they are acting in a non-supervisory capacity, i.e., working an occasional shift as a bartender or server). We are navigating a complex situation and have found a way to fairly and legally pay our staff the most without raising prices.

In reading HB from 2019, I assure you that most arguments against service charges and existing restaurant tip pool models are examples of non-compliance.

This mandate requires that every tipped employee have a dedicated manager working alongside them every minute of every day, AND under no circumstances can an employee that is tipped ever participate in management responsibilities of any kind (such as locking doors, stocking, inventory, comping a dessert for a birthday, etc.).

When that bill passed, virtually every traditional tip model (including fast food chain tips) was out of compliance and subject to fines and litigation. In an industry plagued by a low workforce, we simply don’t have the people, nor can we afford to pay for additional positions without significantly raising prices. I would rather (and do) put that income directly toward our existing employees and pay them more while simultaneously training and sharing basic restaurant function responsibilities. This negates our ability to take a tip credit, which also negates the sub-minimum wage required to allow tip pools, which then dictates we collect a service charge to use that previous tip revenue more fairly. This is one example of many.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading. As I have and will continue to say, I believe what we are doing is the best for our business, the type of business we do, and our staff, guests, and our community.