The TV chef Michel Roux Jr has admitted that employees at his London restaurant Le Gavroche do not get a share of the service charge added to bills.
The former Masterchef judge, who apologised for paying his staff less than minimum wage earlier this week, said the 13 per cent discretionary service charged at his Michelin-starred restaurant is used as revenue.
This means it is not shared among the staff in addition to their wages.
The Mayfair restaurant currently charges £212 per head for its fixed price menu with wine – meaning the 13 per cent service charge is likely to amount to thousands of pounds a week.
Mr Roux’s latest revelation comes after the Guardian revealed he was paying chefs as little as £5.50 an hour.
At the time a spokeswoman said: “All Le Gavroche staff, front of house and kitchen, share in the 13 per cent discretionary service charge.”
However, it now turns out that no member of staff receives any of the charge above their basic wages.
Mr Roux has since announced he will scrap the service charge on all diners’ bills from the end of January because he was “fed up with this ambiguity”.
“For me, tipping and service charge are two different things but by removing the service charge and incorporating it into the cost of the menu then it is clear, clean and unambiguous,” he said.
“And then if diners wish to leave a tip on top of that it is up to them.
Earlier this year, the Government said tips left by customers in restaurants, hotels and bars should go to workers and not their employer.
The eight-month review of tipping practices followed claims that some “well-known” chains were counting tips as part of a worker's pay and were withholding some or all of the money.
