I’ve worked for a few restaurants that have this now and honestly, there’s no way of knowing if the kitchen’s seeing [all of] the money. Supposedly it gets evenly distributed to whoever worked, ie similar to a tip pool distribution, and added to their paychecks. But who’s even tracking that? Who would know if they’re not getting the whole amount? It’s the same as getting a daily sales bonus… but not being told the day’s sales. Company’s just shrugs and says eh, you get paid what we give you. Take it or leave it.

My last job said it adds about $3/hour to the kitchen staff’s hourly pay. This is a place that also didn’t show FOH their tip pool, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to show us, if we wanted to see. Long story short: industry vet here and I don’t trust the kitchen fee, and I also agree that it’s being shadily snuck in as a triple asterisk in size 4 font and nearly cut off the bottom of the menu.