Acorn is committed to taking care of our community, guests, and importantly, our team. In an effort to pay all of our staff livable wages, we have chosen to adjust our business model to benefit our staff. Beginning June 25, 2020, we are adding a Community Value Fee to your bill.

In doing so, we want to ensure transparency and provide an explanation as to why these changes are important to us and why we have decided to move in this direction.

In the restaurant industry, tipped service members (servers, bartenders, etc.) have traditionally earned up to twice as much as non-tipped service members (cooks, stewards, etc.).

Wage laws inadvertently tie wages made by tipped employees to a restaurant’s overall success and revenue increases, while non-tipped employees earn only hourly wages. When minimum wage increases, tipped employees benefit from a bump to their lower cash wage, while still collecting tips. As a result, the wage disparity between service members increases regardless of their contribution to the dining experience.

At Acorn, we believe it is our responsibility to create fair, livable wages for all of our service members. We can no longer sit back and watch our back of house employees earn disproportionately low wages. In order to support our kitchen staff and those behind the scenes at Acorn, a 2.5% Community Value Fee will be added to your bill. 100% of the fee will be distributed back to our service members.

The result of our new structure is balanced compensation distribution among all team members and the expansion of Acorn employee benefits at all levels. We believe this approach is necessary, equitable, and supportive of our values and mission at Acorn. Our hope is to create a work environment where our employees feel valued for the work they do. We thank you and your continued support as we adopt this change!