Service Charge
Beginning January 1, 2025, Sea Creatures full-service restaurants have returned to the service charge model we used prior to the pandemic (2015-2020).
This 22% service charge is applied to all dine-in guest checks and is retained entirely by the house. Revenue from this service charge is used to pay operating expenses, including labor.
50% of the service charge provides additional hourly earnings directly to hourly staff: Front-of-house staff earn an additional $10–$30/hour, and back-of-house staff earn an additional $8–$20/hour. This is in addition to their $25/hour base wage. Accordingly, front-of-house staff earn between $35-$55/hour, base wage + additional earnings from the service charge. Back-of-house staff earn between $32-$45/hour, base wage + additional earnings from the service charge.
Service charge funds are also used to pay a base wage approximately 20% higher than Seattle’s hourly minimum wage of $20.76 ($25/hour for cooks and servers and $23/hour for dishwashers), and to offer comprehensive benefits including:
- health, vision, dental insurance
- 401k matching retirement accounts
- paid time off (above and beyond the City of Seattle's mandate)
- Pre-tax commuter assistance accounts
- A wellness program ($50/month reimbursements for mental health counseling, yoga classes, gym memberships, etc.)
These benefits are available to even to part-time employees working as few as 25 hours per week on average.
This approach ensures that servers and cooks across Sea Creatures’ full-service restaurants earn hourly compensation that meets or exceeds what their counterparts earn at similar restaurants in Seattle, even before receiving optional additional gratuities. Moreover, they benefit from a robust package of perks not commonly available in the industry. Our commitment is to provide the most competitive compensation packages we possibly can for our team.
The 22% service charge reflects the historical average tipping percentage from our guests. This 22% service charge is in lieu of tips. Gratuities are not expected, however they are accepted. 100% of tips are distributed among non-lead, hourly workers in the front-of-house and back-of-house.
Sales tax is collected on this service charge per Washington State law.
We do not charge a service charge out our counter-service General Porpoise cafés. General Porpoise baristas earn minimum wage, $20.76 + tips.
Questions? Please reach out to info@eatseacreatures.com.