How Kachka Is Building Equity and Worker Buy-in with a Service Fee Model

In early January, Owners Bonnie and Israel Morales eliminated tipping at Kachka, their 8-year-old restaurant in Portland, Ore. “We were fed up with the whole system of tipping and how gross it is,” says Bonnie, Kachka’s executive chef. “I felt like I couldn’t be proud of owning a restaurant if I wasn’t trying to fix the problem.”

They had contemplated the change for years, but pandemic...