Le Pain Quotidien to halt pocketing service charge left for staff

The company said the cash will be distributed in a “fair" way.

Belgian restaurant brand Le Pain Quotidien is ending its practice of pocketing some of the service charge left by customers for its staff.

Currently, all bills have a 12.5% service charge added as a standard, but 40p in every £1 of this is kept by the company. Such rate was cut from 60p in every £1 in November.

Starting next month, the whole service charge will be distributed in a “fair” way among staff in Le Pain Quotidien’s 30 UK sites in and around London.

“We have been working with an independent management company to distribute the service charge in total in a fair and equitable way for all participants,” a Le Pain Quotidien spokesperson said.