Put 1000 restaurant owners in one convention hall and they'll all say the same thing-- the easy part is creating an attractive and functional physical space where people can find food, drink and companionship. All that takes is money.

The difficult-to-impossible part is convincing the employees that THEIR attitude and competence WITHIN THAT SPACE is what makes the food drink and companionship dream possible and profitable.

A space is a space. An empty table is a space. 4 empty chairs around an empty table is space. A silent kitchen is a space. PEOPLE doing the right things with committment and drive and attentiveness and humor and skill and frequent sprints of < omg I can't believe I'm doing this but I gotta make it happen> are really what make it happen.

GOOD service staff can make even a sub-prime restaurant space rock. BAD service staff will cause the best of planned and decorated venues to roll over in their grave.

Getting it right is a highwire act, and like any highwire act, it can slip off the wire with disastrous consequences.

IMHO, Auto Grat only belongs in private establishments where money does not change hands at the Point of Service. Membership only, private clubs where members are billed monthly and a Grat % is added for service staff based on a member approved and membership ratified expectation. Only in a very well defined and " closed" system of expectations and well defined and managed employee job standards can it work as intended, and when a member of such an establishment is badly treated, the consequences are swift and unequivocal. Employee gets blackballed by the House Committee and see-ya-bubbye.

If one is going to work as a server, or manage or employ servers, in a public venue--- it is all out there in the public view. There will be winners and there will be losers.