Dark Horse Espresso Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

For Xmas, please don't forget to tip your barista's in person this year! They work very hard and know every customer and their order by heart! Please give cash because the salary-based management takes a portion of their tips (given through debit). These hard working front-facing staff deserve the extra boost of cheer.

It is upsetting to hear that my dark horse local cafe, and all the front-facing staff baristas are getting a portion of their tips taken from them to be divided to the rest of the team who are salary based. Why? Doesn't make sense. All the wonderful barista's are leaving. Great coffee and baked goods are one part of the reason why I choose Dark Horse every morning. The other part is the team who greet me, talk to me, know my name and share stories. Barista's and any front-facing serving staff deserve their earned tips, that is simply the way it has always been and should be. They provide repeat customers with their kindness and efficient service. I hope Dark Horse pays the salaries of their bakers, delivery staff, etc (not front-facing staff) equally as good, so they don't have to poach from the barista tips.

Why do the owners think taking tips from barista's is fair? They spin it as it is for all the 'team', but does that same team share a portion of their (much higher paid) salaries, benefits, vacation time, etc. with the barista's in return? It seems this is just pure greed to cover growth costs of the business (at least 2 new location expansions within this year). Dark Horse must really be hurting in profits and sales and really need those extra tips, right? Not treating your front-facing staff properly is not right, and will hurt your overall indie brand over time. Their is a growing competition of cafes in this area with more reliable hours. I love the grind (Detour Coffee Roasters) that Dark Horse uses, but it isn't exclusive to them alone, and it isn't the only great grind of coffee, along with a range of wholesome baked goods. Many cafes offer the same, and will offer more once they understand their is a piece of the cafe market to grab from Dark Horse, I am...

I’ve been a long time dark horse customer but after hearing (through the service industry grapevine) that the company has elected to steal tips from workers, I’ll be boycotting all locations. It’s such a shame that the company chooses to steal hard-earned income from baristas. They are allegedly distributing the tips among upper management. Yuck! Pathetic!

EDIT: After receiving a response from the owner, I would like to update my review. While the sentiment behind tipping team members including "bakers, coffee roasters, drivers and store support staff" seems to be benevolent on the surface, this is a really nefarious practice to implement suddenly. First, you are reducing the income of hard-working public-facing staff. If the owner of a bank suddenly decided to take a needed portion of income from the tellers to distribute to other team members, it wouldn't be tolerated. Most importantly however, is that you are choosing to supplement the income of bakers, coffee roasters, drivers and store support staff using tips rather than increasing their wage. It is YOU (the owner) who is corrupt for doing this. I agree, your whole team works hard and deserves to make a decent wage. So pay them...

I’m a regular customer and have always been back here many times. The service here has always been quite friendly, but not this time. The server that I spoke to this time seems to has very little knowledge on how to navigate the POS machine (I.e. how to earn points for your order). I’m okay with her trying to figure out things, but the main problem lies with her attitude. She left the entire machine to me and expected me to have things figured out. When I expressed my confusion, she’s frowned and didn’t seem eager to help. It was only until another staff chimed in that I was able to sort things out. Then, there was also a huge difference in her tones when she’s saying “thank you” to me versus how she said it to the other customers. To me, she sounded very insincere, but completely opposite towards other customers (much more enthusiastic). This really gave me a very unpleasant and uncomfortable experience, and made me seriously considering on whether I should continue my support to...