The day that an Arkansas waitress would have considered to be the best of her life would have been the day that she earned a tip of $4,400 from the “$100 Dinner Club.” It was Ryan Brandt’s intention to utilize the money to pay off his college debts; however, the management of the restaurant informed him that he could only keep twenty percent of the tip, and the remaining twenty percent would be divided among the other employees. Following his dismissal from the restaurant for breaking the establishment’s guidelines about tipping, Brandt was required to hand up the majority of the cash.
Bentonville, Arkansas’s Oven and Tap served as the location for the “$100 Dinner Club” owners to get together for a meeting that took place over a meal. This was made possible by Grant Wise, the operator of a local real estate agency. There was a $100 tip left by each participant.
It would have been prudent to contact the restaurant in advance to make certain that the wait staff would not split the tips. The manager presented the waitress, Ryan Brandt, with a cheque for $4,400, which she and the other staff divided. Ryan Brandt was overcome with pleasure and tears of delight when she received the check.
After the management of the restaurant became aware of the fact that Brandt had been given such a substantial amount of tips, they informed her that she would be obliged to share a portion of the money with the other staff. While she had been employed at the restaurant for the preceding three and a half years, she had never been asked to fulfill this request before.
The statement that Brandt made to FOX 59 was as follows: “I was informed that I was going to be passing my cash over to my shift manager and that I would be taking home 20%.” She went on to say that in the three and a half years that she has worked there, she has never been asked to divide her tip.
Brandt, who is in her early 30s and attends the University of Arkansas to study Spanish, had intended to use the money to pay off her school debt. However, she was compelled to give up the large cash to her superiors, which left her in a state of distress. On the contrary, she felt obligated to go ahead and pay the money.
After working there for a few days, Brandt was fired from the restaurant because he had ‘violated’ the business’s requirements by informing Wise about the recommendation policy of the institution. By telling Wise about the recommendation policy of the restaurant, Brandt committed a violation of the rules.
It was seen by wise individuals that a great number of restaurant servers were experiencing severe hardship as a consequence of the COVID-19-related occurrences that occurred during the epidemic and the worldwide lockdown. Because of this, he came up with the idea of the “$100 Dinner Club.” He worked out the details of a real estate conference that would take place in Arkansas at the Oven and Tap, which was their go-to restaurant for dining in.
After gaining confirmation from the management of the restaurant that there was no tip-sharing scheme in existence, Wise and his wife then proceeded with their plan of action.
When Wise found out that the management of the restaurant had made Brandt split her tip with the other staff, the moment that had been so romantic quickly turned into a time that was quite devastating. Almost immediately after that, she was fired. Because he was unable to talk with the proprietor of the restaurant, he instead sent her a text message.
After he had gone to the Oven and Tap restaurant in order to get his money and personally present it to Brandt, he discovered that she had been terminated from her position. On December 7th, he shared his thoughts on the event on several social media platforms.
“My only desire is to help her get through this experience with the least amount of stress and anxiety possible and onto whatever her next chance may be,” Wise said on her GoFundMe page on her wish to assist her in overcoming this ordeal.
Wise has just made the announcement on his various social media networks that Brandt has already accepted a new job offer from a different restaurant and has started working there as of December 8th.
In spite of having raised $8,700, Grant Wise made the decision to terminate the GoFundMe effort.