After serving a popular TikToker at Chili’s, one worker says she was encouraged to document how much she makes in a day on the job.
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In a video with over 3.1 million views, Nelly (@nellygadd) sits in a booth at Chili’s after her 7.5-hour shift. She pans over to Parker Jones, a TikToker with nearly 1 million followers, who waves at the camera.
“He told me to make a video of how much I make at Chili’s,” she says.
She says she served 35 tables during her shift, with the highest tip being $20 on an $80 check and 1 penny on a 54-cent check.
“My [total] was $271, and then I had to tip-out $70. So that left me with $201,” she says. “That made the grand total $26.90 per hour.”
How much do Chili’s servers make?
In an email to the Daily Dot, Nelly says that $26 per hour is “average.”
“Some days, I make less and some days I make more,” she shared.
According to Indeed, the average Chili’s server brings home around $17.46 an hour. But Chili’s servers in the comments say they make much more.
“I saved 30k at 18 10 years ago working at chilis lol,” one shared.
“My daughter makes bank at Chili’s. We are in MA though,” another said. .
“Server from chillis here we lowkey be making bank. Especially the Saturday doubles,” a third adds.
Nelly shares her wages from two other shifts in a series of follow-up videos. She says she made $157 and $215 before tip-out.
How much does Chili’s make servers “tip-out”?
However, others express concern at the high “tip-out” amount.
A tip-out is generally a percentage of sales that servers must pool from their tips to cover the wages of other workers like food runners and bartenders. According to Homebase, tip-outs usually fall between 20 and 45% of total tips, or a smaller percentage of total sales.
“$70 dollar tip out! That’s crazy!!!! Who are they tipping out at chilis ???” a viewer asked.
“Tip out was 1% when I worked at chili’s for 8 years that’s crazy,” another said.
“70$ TIP OUT. YOU SHOULD NOT BE PAYING THE BARTENDER AND FOOD RUNNER. CHILI’S NEEDS TO PAY FOOD RUNNERS HOURLY,” a third exclaims.
Nelly agrees that the tip-out is too high.
“I would say the tip out amount needs to be a little lower (max 4%); this is something all servers at Chili’s agree,” Nelly shared in an email to the Daily Dot. “Our tip out is 5% of our sales. This can definitely hurt me as some people have a mindset not to tip, which makes me basically pay for them to eat as I now have to use other tables’ tips to cover the tables that didn’t tip.”
Servers share their wages
In the comments section, servers at other restaurants share how much they make per shift, encouraging Nelly to interview at other restaurants.
“Baby go find somewhere else to work, fine dining, upscale… you can make &500-$700 a night serving 6 hours,” one suggested.
“Go into fine dining girl! I take 3 tables and make $300 in by 5 out by 9,” another wrote.
A third said, “I used to work at a fine dining Italian back in the 90’s, just evenings, Tuesdays to Saturdays, never got under $1500 a week in tips.”
“I made $320 in 5hrs and I work in a breakfast/ brunch spot and my section is 5 tables. We only tip out $20 for the bussers,” a fourth added.
@nellygadd idk who this guy is but he says I can be a tiktoker so… i’m gonna try! @Parker Jones #chilis #waitress #waitressproblems #server #money #tips #viral #fyp ♬ Storytelling – Adriel
The Daily Dot reached out to Nelly via email and Instagram direct message. We also emailed Chili’s for further information.
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