A NOTE FROM OUR CO-FOUNDER, MEAGEN
In February 2024, Happy Raptor will celebrate four years of business. Happy Raptor is – first and foremost – a premium craft spirits beverage product and production facility. However, our beating heart can be found in the tasting room. It’s in our brick-and-mortar that we introduce the authentic process of distilling 504Rum from start to finish and work hard to create lifelong memories through giving back and connecting with our community from near and far.
Since we opened our doors at Mardi Gras 2020, we’ve seen a tremendous wave of change come to our industry and our city. As Happy Raptor continues to grow, it is essential that we keep up with the demands of our changing world, ensuring equity and transparency within our core operations.
Beginning October 1st, we are instituting a 20% service fee for all purchases made in our tasting room, including bar packages for events scheduled on or after that date. You may also notice that some prices will be increasing in order to accommodate the growing cost of supplies, raw materials, and ingredients.
Why a service fee?
It is more equitable. There are long-time inequalities within the structure of gratuity and “tipping”. Historically, tipping can facilitate sexual harassment, discrimination, and inequitable treatment of workers, as well as contributing to the stigma that service employment is a lesser or transient occupation. As a company with strong values and a diverse team, it is our priority that each of our staff is compensated equitably, and it is essential that our practices reflect these values.
It is more consistent. Service fees enable us to stabilize our employee’s wages across the year, to ensure they are on a more consistent pay rate.
It’s tied directly to our growth. Rather than worrying about traditional “tipping”, our team can better focus on our collective mission and vision for Happy Raptor. The tasting room’s success is also their success, and they are compensated based on the company’s growth, a product of their own excellent quality of work.
It honors our team’s expertise. At Happy Raptor, each of our raptor guides is trained as a brand ambassador. As experienced (and often award-winning) mixologists and specialists in craft rum, their priority is to help our guests fall in love with 504Rum and 504Syrups and create an experience worth remembering. Many of them wear several hats - as tour guides, off-site sales representatives, and production assistants (among others). Raptor guides are provided clear pathways for growth and overall career development. In short, they make it look easy but there’s much more behind that tour than some may realize!
It’s a successful and established model. We’ve been exploring this option for over a year and have watched several of our New Orleans neighbors implement similar fees with great success – benefitting both their guests and their employees.
What should you know about the new service fee?
This will apply a 20% fee to each unique transaction in the tasting room.
It does not apply to online purchases.
It will be added in lieu of the required gratuity on event invoices issued on or after October 1, 2023, unless otherwise specified.
You do not have to participate. You are welcome to tip in lieu of the service fee or waive the service fee altogether. Just tell your raptor guide at check-out.
You are welcome to tip in addition to the service fee, if you choose, but this is not an expectation.
Legally, companies are not allowed to recoup tips from its employees. However, companies can claim a portion of the service fee. At Happy Raptor, 100% of our service fee goes back to the raptor guides, shared equally by shift team.
Thank You, Truly
With your help, we are continuing to double-down on our commitment to invest and re-invest in our community through transparent sourcing, prioritizing local partners and vendors. Since 2020, Happy Raptor has contributed over $50,000 to the local community through donation of goods, services, and direct funds, and worked with over 100 nonprofit organizations. (Don’t forget: Our events venue is free for nonprofits.)
We invite our guests to take part in this change, as we hope for a better, more equitable future in the hospitality industry - the heart of our wonderful city. Happy Raptor acknowledges the potential risk of this change. However, we believe it is great risk that promotes unthinkable progress, and we invite you to join us on our journey to fostering an equitable environment for our team and guests.
We appreciate that you’ve taken the time to read and understand our updated policies. As always, we would never be here without our community of support, and we cannot thank you enough.
