Arkansas Server Fired After Receiving $4.4K Tip She Was Forced to Split

A woman server was fired from a restaurant in Arkansas after she received a generous $4,400 tip from a large group of people who had come to dine there.

Ryan Brandt was one of the two servers at Oven and Tap in Bentonville who were waiting on a group of over 40 business professionals on Dec. 6. When it was time to settle the bill, each diner left a $100 tip for Brandt and her co-worker, bringing the total tip to $4,400, New York Post reported.

The tip the group left was intended to go to Brandt and her co-worker, but they were instead asked by the management to pool in the money with the rest of the wait staff. When Brandt informed the customer who left the tip about what happened, she was fired because she reportedly broke the restaurant's policy by revealing them to a customer.

“I was told that I was going to be giving my cash over to my shift manager, and I would be taking home 20%,” Brandt was quoted as saying by CBS 5. She added that this was the first time in the three and a half years that she's worked there that servers were made to pool in their tips.

“We knew servers were really hit hard through COVID, and it was something that we had come up with to help give back,” Grant Wise, who dined at the eatery after a conference in town, was quoted as saying by CBS 5.

Wise, who owns a real estate company called Witly, and his friends had started something called the "$100 dinner club" where each person at the table leaves a tip for $100. He said the practice was established in the middle of the pandemic to help people out.

Brandt, who served Wise and his large party, was shocked and surprised when she saw the tip. “It was an incredible thing to do and to see her reaction was awesome, to see what that meant to her, the impact that it’s had on her life already,” Wise said about that particular moment, KNWA reported

Wise said he also called ahead to check with the restaurant about their tip policy so he could make sure the large sum went to both the servers directly. But when he learned that Brandt would have to share her money with the others, he asked them to return the gratuity back to him, so he could give it to the woman outside of the establishment. That action caused her to lose her job, the report said.

“It was devastating," Brandt said, adding: "I borrowed a significant amount for student loans. Most of them were turned off because of the pandemic but they’re turning back on in January and that’s a harsh reality."

The local eatery, meanwhile, released a statement on the issue via e-mail.

“We commend the organization that dined with us and generously gave to our staff. They have an absolute right to tip whoever they want, and we honored that request. The server who was terminated several days after the group dined with us was not let go because she chose to keep the tip money..."

Co-owners of Oven and Tap Luke Wetzel and Mollie Mullis told KNWA that their tip policy is clear: 6% of bar sales go to bartenders, 2% of food sales to the kitchen and 1% of food sales go to server assistants. “That practice did not happen,” said Wetzel.

They also revealed that Wise did not call ahead and confirm their tip policy. “They did not call ahead and ask about our tipping policy, nor did they email,” said Mullis. “Because of the customer’s request, we honored it and handed it out to the servers that they asked us to distribute it to.”

Wise, however, is not ready to give up on Brandt and has started a GoFundMe for the woman. "My only goal is to help her get through this experience with the least amount of stress and anxiety possible and onto whatever her next opportunity may be," he said in an update he posted on the crowdfunding site.

Wise later shared the good news that Brandt had been offered a new job with another local restaurant.