Which brings us to last week, and "Crackergate."
It began when Reddit user Lopsided_Intention76 asked the community if it was normal for servers at a seafood-boil restaurant to be required to purchase crab-cracking tools for customers to wield on their shellfish.
"So my friend in Miami works at a seafood broil [sic] restaurant," the poster wrote. "The servers are required by the owners to purchase crackers to give the guests with their own money. They are not given extra money nor reimbursed for this purchase. If they do not do this, they are punished or fired. I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this before or if it’s even allowed?"
Once the community clarified that the poster was referring to nutcrackers and not saltine crackers, a firestorm of outrage erupted.
"This is the craziest shit I've ever heard," one user opined. "This is illegal," others quickly chimed in.
After the original poster revealed that the restaurant in question was the Crab Du Jour Cajun Seafood & Bar location on SW 88th Street in Kendall, users sallied forth on Google to blast a volley of one-star reviews decrying the alleged policy.
The restaurant wrote in response to one review that it had begun a cracker buy-back program for servers after hundreds went missing in the span of one week.
"Staff can buy the cracker from us at cost price $2 per [cracker] or anywhere they prefer and we will buy it back [when] they leave," the response read. "We have all the ... [receipts] of the payment[s] we made to employees for their crackers purchase[d]."
New Times was able to contact two servers at the Kendall location, both of whom confirmed the policy — though they said the reimbursement program coincided with the onset of the Reddit drama and barrage of one-star reviews.
According to the two servers, who spoke on condition that their names not be published for fear of losing their jobs, their employer began requiring the waitstaff to purchase crackers for the customers back in February because the implements were going missing — either lost amid crab carnage or inadvertently taken home by patrons. Before that, the restaurant had supplied crackers.
"It's like a utensil, so it's as if we had to help provide knives and forks on top of serving," one of the servers noted.
WhatsApp messages obtained by New Times indicate that one manager explained to the staff, "If the money u make here is not enough to buy the cracker, u should find another job which can pay [for] your crackers."
When the policy shifted to BYOC, the servers said, the restaurant provided each member of the waitstaff with three crackers at no cost. The servers were then responsible for purchasing seven more for a total of ten. They said they were given the option to buy the rest from the restaurant at $2 apiece or purchase them online.
Yet, they said, this new policy did not solve the cracker crisis. Some still went missing, forcing the servers to keep replenishing their supply via Amazon or management.
"It affects my job," one of the servers said. "If I lose crackers, I can't serve as many people. It's not normal how mad they get if you're missing a couple of crackers."
The servers said management was so concerned about cracker loss that waiters were told they were responsible for washing and storing the utensils between shifts. The servers who spoke to New Times said they witnessed fellow employees merely running the utensils under hot water between uses.
"My concern is if it's not properly washed and maybe someone used the crackers for crab and then shrimp and then the next table uses the same cracker and they are allergic to shrimp, it's unsanitary," one server said.
After management learned of the Reddit thread, a sign was posted in the kitchen stating, "Whoever leaks restaurant information to anybody will be terminated as soon as possible." The servers shared the photo with New Times.
A nationwide chain, Crab Du Jour operates three locations in South Florida, each of which is independently owned and operated. (The Google assault put only a minor dent in this particular location's overall rating, which stands at 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on nearly 500 reviews.)
The Crab Du Jour in Midtown confirmed to New Times that it supplies all the crab crackers. A third location, on SW 152nd Avenue near Zoo Miami, requires servers to replace any crackers that go missing during their shifts.
Billy's Stone Crab in Hollywood supplies and washes the crackers like any other utensil. Christy's, a Coral Gables institution for the past 40 years, provides all utensils, including steak knives and corkscrews.
Although unusual, requiring servers to buy crab crackers might not violate federal labor laws.
"In general, tools, equipment, and even deductions that an employer may make from an employee's pay are not necessarily illegal or don't become illegal unless they result in the employee receiving a wage that is below what the law requires," employment law attorney Keith Stern tells New Times.
Indeed, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees may be required to purchase necessary items to do their jobs as long as the expenses do not reduce their pay below minimum wage. For instance, employers may require their staff to purchase uniforms while some fine-dining restaurants require their chefs to supply their own kitchen knives.
"Most people assume that any deduction or employer-mandated purchases are illegal. And unfortunately, it is not," Stern explains. "Employers can require employees to make certain purchases in order to do a job."
"Whoever leaks restaurant information to anybody will be terminated as soon as possible."
Photo supplied to New Times
A 12-pack of crab crackers costs about $30 on Amazon.
But is a crab cracker an essential tool for the job? Stern, who has practiced labor law for 22 years, says he has never encountered this particular issue.
When New Times contacted the SW 88th Street Crab Du Jour on Thursday, August 18, a manager who identified herself as Sophie said the restaurant did not require servers to buy the crackers but that they were responsible for cleaning them and bringing them to work. This way, she explained, servers could keep track of the crackers so the restaurant didn't waste money buying new ones. She declined to say whether servers were compelled to pay to replace crackers that went missing, saying that policy was "confidential."
But the following day, one of the servers who spoke with New Times provided an update: The restaurant had begun providing all crackers at no charge to servers and cleaning them in the dishwasher.
