{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Grateful for Hospitality","title":"EP: 01 - Making Tips Matter: Inside the Tipping Culture Divide Between US and UK","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2871,"description":"Episode SummaryIn this debut episode, Mason welcomes Steve from TipHaus to explore the nuts and bolts of modern hospitality - specifically how technology, tipping culture, and genuine human connection intersect. Steve brings a transatlantic perspective, having gone from investment banking and venture capital to building an eight-location restaurant chain, selling it, serving as president of Ethan Stowell Restaurants through the pandemic, and eventually joining TipHaus as Co-CEO. Their conversation spans the wide gap between American and British attitudes toward tipping, the critical importance of payment friction in the guest experience, and how forward-thinking hospitality tech isn’t about replacing people - it’s about giving them more time and headspace to do what they love. You’ll hear real talk about industry challenges, a breathtaking memory from Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Italy, and why grace matters more than perfection.About the GuestSteve is Co-CEO of TipHaus, a US-based technology platform that automates tip calculations, ensures compliance, and enables digital tip payouts. His path to hospitality is anything but conventional: computer science and economics undergraduate at the University of London, investment banking, venture capital in tech and telecom, business school, and then - in 2011 - a leap into restaurants. He built a fast-casual restaurant group to eight locations, sold to Ethan Stowell Restaurants in Seattle, and served as president during the pandemic years. That operator experience taught him the hidden costs of poor tip management and inspired him to solve the problem from the vendor side. His unique journey - combining deep technical chops with genuine hospitality experience - has become TipHaus’s competitive edge.Key Topics Covered•       The Cultural Divide Between US and UK Tipping - Why Americans see tipping as a right, why Brits prefer service charge baked into the bill, and what each system gets right and wrong•     ...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xH4nKPrp9s17BMyRekwCy-9yS_dodUWH1v2qRiycUGs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kN2E1/ZTQxYjE2YTdmYWNh/NjI4YWNhZDc4NWM1/MjU4My5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}