PHOENIX — As a new baseball season gets underway, we heard questions from viewers about tips on concessions at stadiums.
Some people say they’ve been told by stadium employees not to leave a tip on their order because they don’t receive the money.
Jabrille Brown says he’s worked concessions at Chase Field and the Footprint Center for four years.
“I love being able to work and watch sporting events and get paid for doing it as well. That’s why I’m always upbeat,” Brown said.
But Brown says he advises customers not to leave a tip on their card orders. “Any cash tip is greatly appreciated. A dollar, 50 cents, whatever. But if you want to tip me you’re just wasting your money tipping it to the machine because I won’t receive it,” he explained.
Levy is the concessions vendor for the Footprint Center and Chase Field. In a statement, the company stated to ABC15, “All tips that food and beverage team members at Chase Field receive from guests are distributed to the team members working the event. No tips are retained by the company.”
Diamondbacks representatives tell us Levy and their food and beverage partners are in charge of the business of concessions and the Diamondbacks are not involved.
Brown says he works for a temp agency and not Levy directly. He says employee group chats are full of stories of people who don’t receive the tips they thought they earned.
We asked other venues in the Valley about their policies.
The Arizona Cardinals and vendor Craft Culinary Concepts say all of the tips at State Farm Stadium go 100% to its employees.
The Arizona Coyotes are not in charge of concessions at Mullet Arena. That falls to Arizona State University which uses concession vendor Sodexo for all its venues.
We have not yet received a response from that company on its tip policy.
Brown says he thinks most fans would be better off not bothering with a tip option on card payments the next time they’re at a game or concert.
“Bring cash. I mean you can’t pay for anything in cash but if you want to make sure the person who is giving you the service gets a tip, bring cash. It doesn’t hurt,” Brown said.
If you have a similar situation or a question you’d like answered email us at share@abc15.com.
