re: NOLA Chef Adolfo Garcia is pretty happy about Congressman Letlow's death

if a server works an 8 hour shift and makes $100 in tips

That is $12.50 per hour in tips

The restaurant also pays the employee $2.14 an hour for wages

so for that particular shift the employee gets paid $117.12 $100 comes from the waiter's own hard work
$17.12 comes from the employer - this is most profitable for the employer.

If a server works an 8 hour shift with no tips - labor law requires the owner to make up the difference between the $2.14 and minimum wage.

So the owner pays the waiter 8 x $7.25 = $58

That's $40.88 more coming out of the owner's pocket. Sucks for the waiter, but tips are not guaranteed. And there are extremely bad days, and extremely good ones, too. If this continues to happen, the employer will fire servers.

Now, I have no idea what Garcia does. He may split tips, he may keep them and put them on their payroll every two weeks. I also have no idea what he pays his kitchen staff and hostesses. What his food costs are, if he's paying himself, does he pay a lease, etc.

He may make millions, so none of this may matter. If he doesn't, then it matters. If he's up to his eyeballs in debt, it matters.