hi, everyone. welcome to an all-food edition of "on the money." i'm becky quick. should tipping be on the menu every time you go to restaurant? the growing movement to eliminate it. but there is a big catch. and lessons in farming for kid who least expect it who may not know cabbage from kale. >> and cutting coupons at supermarkets. and a guide to holiday wine no matter how much or how little you want to spend. "on the money" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "on the money" your life, your future.

the dining tradition could be changing. more and more restaurants are experimenting with eliminating tips entirely. it is a steady diet of no tipping a good deal or will it cost you more? that's our cover story this week. tipping may soon be coming off menu. joe's crab shack announced it's testing a no-tipping policy but they plan to raise prices 12% to 15% to pay for an increase in wages. other restaurants are experimenting with tip-free at lunch. the move is similar to the model fond in europe where the employees are paid a regular wage and tipping is rare. but that's a sharp contrast to u.s. dining tradition. workers who receive tips are only required by the federal government to be paid $2.13 an hour. that's an amount that hasn't been increased in 24 years. but some states have a higher tips minimum wage and seven even require tipped workers to be paid the full minimum wage.

the average wage for wait staff is just over $18,000. generally there's a big difference between the wait staff and those working in the back of the house earn because tips don't make their way to the back of the house to cooks. what do the people who will actually pay for it think? >> i kind of like the idea of tipping frankly. it seems to be a little more personal relationship with a service. >> you keep thinking why aren't people just paying these people? they should be on a normal wage, not just waiting for me to do a good turn. >> the question becomes will more restaurants make the move to no tipping? one of those already doing it is kraft in new york city. tom colicio is the founder of the restaurant. as a former waitress, i've thought through all of this, hadn't liked it initially. why are restaurants doing this? >> well, for me i'm doing it because i think that i should be able to control or at least

compensate my staff. we know that studies at cornell university say the amount tipped has very little to do with service. it has more to do with your accent, your race and your gender. >> as a server? >> as a server. >> i would prefer to compensate my staff. >> do you think your staff is tipped fairly? >> sometimes it's different when people come over from europe. usually it's 5%, extra money. usually the money you're leaving as a gratuity is the majority of their pay. >> when you tell people there's no tipping for lunch service, do you raise the prices? >> we raise the prices about 20%. at lunch it was a new service. we weren't open for lunch. it wasn't as though i had a customer coming in and a week later they were seeing a 20% increase. that's part of the reason i did

it for lunch. but, no, it's just increasing the menu price. we actually remove the line on the credit card voucher for a gratuity. >> what's happened when you tried this out? do people understand? do the diners in the restaurant like it? >> it's fine. we have little pushback. we have hospital free, gratuity not necessary. everybody understands it. but there is that person who feels how can they punish the server? my feeling is punish the restaurant. at least tell the manager you're receiving bad service. if you leave a bad tip because of bad service, as a restauranture, i don't know about that. if it's a tip pool, it's going to have negligible effect on that waiter. if you want to punish the waiter, tell a manager. >> are you thinking about doing

this for dinner as well? that's a bigger ship if you have to raise the prices. >> we are. and so to the consumer, if we raise price business 20 percent and the average person tips 20%. the only real negative is you're also paying sales tax on the increase? >> you have gotten pushback from your servers who said i worked hard before and was gremaking gt money. >> i know exactly what they makes in tips is recorded. the days of putting the cash in your pocket is gone. our servers get paid in pay check. so we report everything. >> is that the difference maybe between a high-end restaurant and maybe a fast casual?

>> all restaurants are required to disclose how much money people are making. >> but if somebody's paying in cash, it's a lot harder to track that. >> it is harder to track but we keep track of the cash, too. >> how americans are feeling these days on the economy, does that show up on whether they're willing to spend more on wine and dessert? >> it's showing up. a friend of mine collects data on customer spending habits. there's no additional money going into dining but there are a lot of restaurants open and they're feeling pinch. >> thank you. i think you may have changed my mind on it. >> and then you. >> thank you, tom colicio. >> and now, america's consumers may be turning a little bit cautious. retail sales in october rose 1/10 of a percent, less

than expected. auto sales were not strong. retail sales are closely watched because consumers make up more than two-thirds of the u.s. economy. it was an ugly week for stocks. the dow, s&p and nasdaq had their worst day since september on thursday. that's due in part to jitters by the consumer. walmart is rethinking its holiday shopping strategy, ditching its door buster promotion where it put different items on sale by the hour. now all deals will be both online and in stores with no deadlines. walmart said it's trying to make thing easier and less confusing for its customers. and one of facebook's newest members is a familiar face. president obama has a personal page. >> up next, from the farm to kitchen classroom. we'll look at how some city school kids are making the grade by getting a green thumb. and later, don't get lost in the

supermarket. we have tips on how to save. what works best? and a look at the stock market market and how it ended the week as we head to break right now.

>> the garden is a half acre. we have eight chickens, perennial vegetable, it's completely organic. the kids are involved in every part of the process. >> a lot of people in urban settings are disconnected from their food. this teaches them the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. >> they're better for you. >> they're delicious number one. >> try to eat more organic. we're teaching them skills, teaching them knowledge and it introduces them to the cooking

concept and makes them feel individual and successful every class. >> my favorite part is growing the vegetable. we pick them and incorporate them in kitchen dishes. >> one time i was doing a saute. it was fun. >> i got to eat, even though it wasn't lunch? >> i feel proud because i get to eat with my other classmates. >> we try the things that the students are learning with us. >> i usually do bagging and cashiering. >> i like to grow food instead of doing junk food. >> those were the sights and sounds of edible schoolyard, a nationwide classroom program trying to teach kids in school in urban areas to grow healthy habits that start on the farm and go to the table. according to the centers for disease control, nearly 13% of kids are obese. kate, it's great to have you here. >> thank you so much.

>> this program started out 20 years ago in berkeley. makes sense in berkeley. now you have it all over the country. explain how you do it in an urban area in new york city. >> new york is the biggest school did district in the country, about 1.1 million kid. we took the program from berkeley, translated that into an urban setting, really thinking about the kid who doesn't have a very strong connection with food and thinking about what they need, how can we connect them with food from the garden to the plate. and so our program is taking -- looking at schools, which schools need it most and building gardens, kitsching classrooms, working with the school communities to teach kid about having a healthier relationship with food. >> how many kid and schools involved? >> we're in six kids in new york city at the moment reaching about 3,000 kids and we do a teacher training program as well where we work with about 200 teachers a year, reaching about

25,000 kids through that. >> kid can be pretty finicky eaters. does this help in getting them to try food they wouldn't try otherwise? >> absolutely. if kid grow food, they'll eat it. imagine a tomato on the vine you pluck that you grew yourself. when they have agency and pride in what they're doing, they will eat it. >> do you think it lasts outside of the classroom, too? how successful is it in changing their overall habits? >> that's our ultimate school. we are seeing change. families tell us their kid are asking to cook at home, that they're going shopping with their kid, their kid are making salads. we really do see it going outside of the classroom. >> we know obesity in children has been a focus for a long time. if you look at some of the most

recent numbers according to the cdc, it looks like we might be making progress. i was looking at kids 2 to 5. 13.9 in 2009 were obese, by 2011, 2012 it was down to 8%. >> michelle obama has worked hard. the elementary school level are those kids are going to be the agents of change. >> how much of it goes hand in hand with getting kid active and moving around? >> a lot of obesity goes back to food. movement is important, too, but teaching them about food and changing their attitude and getting them excited to eat healthy food and know it delicious. it not that you have to do this because it will be better for

you. it's like this is great. why wouldn't you want this? >> i still need a little help with kale myself. >> come to the schoolyard and help you out a little bit. >> coming up next, do you really need all those paper towels? buying in bulk might not be the best way to save at the market. we'll show you what is. and tiz the season to wine and

whether it's building the next satellite, at boeing one thing never changes. our passion to make it real.

>> every insurance policy has a number. but not every insurance company understands the life behind it. for those who have served and the families who supported them, we offer our best service in return. usaa, we know what it means to serve. get an insurance quote and see why 92% of our numbers plan it stay for life. >> groceries can take a big bite of your pay check. food is the third largest expense. how can you manage these costs? joining us is sharon epperson on how to save on your grocery bill because of course, it's your money, your future. sharon, where do we start when it comes to groceries? >> let's start with what we

spend. for a family of for, it's $600 to $1,200 a week -- >> a week? >> a month rather. and that's according to the usda. so that's the average. so you know there's a lot of people that spend even more than that. 25% of that stuff will go bad because you don't necessarily use it all. you want to figure out how you can save as much as you can at the outset when shopping and building up the coupon savings can be one way. some people clip them on the paper. the best thing to do is have them on your smartphone as you're going around and doing your shopping. there are interesting apps you can use that can help you manage your shopping and also save money. any list is one that helps you figure out what kind of list you want to have, what items you need to have and share that with your friend and family, have them add stuff. grocery iq has some coupons on

it so you can shop and figure out what can you get a discount on. and one i recently found, copaton allows you to buy an item, reminds you you're in the store where you buy that item. >> part of it i admit is just staying organized, which is not easy to do in this day and age. >> the thing that's important for people to understand, when you look at how to save money, it's not always going where the sale items are. you would want to use coupons and sale items. you want to compare the unit price for every item. you know what you're paying for the amount you're buying. >> buying in bulk is not the best bet? >> no. ten cans might be bigger than that big vat but when you look at the unit price, it's credit back. >> 6% cash back on groceries on

some cards, if you really want that cash back and you do a lot of shopping, that's something to consider. can you get cash back for your gasoline and you're filling up but the thing i really like are those fuel rewards car where you get cashback -- sorry, you build up points based on how much gas you use. you can use that at the grocery store or vice versa. those two rewards cards can be very helpful. >> sure. >> up next, a look at the news in the week ahead. and bottoms up. we'll show you some of the tastiest wines for the holidays.

for more, you can go to our web site and follow us on twitter @on the money. monday marks the 101st anniversary of the federal reserve. on tuesday the consumer price index or october is out, an important measure of inflation. on wednesday we'll get the minutes from last month's federal open market committee meeting. and happy birthday mickey. disn disney's mickey mouse will be turning 87 years old. you look good, my friend.

the u.s. has the largest wine market in the world with sales hitting a record $36.6 billion in 2014. joining us is our friend food and wine magazine executive ray isle. it's agreed to have you. you always bring some good things. we know the holidays here. >> it's tricky. you're dealing with what your budget is and you're dealing with who you're serving it to. my thanksgiving i'm serving to my father-in-law, who only wants chardonnay on the table and maybe some dewers or something like that. you have to adjust to the people and to the food. thanksgiving is turkey plus about 70,000 side dishes. >> what goes with cranberry and stuffing and marked potatoes? my answer this year is i'm fighting the fight and saying you don't have to stop drinking rose at the end of summer. dry rose is a fantastic wine

it's $15 a bottle, not bad at all. it kind of gets some of the white wine characteristics, goes great with turkey, great with richer things like stuffing. >> let's see. oh, that's good. >> that fruit is almost like cranberry sauce. it's easy. it's loveable. >> and another option, this is going up a little in price, if you're going to do a white wine, this is a riesling but it's a dry riesling. >> i think of it as really sweet. the easy rules with riesling, you stick to as, australia, and -- you'll get a sweet wine. >> oh, that's not what i expected. >> it's dry and crisp and cit s citrusy and wakes you up. >> this is $25 a bottle.

and then pino noir. if you're going to pick one red that's going to go with everything, pino noir is the answer. it's thanksgiving. why not have an american wine. sonoma makes fantastic noirs. this is from benovia. you can drink it with a heavy meal at thanksgiving and not feel like you're weighed down as well. plus this is beautiful wine. it's that cherry cola kind of taste. >> how much is that? >> $38. >> if i'm feeling like i want to splurge -- >> if you want to splurge and you're a bond fan -- it's in this package which is meant to

look like the handle of the his favorite gun. but it's also insulated so it will keep the champagne cold for two hours, which is neat. >> nice for traveling. >> this is a vintage champagne. >> how much? >> $229 a bottle. this is in the gift for somebody you really love. >> or for yourself. >> or tell someone else to buy it for you. bollinger's is good, as well. i like the goofy bond packaging. i'm convinced there will be a wine out in time for "star wars." >> i'm all for that. ray, always great having you here. thank you for the tips before the holidays. >> such a pleasure. >> i'm becky quick. thank you so much for joining us. next week with prescription

glasses for under $100, they disrupted the

tough response to the terror attack. investigators are racing to track down any accomplices. people here are gathering for vigils and memorials all across the city. this morning we are also watching our weather. you may want to crank up the heat as you wake up. good news, there's a bit of a warmup in our future. this is "nbc10 news today." i am rosemary connors. it's 5:30 on this sunday.