South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker recently reopened the famed Mexican restaurant and entertainment venue Casa Bonita with a novel pay structure for wait staff featuring $30 an hour but no suggestions.
Casa Bonita is positioned in Lakewood, Colorado, and was first opened nearly 50 years ago.
The greater than 52,000 square-foot restaurant features live indoor cliff divers and a walkthrough cave called Black Bart’s Cave.
Its unique offerings recently prompted the Denver Gazette to call Casa Bonita the “Disneyland of Mexican restaurants.”
Stone and Parker purchased Casa Bonita in 2021 after its operations were crippled by lockdowns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in its filing for bankruptcy.
The South Park duo bought Casa Bonita for $3.1 million in September 2021 in line with the Gazette.
Casa Bonita, the Lakewood restaurant, purchased by the creators of South Park 2021, is within the midst of a soft relaunch following its renovations. Denver Post via Getty Images
Since then, the pair told the Recent York Times they’ve invested $40 million on renovations and upgrades to the venue ahead of its relaunch.
The restaurant reopened with limited dining hours while it’s in a soft launch phase and “beta testing” various features, with aspiring guests signing up on a mailing list for a chance to purchase tickets to enter and dine at Casa Bonita.
Casa Bonita didn’t immediately reply to FOX Business’s request for comment in regards to the compensation system.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone bought Casa Bonita for $3.1 million in September 2021 in line with the Gazette. Getty Images for Comedy Central
The restaurant previously told FOX 31 KDVR that, “During our soft-opening nights, we found that guests simply weren’t tipping. We imagine it’s because of our unconventional, pre-pay ticketing system.”
“So as to provide a higher-than-average, dependable wage, we shifted to a no-tipping model and doubled the hourly rate to greater than $30/hr for our service staff,” the Casa Bonita spokesperson told KDVR. “This shift also advantages our guests, who can enjoy Casa Bonita without incurring unexpected costs. Of our 256 employees, 93 were a component of the shift and a complete of two were unhappy about it.”
KDVR noted in a report that at $30 an hour, staff at Casa Bonita would earn just a few dollars greater than the median wage across all occupations within the state of Colorado.
Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates the median wage within the Denver Aurora-Lakewood metropolitan area was $26.01 as of May 2022.
Stone and Parker dedicated an episode of their hit satirical cartoon series “South Park” to Casa Bonita within the show’s seventh season, which aired in 2003.
The episode known as “Casa Bonita” and chronicles most of the restaurant’s unique features as a venue when the South Park boys go there for a party.
