Activists from 15Now Minnesota in the foreground, pushing for a $15 minimum wage, faced off with restaurant servers who want a tip carveout near Buffalo Wild Wings on the U of M campus Monday April 17, 2017. JERRY HOLT jerry.holt@startribune.com (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Dueling groups of protesters faced off outside the Buffalo Wild Wings in Dinkytown on Monday in the latest salvo over a higher Minneapolis minimum wage and whether any law should make an exception for tipped workers.

About 35 people protested what they said would be wage theft, and to argue that the Minneapolis City Council should enact a $15 minimum wage that does not exempt servers, bartenders and other tipped workers. They held banners and several wore the red shirts of the 15 Now coalition.

Just after noon, about 50 people in the light green and blue of the Pathway to $15 coalition marched up University Avenue toward the other protesters, chanting "Whose tips? Our tips!" A collection of servers, bartenders and some restaurant owners say they want a $15 minimum wage but not for servers and bartenders.

A majority of City Council members have signaled they will vote for a $15 minimum wage without a tip carveout, and Council Member Cam Gordon showed up to speak, but advocates on both sides continued to push. Most of those there to oppose a tip carveout were union officials and political organizers, but three who said they work in the restaurant industry said a two-tiered minimum wage would open workers to exploitation.

"It allows loopholes … for people to be taken advantage of," Serena Thomas, who's been waiting tables at Spoonriver in the Mill District since January, said of a tip carveout. "Tips are tips. Tips are not wages."

Thomas, who's also an organizer for the Restaurant Opportunities Center, a national workers organization, said it isn't fair that servers have to depend on customer whim for their livelihood, saying that even at fancy restaurants tips can vary.

"I make pretty good tips some days, and I make pretty bad tips some other days," she said.

Jennifer Schellenberg, a server at Red Rabbit who organized the counterprotest in favor of the tipped-worker exemption, said too many people don't understand the ramifications of a blanket minimum wage.

"They say we'll get $15 and tips will stay the same. That sounds great, but it's just not how it's going to work," Schellenberg said. "They don't seem to understand how the business runs."

She said she and other servers "fundamentally agree with $15 now," particularly for kitchen staff and low-wage workers in other industries, she said, but they think their own wages should be exempt.

"We just don't want our employers to have to pay us a wage we already make, and drown their business," Schellenberg said.

The two groups shouted slogans for about half an hour in the sunshine as largely indifferent college students hurried past.

After awhile, both groups marched to the steps at the east end of Williams Arena, then smaller groups broke off to argue the finer points of the issue before they dissipated.

The Minneapolis City Council will likely take up a minimum wage proposal in May or June.

Adam Belz • 612-673-4405

Activists on both sides of a tipped-worker exemption as part of a potential minimum wage hike made themselves heard in Dinkytown on Monday. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Monday’s protest drew about 35 people. The City Council has signaled that it will likely vote for a $15 minimum wage without an exception for tips. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)