Bottles revamps model with pricing cuts, new tip system
Bottles in Guaynabo has launched a series of structural changes aimed at delivering clearer pricing, improving service and eliminating long-standing confusion around its tipping and pay model, Abelardo Ruiz, managing partner of the restaurant’s parent company, BRG Management LLC, told News is my Business in an exclusive interview.
The updates include menu price reductions, a return to traditional tipping — as opposed to the embedded gratuity system under the previous owner — new portion options and a series of remodeling efforts intended to modernize the customer experience.
Ruiz said the restaurant’s former compensation structure created “a really negative and confusing situation,” particularly because customers often struggled to understand how service charges, commissions and menu pricing were applied.
“I like transparency. I never want to put my hand in someone’s pocket,” he said, noting that the shift returns full discretion to diners, with tips going directly to employees based solely on customer satisfaction. “It’s incentivized by the service given to the customer … not by sales.”
The overhaul also eliminates discrepancies between “street price” and dine-in price tiers, a difference that had fueled uncertainty among customers.
Ruiz said the team conducted a dish-by-dish analysis to adjust prices responsibly without compromising quality.
“It wasn’t fair to say, ‘let’s reduce everything,’ because some items had increased 20% to 28% in cost,” he explained.
Still, removing the legacy 18% baked-in differential allowed for meaningful reductions across the menu, he said.
Bottles also introduced smaller versions of 10 to 12 menu items for diners who want more variety without committing to large portions.
“There are people who like big meals … and others who want to try something different,” Ruiz said of the option, which he noted has been well received since its launch two weeks ago.
The restaurant’s Guaynabo flagship has undergone additional upgrades, including multiple new points of sale, expanded bar visibility and a refreshed entrance.
BRG Management purchased Bottles from Kindred Spirits Inc. in December 2024, about six months after a group of former employees filed a civil suit against their former employer over unpaid tips, vacation and sick pay. Only two of those workers remain employed at Bottles, and BRG Management did not “inherit” that litigation, which continues in federal court.
Since acquiring the business, Ruiz and his partners have expanded the combined workforce from 57 employees to 230 across Bottles Guaynabo, Bottles Dorado — which includes a deli concept similar to the one that was formerly in Guaynabo — and Dragon in Condado with chef Roberto Treviño.
Asked what he expects from the changes, Ruiz was clear: transparency — from pricing to tipping to the final bill. “The expectation is that the employee does their work well, the customer knows what they’re paying and the prices published match the prices on the check,” he said. “That clarity is what we were missing, and now it’s exactly what we’re delivering.”
