I agree that if the convention for the tip is a fixed percentage of the value of the purchase, then a waiter is basically guaranteed a share of the owner's reve

I agree that if the convention for the tip is a fixed percentage of the value of the purchase, then a waiter is basically guaranteed a share of the owner's revenue (revenue, not even profits!) At the same time, the vast majority of the jobs don't warrant tips- including all waitressing jobs outside the US- and this doesn't prevent workers from making a living wage out of them. So yes, I think that if people stopped tipping, owners would be forced to pay waiters more, and raise their prices accordingly, as everybody already does elsewhere. On the other end, it's true that waiters might end up making less money, as the revenue-sharing model might be unreasonably generous in some cases.