There are plenty of ways to have people make a living wage that doesn't rely on a stupid and meaningless contrivance. Again, the research overwhelmingly comes down on the side of tips having a very small effect on the quality of service at best. It's a pointless exercise.
There is nothing special about a restaurant job that demands a different pay structure, the different pay structure is inefficient and makes wages unpredictable, it slows down how quickly restaurants can turn tables by making payment a two step process, etc, etc.
I'm still waiting for anyone to come up with a single advantage for it. So far everyone has failed.