Smarter Tipper Campaign
Helping consumers make smart tipping decisions
- Quick-Tip Calculator
- Why Tip?
- What You Should Expect as a Customer/How a Server can Make Better Tips
- Proper Dining Etiquette
- Other Tipping Resources
Why Tip?
So you've made the decision to dine out. And if you're here, you're probably going to be eating late.
You're going to exercise your right to eat what you want when you want. But there's a price for your happiness. Not just the cost of food, but the cost of having someone ready to serve you. This cost is commonly referred to as a "tip".
The definition of the word "tip" is frequently argued, but everyone knows what it is. It is a payment, not a reward, for someone serving you.
When you walk into a restaurant, realize that the people working around you are like actors on a stage; they smile, are polite and clean up after you and your children despite the terrible things that may be happening in their daily lives. They put all of that behind to make you happy by getting you food and drink.
The least we can do as restaurant patrons is to pay them for their services.
At many dining establishments, servers make at or below minimum wage. Do these employees not have more skills than your regular burger-flipper? Do they not continuously check in with you, instead of making you come back up to the counter? They rely on tips both the let them know they're doing their job correctly, but also to fully survive.
As most people are aware, the cost of living increases annually. Wages try to keep up, yet in many areas, minimum wages is just enough to ensure that the restaurant workers we rely on have to work more than one job just to get by. And the "base tip" by no means has kept up with inflation.
What we suggest is that if you get what you consider to be good - not great, not fantastic, but good - service from your server the next time you go out, the "good service tip" should be 18%. If the service is merely adequate - they get you what you need, but not a whole lot more - a 15% tip is reasonable.
However, the tip isn't simply the money you leave for your server. If you want to get better service, the only way is to let your server know why they got what they did for a tip. Fill out the comment card, tell them directly or tell a coworker. This will reinforce the tip as not a mere "accident", but something that was justified.
Finally, if you are a notoriously poor tipper, yet you frequent the same establishments time and again, you can almost guarantee that you will begin to get terrible service. Be good to your server, and they will be good to you.
If you have questions about what your tip should be, use the simple calculator below. Click on any of the dining experiences for a complete definition.
For more resources, follow the Other Tipping Resources link at the top.
What You Should Expect as a Customer/How a Server can Make Better Tips
- SMILE!
- Know the menu and menu items ingredients, be prepared for special allergy request and vegetarians
- Up sell! This not only proves you know about the menu, but it helps the communication process later in their dining experience, puts more money in your pocket and the owners.
- Be well groomed, clothing wrinkle free, good personal hygiene, good posture, constant eye contact
- Keep your voice low when talking with other employees. Guest do not need to hear your conversations over theirs especially if you're complaining about another guest
- Find out what your guests' names are especially if you know you've seen them in the restaurant before. People love being recognized by name. If you can't remember their name at least give them a warm welcome back greeting.
- Treat everyone as a potential future friend
- Give compliments on clothing, jewelry, a book they are reading etc.
- Communicate and listen to all of the customers needs, find out what they really like, don't try to up sell them on something just because it cost more, the goal is to give them what they want so they'll be back for more
- Give extra attention to your solo diners. Realize that the time it takes them for their dining experience may be less because they don't have anyone to chat with. You must be quicker with all aspects of your service. Offer a magazine to read if they haven't brought any reading material for themselves
- Be prompt with your initial steps of service: greeting the table, bringing drinks and an appetizer or bread...they came to you because they are hungry and thirsty right now!
- Always have an at least ½ full beverage in front of your customer. If they don't have anything to drink, they can't eat and fully enjoy their meal
- Check back no longer than 2 minutes after your guest has received their meal to make sure they got what they wanted and it taste good
- Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork!!! Don't be possessive over your tables. Any guest in a restaurant is your guest regardless of whether or not you will be receiving the tip this time
- Promptly take away everything that is no longer needed on the table
Proper Dining Etiquette
- The verbal tip - "you did a great job for us" - doesn't help pay the rent
- A reasonable time to eat is an hour and a half. If you stay longer add more to the tip. Servers depend on turnover.
- The cost of the wine figures in the total bill
- If you say you're "going to take care of them," do so. Servers share their tips, usually giving up 4-5% of the total sale to share between bartenders, bus help, food runners and kitchen personnel.
- Servers are required by law to claim 100% of the tips they earn. In addition to this they must report their total sales to the IRS, so if you make the decision to not leave a tip or even a very small tip the server ends up having to pay the government just to serve you.
- Don't snap your fingers
- Don't yell for your server across the restaurant, or interrupt them while they are talking to another table
- Be sure you know ahead of time whether a tip is already included on your bill, this usually occurs when dining with guest of 6 or more. The server is not required to tell you that it is included, however it has to be listed in the menu or told to you when reservation was made. You are never required by law to tip whatever is added in by the restaurant. The reason restaurants add it in is because they have found over time that large parties do not tip above 10% because they are more concerned with having to pay a larger amount for the bill itself. The server/servers should be giving you good service no matter how many people are in the party so therefore the tip should be at least 18%.
- Look for gratuity lines on guest checks or visa slips to help determine the tip you want to leave on a credit card
- Don't be cheap just because you don't want to break a larger bill to leave an appropriate tip, always carry extra dollar bills for tips
- Leaving a gratuity doesn't give you license to be rude. You should treat service personnel as you would like to be treated--with respect
- If you are someone that frequents a restaurant and always leaves a bad tip, expect to get bad service every time...you will be recognized not only as a regular but as a cheapskate.
- Tip more if you have children that are not well behaved, if your child leaves a huge mess either help clean it up or else leave a larger tip
- If you're not happy about something SPEAK UP! Leaving a small tip doesn't fix the problem you had, but if the service or food is lacking let your server or a manager know, otherwise others may receive the same problems you encountered
- You don't have to figure the tip out to the penny!
Quick-Tip Calculator