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Stephen Moy,35, a server at Libby's Cafe and Bar pours wine for customers. (Herald-Tribune Staff Photo by Thomas Bender)
It happens to everyone at the end of a meal, from fine dining restaurants to neighborhood joints. The tension that can come from jockeying for the check, splitting the bill and figuring out the right amount to tip is an unfortunate way to finish a hopefully satisfying night at a restaurant. Tipping is especially hard, if only because the decision you make has an impact on the person who has spent the last hour or two taking care of your needs.
How much is expected? How much is fair? What does the size of my tip say about me?
“Gratuities are a customary dynamic of the restaurant business,” said Geoff Luebkemann, Vice President of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association. “But it’s a bit of a touchy topic because while tipping is meant to be a demonstration of gratitude for good service, it is a completely voluntary payment.”
How and when tipping became both a touchy topic and multi-billion dollar industry is up for debate.
The classic myth is that “tips” is an 18th century acronym for “to insure prompt service.” However, acronyms didn’t happen until the 20th century and, even if it was legit, it would have been “teps” – “to ensure prompt service.”
There is flimsy consensus about the old English custom of tossing gratuity at servants or token drink-money for a lowly pub server to have “a tipple” compliments of a customer. In fact, in modern France tips are still called “pourboire,” translated as “for a drink.”
In the U.S., tipping has morphed into a uniquely mandatory ritual, but regardless of what they call it – baksheesh in India, propina in Mexico and Spain, servizio in Italy – customs differ across the globe.
In China tips are not expected. Australia and New Zealand shrug about an unwelcome imported custom but servers still accept and appreciate tips. Japan considers tips rude. Most restaurants in Europe include a five to 15 percent pre-tax service charge on the bill.
Luebkemann acknowledged that while a 15 percent tip has been considered the North American standard, servers in many parts of Florida are in a vulnerable situation when it comes to tips.
“Since a large portion of a server’s salary is gratuity, it is a frequent topic of hospitality-industry conversation. And unfortunately tipping is not a globally consistent practice,” he explained.
“Southwest Florida gets a lot of international visitors and seasonal residents, from Canada, Australia, Germany, Holland, Asia and England. Their tipping customs and habits may be so different that some Florida restaurants print a ‘Gratuities NOT Included’ reminder right on the bill.
“We do our best to inform and educate restaurant customers,” Luebkemann said, “but it’s tough to change people’s habits.”
Diners talk the talk but don’t always walk the walk when it comes to tipping for merit – generous for excellent service and teach-them-a-lesson-skimpy for a lousy evening.
“The size of a tip reflects the quality of the service but also the personality and attitude of the server,” said Dean Donnelly, owner, chef and manager at Cedar Reef Fish Camp in Venice.
“Of course food is the key, but the server’s personality is just as important. You can post signs and write ‘Welcome’ all over the walls and the menu but it all comes down to the staff’s mentality and attitude of actually making people feel welcome. That’s what customers expect and deserve.”
Marc Grimaud, the owner and general manager of Cafe Gabbiano on Siesta Key agrees. “The more time that servers spend at the table, really connecting with their customer, shows in the tip. Never what we call ‘turning and burning’ – just taking and dropping-off the order.”
Despite customer or server moods and random situations, tipping is still a matter of percentages and simple math.
And the numbers are changing. The traditional 15 percent has turned more to 18 or 20, and some urban areas see it trending even higher.
“In the past three or four years there has been a change in tipping,” said Buki Kodra, manager of Rosebud’s Steak & Seafood in Osprey. “The average is now 18 although it tends to be generational. Seniors still tip the traditional 15 percent and younger customers leave 18 per cent and higher.”
Most diners know that restaurant servers work hard for minimum wage and depend on tips to make a living. The tipping controversy stems from expectations and a few nagging standoffs between what servers expect and what tip-conscious customers calculate as reasonable and fair.
Servers expect to be tipped a percentage of the complete bill. Some customers beg to differ.
Even for good service that deserves extra, customers question why servers expect to be tipped on pricey bottles of wine. Are the corkscrew turns on a $70 bottle of wine worth a $14 tip?
And why tip on the after-tax amount? Tipping an additional 18-20 per cent on the after-tax total spikes the actual tip to more than 25 per cent, if you just take the food and drink into account.
“Some customers have their own tipping habits and routinely tip only on the food amount,” Grimaud said.
One thing that researchers tend to agree on is that better service doesn’t generally result in an increase in the size of tips. Instead, most people give what they think they are expected to give.
Tipping because of guilt? Let’s just call it adhering to social and cultural norms.
Your server thanks you.
"Tipping an additional 18-20 per cent on the after-tax total spikes the actual tip to more than 25 per cent, if you just take the food and drink into account."
Assuming a 20% tip and a 7% tax rate, you increase the tip by 1.4% of the bill total. That gives an overall tipping rate of 21.4%. It's not difficult math by any stretch of the imagination.