Tipping is such a fun, social way to express appreciation for your waiter or waitress. It’s one of the few occasions that you get to directly reward someone who has helped you out, and it makes them feel good! However, it can be tough to know how much you should tip in a restaurant.
We’ll walk through some scenarios below so you can estimate how much money to bring with you on your next night out at your favorite place to eat. If this isn’t something that interests you, don’t worry—we’ve got other content about different topics that may appeal more directly to your interests!
The types of tips in a restaurant
The following are the most common types of tips:
Service charge
This is usually added to the bill, and it’s typically 20 percent or more depending on the level of service. If you’re at a restaurant that charges a service charge, your server will not expect any additional tip beyond this amount.
Tip and split
If you’re dining with another party, it’s customary for each person to pay for their own meal and then split the cost equally among everyone else at the table. This means that each person pays for his or her own meal, plus some extra cash for splitting with everyone else at the table. The amount varies by the situation (for example, if one person ordered an expensive bottle of wine), but usually ranges from 10 percent to 15 percent per person.
Tip only
This is a less common scenario than tipping after paying but still occurs frequently enough that I feel it deserves mention here. If you’ve been served well by your server but don’t plan on staying long after paying your bill.
Gratuity
This is the most common type of tip that you’ll see on your bill at a restaurant. It’s generally between 15% and 20%, depending on how much you enjoyed your experience at the restaurant and how much attention you received from servers and other staff members. For example, if you have the opportunity to enjoy a meal at the best restaurants in Lubbock Texas for a total of $50, you can tip the staff about 15% that is $8 if you are satisfied.
Chris French, founder of The Mitre in Richmond, says “tips are always appreciated but we believe a tip should only be as good as the service given. If the service isn’t up to scratch a small tip or no tip at all is great feedback that we need to up our game.”
Credit card fee
When customers pay with credit cards, restaurants typically pay processing fees for every transaction (about 3% for Visa and MasterCard). These fees can add up quickly for small businesses like restaurants, so many owners add them onto their bills as “cash discounts” or “credit card fees.” You’ll usually see this added onto your bill as something like “$5 cash discount applied.”
How to Tip
There are several ways to determine how much to tip, but most people use a simple formula. The standard 10% is the most common amount for tips, though it can vary depending on the type of service you receive and how expensive the meal was.
For example: if your meal costs $50 and your waiter or waitress provides excellent service (such as being attentive and helpful), a 15% tip would be appropriate; if they’re not so great (e.g., they forget things), maybe 10% should do it. If you’re paying with cash instead of plastic, 20% is customary for many businesses—but don’t feel bad about tipping less than that if everything else isn’t up to par! You can also calculate a percentage based on what percentage tax bracket you fall under–this isn’t something we’d suggest doing unless you have some serious math skills under your belt; in general though, just knowing what dollar amount works best suits most situations here at home or abroad!
A tip of 25% or above is considered very generous by American standards. You may want to tip more if your server was especially attentive, or less if he or she was not helpful at all. If you received good service and did not have any complaints about your meal, then a 20% tip will be more than enough.
It’s best to check local etiquette before dining out, but here’s a guide to help you navigate the wide range of tipping guidelines:
- Tipping at a sit-down restaurant: 15% – 20%
- Tipping at fast food restaurants: 10% – 15%
- Tipping for takeout or delivery: 10% – 15%
- Tipping for buffets: No tip is necessary.
It’s important to remember that there are other types of workers who deserve tips too besides waiters/waitresses like bartenders or valets working outside–your local barista should definitely get one too even though coffee doesn’t cost as much as dinner does! If someone does something out of kindness without expecting anything back in return, then make sure they know how thankful you are by giving them something extra special like flowers instead.
Who to Tip and How Much
First, there are a few people that you should tip.
- The waiter/waitress is the person who will be handling your food and drink orders throughout your stay at the restaurant. You should tip them between 15-20% of the bill.
- The bartender is someone who makes drinks for you or other patrons and can make recommendations on what drinks would go well with certain foods as well as where to go when it’s time to leave (or just hang around). Tip them 15% of whatever they serve you while they’re working behind the bar, but if they help out another server in any way, like clearing dirty dishes off a table or taking food away from one table so that someone else at that table can sit down comfortably, then give them $1-$5 depending on how much work they did for you specifically; this won’t affect their tip percentage directly but it could still show how appreciative you were of their efforts!
- These are all different types of staff members at restaurants who could use some extra love from customers like yourself when coming in for a meal! It might seem daunting at first because there are so many people involved in making sure everything goes smoothly during an entire dining experience.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has helped you understand the tipping etiquette in restaurants. Tipping is a great way to show appreciation for good service, but it can also be confusing sometimes. We recommend that you ask waiters and waitresses about their work conditions before deciding how much money to give them as tips—that way, you can make an informed decision based on facts instead of assumptions!
