- How much should you tip at a restaurant?money with cup image by Avesun from Fotolia.com
Understanding tip policies in restaurants is good to avoid any potential embarrassments, wasting time or most importantly wasting money. Although many restaurants allow patrons to tip according to the service, experience and food quality, some restaurants have special tipping policies that require patrons to tip a set percentage from the total bill. Depending on the restaurant, such policies may request that the tip includes or excludes the tax amount when calculating the tip. - The amount of money you should tip depends on the type of restaurant you are visiting and the type of service such restaurant provides. For instance, it is customary to tip 15 to 20 percent at a restaurant that has a wait staff and offers alcoholic drinks. If you are visiting a cafe or a restaurant where you order at the front, a 5 to 10 percent tip is standard. At buffet-style restaurants the tip rule varies depending on the type of buffet you are visiting; if it's a fast food buffet, tips aren't necessary. However, at hotel or casino buffets a 15 or 20 percent tip is recommended. At fine dining restaurants an acceptable tip ranges from 15 to 20 percent, in addition to the tips that apply to the parking, coatroom and restroom attendants as well as the wine steward, who usually gets 10 percent of the wine bill.
- A restaurant may adjust its tip policies by requesting that patrons tip a percentage of the total bill before or after taxes depending on the restaurant, service and location. In many cases the restaurant's policy asks that patrons tip a percentage of the total bill after taxes because servers also tip out the rest of the staff on the after-tax amount.
- To ensure that restaurant employees working behind the scenes and front-of-the-house staff receive a good compensation when a server gets a tip, many restaurants have implemented a flat-rate tip policy which is a common tip rule in Europe. Although this policy has received mixed reviews, it is becoming standard in many restaurants across the United States. This policy requires patrons to tip a set percentage which can range from 15 to 25 percent of the total bill. The tip percentage varies according to the restaurant's policy.
- Certain restaurants have a tip policy that requires larger groups to tip a flat-rate of the total bill. What a restaurant considers a large group varies depending on the dining destination. This large group tip policy is set to ensure that a server assisting a table of eight, 10 or 20 people receives a fair gratuity amount in comparison to the total bill. Usually tips for larger groups are set between 15 to 25 percent, but ultimately this depends on the type of fare the restaurant serves.
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