I'm being genuine when I ask this. We are making some spending reductions, but we do enjoy going out from time to time. I used to just multiply the first number in the total by 2 which was 20%+. I'm looking to reduce that percentage, but appropriately.

Sit down restaurants - Fair 18%, Good 20%, Excellent 25%

Bartenders - Fair 18%, Good 20%, Excellent 25%

I start at 20% minimum

If excellent service I will increase

If bad service I’ll drop lower

Majority of servers get paid little over $3/hr

Bartenders, if I’m walking up and paying cash get $1 per drink, max of 5 if I’m getting the table a round at a time (unless it’s just a rediculous labor intensive silly order then I’ll make exception and go more)

This was discussed recently. Try the Search function on the site.

In these times, unless service is really bad, I do a minimum of 20%.

Most service jobs are suffering this year.

If you are also having a hard time adjust to what you are comfortable with.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
This was discussed recently. Try the Search function on the site.

^^^I see what you did there.

It’s a range….between 15 and 20 percent depending on your service.

quote:

We are making some spending reductions

No offense but if I were in your shoes I would reduce the amount of times that I'm going out rather than reduce a server's tip.

My tip starts at 20% and goes up or down depending on service. Wife and I went out tonight to our favorite local family restaurant the I left 30%. Our server knows us as regulars and always does an awesome job.

quote:

Originally posted by xd45man: I used to just multiply the first number in the total by 2 which was 20%+.

It sounds like your math is flawed right off the bat. The way you describe your method is not 20%+. At most it's 20% if its a simple $10.00, $40.00, $100.00, etc. Anything over 0 and your dropping under 20%.

The way you describe it you'd tip $8 on a bill of $46.84, which is approximately 17%. 20% tip would be $9.37.

In the more general sense I basically do as snwghst describes. Base of 20% tip, more for excellent service.

If you can't afford to tip don't eat out.

20% as a rule, but exceptional service can get more. Makes the math easy.

Since when did 20 per cent become the rule?
Always thought 15 was standard.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Since when did 20 per cent become the rule?
Always thought 15 was standard.

Where have you been? Standard hadn't been 15% for well over a decade in these parts.

20%, usually rounded up to an even dollar amount, for dine-in, if the service was good. Commensurately less for lesser service. Sometimes as much as 25% for exemplary service. 15% for carryout.

quote:

Originally posted by Windhover:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Since when did 20 per cent become the rule?
Always thought 15 was standard.

Where have you been? Standard hadn't been 15% for well over a decade in these parts.

Nor around here.

Think sig77 was expressing his rule.
Happens to be my general rule as well as I've waited tables and can relate.
Having said that, you don't do your job taking care of my table (things in their control, like pleasant service) and it goes South pretty quick. On the flip side you act like you care and look after my table and that rate goes up even if things beyond their control are less than perfect.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Sit down restaurants - Fair 18%, Good 20%, Excellent 25%

Bartenders - Fair 18%, Good 20%, Excellent 25%

This is what I go by. What has irritated me now is that if you order to go or order at the counter to eat in and get your own order, they still ask for a tip. Why should I tip just for you giving me what I paid for? I did it for a while during COVID just to help people out. To me a tip comes in to play when I sit down to eat at an establishment and a server brings drink refills and checks on anything you need. The tip is relative to the service provided.

20% minimum and usually a bit more because I round up. If service is poor enough to consider reducing the tip I’ll talk to the manager.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
What has irritated me now is that if you order to go or order at the counter to eat in and get your own order, ...

How does one "get their own order" unless it's a buffet?

Carryout: Somebody takes the order, checks the order after it's up, packs the order, etc. Only difference from sit-down is it's in a bag instead of on the table.

Heck, during the height of the Wu Flu scaredemic, when our favorite restaurant was curbside pickup only, I was tipping 20% for carryout because I felt bad for the wait staff.

quote:

Originally posted by sigarms229:

quote:

We are making some spending reductions

No offense but if I were in your shoes I would reduce the amount of times that I'm going out rather than reduce a server's tip.

Another strategy is to focus on value.

When going out, alcohol is the restaurant's biggest mark-up which makes it the worst value. In general, restaurants mark-up their alcohol ~5x what they pay for it and their food ~3x what they pay for it.

My GF always orders drinks from the "suckers menu" (aka the drink menu) which is generally the restaurant's highest margin cocktails. Getting her to order the $10 drink rather than the $16 drink would save me more money than reducing the tip 2 to 5 percent.

Based on the above, I generally have 0 or 1 drink (certainly not one off the sucker menu), order food that I wouldn't cook at home, and tip 20%.

I am not cheap when it comes to a tip but I say whatever you can.
The "don't eat out" if you can't tip a certain amount is dumb.
Restaurants have profit margins. I am guessing paying customers are valued, especially now.

Do what you can.

To the op, trying to save a dollar or two when occasionally eating out by tipping slightly less seems a bit tacky.

I usually leave large tips.

Someone I know made a moderate donation to a charity in memory of a deceased relative some three years ago. Since then hardly a week goes by without further solicitations from not only that one but several others whose mailing lists her name got onto. Many include “gifts” of various sorts, supposedly as added incentives to give. That's how I view most charities these days: more in the business of supporting themselves than their supposed causes.

On the other hand I consider my tips to be charitable donations to local working people who benefit fully and directly from what I give them, and who benefit me directly by working at jobs that I myself wouldn’t touch with a stick.