The Tipping Point
No, this is not a post about anything Malcolm Gladwell related or how Hush Puppies took over the world; instead, it is about about an unused method in which restaurants and bars can implement for their tipping/gratuity policy. In the 1980’s, you (and I stress you because I wasn’t tipping in the 80s, but maybe you were) would leave 10-15% of the bill as gratuity. Since the bottle service era really kicked into high gear in the early 2000’s, an increased mandatory gratuity of 18-20% of the bill (sometimes higher) has become an accepted tradition for most people when dining out in a restaurant or partying at a nightclub with table service. While I may sound a tad “out there” with this, I believe gratuity can easily be based on the actual tangible service provided to the table, rather than based off a percentage of the total bill. Say there is a table of four people dining at a restaurant and each person orders two drinks, an appetizer and an entrée — total, it is sixteen items brought out by the waiter or waitress (four items per patron). Each restaurant can set a certain suggested or mandatory amount to be tipped per item, perhaps based upon how upscale or not the restaurant is. So, let’s say it is $2-3 per plate/drink in this case; total, it adds up to $8-12 per person or $32-48 total using the previous example. The overall effect taking place leaves the patrons tipping on the actual service, rather than a percentage of the bill, as I previously mentioned in the opening of the post. Gratuity will be roughly the same amount per table of “X” amount of people no matter what the table’s tab adds up to. It seems odd that the service we are accustomed to tipping on is based on menu prices and not the actual service. By no means do I believe waiters and waitresses (and even bussers) should be compensated less than they are now, but I do believe they should be compensated around the same amount for every table of equal size they serve. Whether it is a $55 dish of truffle oil mac ‘n cheese, or a $8 side of steamed asparagus, you will tip equally ($2-3 for example) for the service using this method, which I am in no way claiming to have created. How much more difficult is it for your waiter to bring out one dish over the other? Not much more difficult I bet, so why are we tipping $9-10* for one (truffle oil dish) and $1-2* for the other (asparagus)? Finding a common ground somewhere in the middle seems wildly more appropriate, unless of course, we were tipping the chef who clearly put in more work with one dish over the other - but we aren’t. In lounges and bars, we can appropriately use the same method for gratuity. This is a case where you are tipping the chef, in the form of a mixologist or bartender, which are not considered one in the same. A $14 complicated cocktail from a mixologist and a $14 simple gin and tonic from a bartender should not warrant the same tip based on their $14 price point. The amount of work and time put in by the mixologist to muddle, shake and garnish your cocktail should be directly correlated to the tip you leave. So while it may be fine to leave a $2 tip for a gin and tonic, it isn’t as fine to leave $2 for a true cocktail. Again, we can see how irrational it has become to tip on price and not service. The last case I’ll make is that of bottle service in nightclubs. Again, I believe there should be a set service charge per bottle regardless of its price. Often times, the less service you’ll receive, the more you end up tipping. Case in point: champagne. Many brands of champagne are usually the most expensive bottles on a bottle menu and currently come with the same 20% gratuity you’d pay on a far less expensive bottle of vodka. With vodka, the 20% of a $350 bottle comes with the actual service of having your chasers (orange, cranberry, soda, etc) and bucket of ice refilled throughout the night; vodka also lasts longer than champagne by means of consumption and more glasses for the table are usually required. On the flip side, champagne usually requires no more than 5-7 flutes for the table per bottle, no chasers unless you’re making mimosa’s and very few refills of ice, yet, 20% on a bottle of champagne that can very well be $1,000 is $200 and 20% on a $350 bottle of vodka is $70. By now, it is clear a set service charge amount regardless of menu price seems to be the most rational way of going about tipping. Call it “socialized tipping” if you’d like, but it does make sense. To take it a step further and really make it socialized tipping, somebody or rather, some website can come about to have customers decide what the tipping policy should be for every restaurant; it is the customers who are leaving the tip, not the restaurant itself, so why wouldn’t it be up to the customers to decide? If this change is to ever actualize, many will agree an established and well used website like Opentable can lead the change and make it known as you reserve a table how gratuity should be handled for every restaurant from past customer reviews and beliefs. I plan on following up with another post about gratuity in the near future to touch upon other areas not talked about in this post. For anybody reading this who works in the hospitality industry (waiters, managers, hostesses, etc) who have any comments or suggestions, leave them in the comments box below or email me - I’m especially curious to see your response(s). (* - based on 18% gratuity)
