If charged a service fee, do you still tip?

Let’s not get into whether r not we should tip but whether you should pay a tip on top of a service fee.

I just made reservations for 3 high-end restaurants in Denver, and Denver restaurants are moving to a service fee model. The difference is that tips go to your server (or the tip pool) and service fees go to the owner to distribute or not as they decide. These were pre-pay restaurants and so I was charged a mandatory 22% service fee on my $350 meals. That’s between $75 and $80. AITA thinking I just prepaid the tip? If the owner chooses to keep this charge that obviously the workers know about it and then it’s up to the servers to deal with the problem. If they do get the service fee as a tip, then I’m not about to give them another 20% just because it is expected to tip.

What do or would you do in a similar circumstance? FTR, most on reddit say “Hellz No! The Service Fee is a tip.” while some sites like Bon Appetit are “Of course you still tip. You need to help the restaurant cover expenses.” although I don’t understand why menu prices don’t do that.

I typically tip a little on top of a service fee, but usually it’s less than what you had to pay. At 22% I’d consider not paying more. But maybe I’d leave a $20 on the table.

As an aside, I’ve never seen a pre-pay restaurant.

If the service fee goes to the restaurant management/owners and not the servers/waitstaff, then I would tip the waitstaff directly, preferably in cash.

But this is a hypothetical as I would never patronize a restaurant that charged a service fee as it’s clearly a way to simply fleece their customers out of more money. If the restaurant that charges such a fee is providing an actual service above what is normally expected of a restaurant – home delivery, for instance – then I might reconsider.

They are our 3 new Michelin Star restaurants

Our Bennihana recently introduced a 20% service fee. I think since the bills can get quite hefty there while the clientele has become more pedestrian they were seeing their tips shrinking that were supposed to cover both the waitress and the chef.
I usually tip 20% anyways so now felt some pressure to tip above and beyond the service fee. However, when the credit card receipt came back to the table to sign there was no tip line anymore. They had removed it. So apparently just adding the 20% automatically was enough for them and I was good with that.

It’s a way to raise prices without changing the prices on the menu. I agree it is a very scummy thing to do. If that dish is $40 + 22%, just charge $48.80. Restaurants are starting to think they’re cable companies with all of the hidden fees.

I do think you still need to tip, because if the price of the meal was raised from $40 to $48.80, you’d still tip, and that’s all that’s happened. Do you tip on the service fee, do you tip on the tax? That all depends on how cheap you want to be.

Now, that is very different from a mandatory tip or other fee, even if called “service fee,” that does go directly to the staff: parties of 10 or more are charged an 18% gratuity. I wouldn’t tip on top of that (though I expect they aren’t 18% anymore).

I do not tip in that case. Maybe round up. But if there’s a mandatory service fee, I’ve always felt that was in lieu of tipping. I typically tip 20%, so that 22% is already above what I normally tip.

I consider the service fee part of the tip, so if the fee is 15% I add 5% more. I also circle the fee on the bill in what’s probably a passive-aggressive move.

I understand the restaurant may not actually give the fee to its staff, but this is the only practical means I have to pressure management to change its practices.

It’s shitty that the wait staff gets caught in the middle, but it’s shitty that restaurants are allowed to rely on social pressure to get away with not paying their employees a decent wage.

I would tip on top of a 15-18% service charge, but not on 20% and up.

Same here.

I feel bad for the waiters in this case since I am willing to bet the restaurant is holding some of that back from them (maybe not). On the flip side it may be tip-sharing so the cooks and dish washers and whatnot can get a piece of the action.

I find it all very suspect though and would generally prefer to not go to those places. I do not trust the management to not take a piece of that.

When I worked as a waiter I was my own bank. At the end of the night the restaurant’s computer said I owed $XXX to the restaurant. It was up to me to provide the credit card receipts and/or cash to the restaurant to cover all that was purchased. Any left over was mine (which I then shared with the bus boys…usually 10-15% of my tips). And, in theory, if I was short I’d have to pay the restaurant out of my own money but I never saw that happen.

I would not want the manager to take all of my money and tell me what I get at the end of the evening (not to mention the bus boys).

My default tip for a sit-down meal is 20%. If the restaurant has added a mandatory “service” or “cost of living” fee, I adjust my tip accordingly. To me, a “cost of living” fee is totally bogus–just pay the staff decently and charge 50 cents more for the menu items.

This. A couple of places are really blatant about it - for example one place I went with my Mother and Father in Law (their choice) not only mentioned a service fee, but said they were charging it because they had been forced per changes in law to provide additional benefits to their servers. So yeah, rather than raising prices, they just tacked on a fee and proclaimed it loud and wide to blame the government.

So those sorts of places self select out for me. I’m certainly never going back there (no big loss, food was fully “okay”). High end places that charge a service fee, I’m probably going to blatantly ask where it’s going, and make my decision on that basis. If they say it’s to ensure best service regardless of tip, but there’s still a “tip” portion on the print out for the CC slip, I might round up to a nice round number. Depends on the place, the service, as the total cost.

For a $300+ dollar place, I tend to assume they’re paying their staff appropriately (although I know that’s not always the case) and it would be depending on whether the service was exceptional.

This. Any less of an establishment and a service fee will cost them my patronage. If they spring it on me come bill time and not list it in bold on the menu then they’d better be prepared for a scene and a lawsuit.

I believe in overtipping, but that is for the server, not the company that owns the place.

Service fee? So, tipping the help is voluntary, but tipping management is mandatory?

This. I would ask management to explain what service the fee covers. If it’s a nonsense fee then they risk some very expensive advertisement on their part. This is the age of cell phones where I can record all the pricing information and present it to the world for free. Emails and texts have a way of spreading the word.

If a restaurant wants to charge more for healthcare, living wages, and whatnot they can just raise the price on the menu. Done. I don’t like games.

I have been boycotting restaurants that charge a “Kitchen Appreciation Fee”, “Back of House Benefits Fee”, “Employee Healthcare Fund” or anything that I suspect doesn’t go directly to the waitstaff.

This is bolstered by the fact that I am personally acquainted with two restaurants owning families (multiple restaurants each) and I wouldn’t trust them not to simply pocket 90% of any of these fees. Wait staff who are paid the lower tipped wage have some protection but only to keep monies that are clearly tips. Everything else you’re relying on the moral fiber of the owner/manager.

You know that stereotypical kid who is sitting doing homework in the family restaurant. One of my acquaintances was that kid and she shared equally in the tip pool for the busboys and hostess. From age 6 to age 14. The family owners were outraged when the DoL determined that forcing wait staff to share tips with non-tipped staff was wage theft.

I don’t have a strong opinion on whether to tip on top of the service fee. I will just note that Colorado is one of the states where the minimum wage for tipped work, like waitstaff, before tips ($11.40), is higher than the federal minimum wage for non-tipped labor ($7.25). In addition, under Colorado law, the wage plus tips is supposed to total at least $14.42, which is the same as the state minimum wage for non-tipped work. I suspect the “service fee” is at least partly intended to provide funding so the owners can afford to pay these relatively high wages without raising menu prices or dipping into their profits.

Then be honest and raise prices. Or at least put the service charge front and center on TOP of your menu. Don’t put it in fine print, don’t put it on a small sign at the entrance or at the hostess station.

They are trying to get a competitive advantage over establishments who are more honest about pricing.

Everyone knows they have to pay tax on the food (assuming there is one, which is almost universal). Everyone knows that eating in a sit down restaurant implies tipping 15-20%. Adding another layer of price opacity to avoid “dipping into their profits” is just shitty deceptive behavior.

Every place I have encountered that does this service charge bullshit in ADDITION to tipping will remove the charge if you complain. It’s because they know they are on dicey legal ground. They are relying on people not noticing the charge of not wanting to argue about it.

Fuck that bullshit. I am not paying an additional 40% on top of the meal. I’ve been to places that have a 20% gratuity already included in the price, I’ve never seen a separate “service charge.” If they tried to add that afterwards onto the bill there is no way I’m paying it.

I’ve not seen “service charges” at any restaurant we go to.

Then again, there are no Michelin 3-star restaurants in town*. Everyone operates on a venerable upfront pricing system* and you add your tip in addition to that. My bullshit tolerance level does not encompass automatic charges for restaurant “service” or for tips.

*our Arby’s did have a pretty good review on Trip Advisor.
**one Mexican food joint charges 3% extra if you pay by credit card.