If charged a service fee, do you still tip?

[doreen]

@Procrustus

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

I haven’t been to any - but i know you have to leave a deposit to make a reservation for Per Se . Certain events , such as the Valentine’s dinner must be fully paid in advance. And the reason I don’t go to this sort of restaurant is because the tasting menu is around $400 and the Valentine’s dinner is $1000

[TRC4941]

@pulykamell

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.

Agree!

[Al128]

non-merican here:

when did the tipping increase from ~10% (once a standard) to 20%?

[InternetLegend]

It started in the late 70’s. As inflation grew, the cost of food didn’t rise as fast as the cost of everything else, so there was a push to increase tip percentages from 10% to 15%. Then, in 1992, the federal minimum wage for employees who get tips was unlinked from the regular minimum wage, which meant that when the minimum wage went up, the minimum wage for tipped employees stayed stagnant at the 1991 level of $2.13 an hour. The generally accepted tip percentage went up throughout the 90s.

[Omar_Little]

I’ve spoken to a number of waitstaff and management of restaurants that have instituted the “mandatory service fee”, which I have seen range from 18% to 22% in places I dine at. In all cases, the fee is used to pay all staff more (waitstaff to busboys and cooks). In the places I’ve dined the management says the fee is not used as a fee to offset inflation but as a means to be able to pay their staff a more appropriate wage. The waitstaff all confirmed this as well, but that if I wanted to leave an additional tip on top of the fee, they would welcome it. who doesn’t want to be paid more

I do not leave an additional tip in restaurants who have instituted the mandatory service fee.

[Al128]

@InternetLegend

It started in the late 70’s. As inflation grew, the cost of food didn’t rise as fast as the cost of everything else, so there was a push to increase tip percentages from 10% to 15%. Then, in 1992, the federal minimum wage for employees who get tips was unlinked from the regular minimum wage, which meant that when the minimum wage went up, the minimum wage for tipped employees stayed stagnant at the 1991 level of $2.13 an hour. The generally accepted tip percentage went up throughout the 90s.

thx for this quality-answer !