Tipping standard for restaurant where you order at the counter?

February 04, 2023 11:24PM

I have a shop and there is no server, you order at the counter. It sounds like people serve your food and check in at the table. Entrees are priced from $22-36. What would you tip in this scenario?

I'm trying to pre plan since the reimbursement is not so hot. The also request that you order mid priced items.

I have had one shop, with literally some of the worst serice of my life where we were abandoned by the server among a million other things that went wrong including waiting 40 minutes for an entree without updates. At that shop, I had to pay by a table card reader and the reader was broken. No one came back to the table or helped and I ended up tipping a dollar short of 15% becasue the machine froze and the server never returned. Anyway, I share this because the MSC (not the one from this shop) told me that if I tip less than 15% the shop could be rejected. So, that experience has me a pinch scarred! The guidelines for this shop do not stipulate what the required tip is, but the reimbursement amount indicates that it is inclusive of tax and tip.

Thanks for any help or suggestions! I think my default will be 15%.

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February 05, 2023 12:13AM

Tip at least the minimum the guidelines require. If the guidelines are silent on the subject, this is what I would do:

Be kind and generous if I can afford to be unless the service is problematic. I do not tip less than 15% even if I am just picking up a to-go order unless the service is bad. I used to not tip for picking up to-go orders before the pandemic. Now, with inflation and things being rough for almost everyone, I don't mind decreasing my profit to help out restaurant workers.

If I am ordering and dining on site, even if it is counter dining, I tip at least 18% unless the service is bad or if it is pure fast food.

I usually tip over 20%, but this is the SF Bay Area.

It makes me really unhappy that Mercantile only reimburses 15% and sometimes they gave me negative feedback for tipping more than that even though I was paying for anything over 15%.

February 05, 2023 03:08AM

If there is no table service I don't tip. If you order at the counter and you pick your food up yourself, there is no reason to tip, even if they check on you during your meal. Most of those types of restaurants don't actually check on you anyway.

The reason for tipping, is to compensate the servers. If there are no servers there's no reason to tip.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2023 03:09AM by Morledzep.

February 05, 2023 03:24AM

If the guidelines do not state a requirement I personally would not tip.
Tipping is for servers who are paid a lower hourly rate. 99.99999999% sure these types of restaurants pay at/ above the regular, not server, minimum wage.

February 05, 2023 04:45AM

Update to my shop - it was sit down! The guidelines were way off. I tipped normally and the service (and meal!) were both really good.

I'm interested to see what a previous shop I had will reimburse me. It said specifically 0% but I tipped 10%. We'll see what happens with that one.

I always feel confused about ordering at the counter. It seemed that no one tipped and then it became a thing.

I didn't know that about Mercantile. My one and only possible job with them I backed out of because the guidlines and survery were so wildly different. It was like a bar integrity shop masquerading as fine dining.

I kind of wish some of these places would be a little more like some of the QSRs that just pay a lump that is reimbursement and pay. I'd like to be able to order what I want and decide what I want to pay for. My least favorite thing right now is getting a job and then reading the guidelines and seeeing they want you to order mid range dishes. I'd like to just order what I want and if I go over the reimbursement, so be it.

February 05, 2023 01:11PM

I completed a shop similar to what you are describing. The reimbursement was $25 and my meal came to $22.45. I tipped up to $25 and I just received my payment in the mail (the company still prints paper checks) and they did not reimburse my tip

February 05, 2023 01:26PM

Drive in shop instructions specifically state that tipping is NOT part of the shopped company's business model but when you pay by credit, that big message pops up asking how much you want to tip. So obviously it IS part of their business model. Either way, in this type of case, as all fast or fast casual places are doing now, I am offended at being asked to give a tip BEFORE actually receiving the service (good, bad or mediocre) I'm tipping for.

February 05, 2023 01:56PM

@sestrahelena wrote:

Drive in shop instructions specifically state that tipping is NOT part of the shopped company's business model but when you pay by credit, that big message pops up asking how much you want to tip. So obviously it IS part of their business model. Either way, in this type of case, as all fast or fast casual places are doing now, I am offended at being asked to give a tip BEFORE actually receiving the service (good, bad or mediocre) I'm tipping for.

I know what restaurant shop you are talking about. (There may be others). Every time I do a shop for them, I always pay cash!!!!

Most of the time when I go out to eat at an fast food restaurant or sit down restaurant, I try to pay cash. But once in a blue moon I will use my debit card at Burger King.

The last time I used my debit card at BK, it did not ask for a tip..

February 05, 2023 06:07PM

3% back with Chase Freedom -dining & drugstores.

February 05, 2023 07:20PM

Great topic. Whether shopping or personal - tipping at a sit down restaurant - be it my diner, or an expensive steakhouse - 20% is my base and I go up from there. I left a bad tip maybe once in the last 5 years but mind you, I have my 'regular' servers at the few places I go to.

Lately on my FG shops I am indecisive. Heck their job is to take orders at the register. Then I pick up my own food, get my own refills. I click the "5%" button just to not feel like a yum-yum but I think with the reimbursement being low I may stop tipping at 5G.

February 05, 2023 07:44PM

The corporations are simply trying to guilt us into subsidizing the pay THEY should be doling out to make the overall wages more attractive to potential workers.

February 05, 2023 08:14PM

I refuse to tip at Five Guys.

February 05, 2023 09:44PM

I tip 5% at FG if the Cashier does their job correctly and is pleasant and helpful. At that point, all I can measure is the cashier and perhaps overall cleanliness.

Shopping South Jersey, Southeast Pennsylvania, and Delaware above the canal since 2008

February 06, 2023 12:58AM

Be aware that the servers and cashiers do not earn the same in every state. In California the server minimum wage is the same as everyone else. Here in Los Angeles the minimum servers pay from what I have seen advertised is around $20 an hour. There is a law that was passed to raise it to $22 an hour but it is currently being contested. In addition a few years ago when restaurants were asked to include health insurance some restaurants slapped on a surcharge to help them pay for the health insurance. That is in stark contrast to some states where servers earn around $7.25 an hour and even $2.13 in some states.. True it is more expensive to live here but some of the cities that pay the $2.13 an hour are quite expensive to live in as well. And outside of rent some items are much cheaper here due to competition.
In Louisiana where my daughter worked as a server the employer had to make up the difference between $2.13 and $7.25 if the tips and wage together did not come to $7.25 an hour.

February 06, 2023 01:54AM

When not mystery shopping I only tip at sit down eateries with a server. Or I will tip for beauty services. Occasionally I will tip Starbucks baristas at the locations I frequent? As they are always pleasant and top me off with plenty of cold foam for my cold brews!

I almost never tip for pick up places and will have no problem hitting no or 0%. I dislike that so many places use the same card reader system that starts off at high tip percentages like 25% or 30% or even 35%.

February 06, 2023 02:03AM

@Luna126 wrote:

When not mystery shopping I only tip at sit down eateries with a server. Or I will tip for beauty services. Occasionally I will tip Starbucks baristas at the locations I frequent? As they are always pleasant and top me off with plenty of cold foam for my cold brews!

I almost never tip for pick up places and will have no problem hitting no or 0%. I dislike that so many places use the same card reader system that starts off at high tip percentages like 25% or 30% or even 35%.

I think I read someplace or some one told me that at Starbucks if you use your debit/credit card or Star bucks app it ask if you want to tip..

I don't drink Starbucks but my wife does

February 06, 2023 03:20AM

I tip for good service.
I do not "pre-tip" at the counter for service I may or may not get, or at places I don't think it is customary (fast food).
During the pandemic, I was very generous, but I got weary of the entitlement mindset and complacent attitudes that were prevalent and now slowly changing.

February 06, 2023 03:39AM

@Isaiah4031a wrote:

@Luna126 wrote:

When not mystery shopping I only tip at sit down eateries with a server. Or I will tip for beauty services. Occasionally I will tip Starbucks baristas at the locations I frequent? As they are always pleasant and top me off with plenty of cold foam for my cold brews!

I almost never tip for pick up places and will have no problem hitting no or 0%. I dislike that so many places use the same card reader system that starts off at high tip percentages like 25% or 30% or even 35%.

I think I read someplace or some one told me that at Starbucks if you use your debit/credit card or Star bucks app it ask if you want to tip..

I don't drink Starbucks but my wife does

This is true for the debit/credit card. I mainly use the app which has my payment saved so I don’t see the tip suggestion using that. They usually also have a tip box by the drive thru.

February 06, 2023 08:55AM

I'll tip either 10% on a card, or a few bucks cash if there is a jar on the counter unless the service is really bad. For one of the not-quite-full service places around here that I do at times I'll sometimes tip 20% since the MSC covers it.

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