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Tipping the Scales
The Gratuities That Drive Bar Staff
Minimum wage, on the clock, does not a happy staffer make.
It’s those tips from satisfied customers that keep your waitstaff
smiling, and it’s those customers who don’t tip who sour your staffers’
moods.
In this Buzztime Report, we asked bar patrons about their tipping practices.
First, since those who run tabs during their visit might fashion
their tips based on a percentage of the night’s check total, we asked
guests what their usual tab total is. Thirty-two percent answered that
they end up with a tab in the $20-30 range, with those in the under-$20
and $30-50 representing 24 percent respectively. Only 19 percent spend
more than $50 on the drinks themselves. It might follow that upselling
could increase the tip percentage. Maybe.
But jump to the third question for a moment; 68 percent of patrons
tip well based on good service. So, waitstaff looking for fat tips
shouldn’t worry about selling a table one more drink or necessarily
whether the check total is $20 or $40. Instead, a dedication to
top-shelf service could be the most effective route to high tips.
Note that only 9 percent tip better just because the drinks they
are buying are more expensive. This reinforces that good service is the
most important factor, and upselling patrons to higher priced drinks —
though it will please the house — won’t necessarily increase the tip
for the staffer.
Let’s go back to the second question, directed toward guests who
pay cash as they go for each drink. Not surprisingly, a full 58 percent
of respondents said that as a matter of course they tip $1 per drink.
Thirty-three percent tip more than $1 per drink, and only 10 percent
had the guts to admit they don’t tip at all.
Focusing on the majority who tip $1 per drink and the second
largest group who tip more than $1, staff should remember the responses
to the third question and go for good service. Whether the guest is
running a tab or paying by the drink, the gateway to a bigger tip is in
the service.
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