Everywhere from restaurants and bars to coffee shops, customers see tipping as par for the course. But more and more, businesses are beginning to push back on this concept. There’s been a growing discussion around the concept of tipping.

What does it really mean? What’s the best way is to go about it? Should it really exist at all?

Tipping as we know it can be traced back to the 17th-century England. More recently, famed restaurateur and CEO of Union Square Hospitality, Danny Meyer, banned tipping at his restaurants in 2015. It was a decision met with plenty of buzz, pushback, and a handful of eateries following suit.

What the no-tipping movement is about

Ostensibly, patrons tip as a reflection of the service quality they receive at a place of business. However, in 2018, the New Yorker reported on a study that found only a small correlation between tip size and service quality. Some people tip around 20% regardless of service, while other reports suggest conscious or unconscious bias factors into the tip amount. Eliminating tipping in favor of simply adding a “service fee” onto a customer’s check generally results in a more steady income for the server.

What customers are saying

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s been a fair amount of pushback from patrons when it comes to eliminating tipping. Some customers say that if servers get a guaranteed amount of money from each table, that will affect the quality of customer service they receive. Others say it takes the power out of their hands to reward exceptional service or withhold from underwhelming service.

Why some restaurants are making the change

Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality restaurants still maintain a no-tipping policy. Other outposts, such as New York-based vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy and Oakland, California-based eatery Camino have followed suit. Their main reasonings include pay equality from front-to-back of house, since kitchen workers often make significantly less than their front-of-house counterparts. Restaurants also say the no-tipping movement inspires workers to focus on the quality of their job and feel more secure in their position, rather than worrying about the mood of their next table.

Crunching the numbers

Data from The Atlantic shows that 29% of survey respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 think tipping is outdated. That’s more than twice as many as in the 50-to-64 age bracket. In an academic study focused on 31 independent restaurants from across the U.S. that changed tipping policies, restaurants that replaced tipping with automatic service charges experienced about a quarter of a point drop in online ratings. Those that switched to service-inclusive pricing saw a decline of only about a 10th of a point. And estimations from a 2012 Payscale report showed that approximately 58% of a server’s income comes from tips.

How restaurants make it work

“This industry has to treat its workers better,” says Amanda Cohen, chef and owner of Dirt Candy. “That’s more important than anything else.” She raised Dirt Candy’s prices by 20% and eliminated tipping. “This allows me to raise the salaries of all my staff, from my dishwashers to my cooks to my servers. And your bill doesn’t change, just the way it’s split up.” Allison Hopelain, co-owner of Camino, agrees. “Right now, everybody who’s hired here understands that that’s how we do business,” she says. “It’s really, if you think about it, normal to pay your employees. What that means is that there’s room for growth.”

Learn more about the movement — check out our no-tipping guide here!

Caroline Cox
Content Marketing Manager

Caroline Cox is Gather's Content Marketing Manager. She spends her time crafting blogs, thought leadership pieces, case studies, social media content and more, helping empower restaurants and other event venues to streamline their planning process and grow their events programs with success.