Written by Charlotte Blairman
It’s no secret that the restaurant industry is something that is very close to our hearts at Bristol Bites. We love eating out at Bristol’s latest, greatest and tastiest restaurants, and we appreciate all of the love and hard work that’s put in by the staff of the venues we visit.
As a sign of our appreciation, we regularly leave tips for the waiting staff, with the understanding that the person who served us will get to keep this money. However, in recent years, there have been allegations of certain restaurants – some of which are local to Bristol – treating their staff unfairly by allowing managers to help themselves to a portion of the tips intended for the staff.
This has garnered huge criticism from the media and worker unions alike, as it’s seen as extremely unfair, particularly in an industry that typically offers low pay. Tips have long been seen as a perk of the job, and as a way for hard workers to earn an extra chunk of money throughout their shifts.
People are relatively open when it comes to tipping
Tipping is something that’s been baked into the process of eating out – in many ways, it’s the default behaviour, and to not leave a tip suggests that something was wrong with your meal or the service you received.
In fact, in a recent survey, Voucherbox discovered that nearly a quarter of people will leave a healthy tip if the waiter or waitress smiles at them. The study also found that people were less likely to tip if their server had poor hygiene, such as dirty fingernails or bad body odour.
On average, Britain leaves a tip of around 9%, according to The Telegraph. That’s a lot of money to go missing from the waiting staff’s pockets if it’s the restaurant’s policy to take a cut from tips. For a country where tipping is non-compulsory, 9% quite a generous amount. In many countries, such as Australia and Japan, tipping isn’t common at all.
Should there be more clarity around tipping at restaurants?
Tipping is a tricky concept in the UK. On the one hand, we have minimum wage, and a strong living wage movement, which is picking up steam in Bristol. Local institutions like Bristol Twenty and BrewDog have already signed up to the initiative.
Many people will think that because these safeguards are in place, that tipping isn’t that necessary compared to somewhere like the US, where pay for restaurant staff is considerably lower.
In addition to this, with the lack of clarity around what actually happens with people’s tips, people may be inclined to stop leaving them all together. This would be a real shame as there are plenty of great restaurants who do let staff keep their own well deserved tips.
Do you think it should be compulsory for restaurants to let their staff keep their tips? Or maybe even that pay for waiting staff should be higher across the board, with tipping/service charges automatically included in the bill? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.