Automatic Gratuity for Party of 2?

[tabletopjournal]

A recent visit to a white tablecloth restaurant brought a surprise ending tour meal. When greated with the bill, I found a automatic gratuity of 18% had been added. For larger parties, this is sometimes an acceptable practice, but since there were only two of us, I was more than a little surprised. In addition, there was another line on the bill to leave an additional gratuity.

Is this a common practice?

[Disneyfreak]

ON20 in Hartford CT does it also -- they add 20% -- at least they did when I went there for lunch recently. And I was there solo. Lunch was wonderful and the service was very nice. I didn't mind -- since it was printed right on the bottom of the menu -- and there was no line for additional tip on the bill.

[cwdonald]

Out of curiosity do they include the tax in the percentage or not. That has been a bone of contention in Philadelphia recently...

[Tripeler]

for a party of two, this is essentially the restaurant telling the customer how to tip.
The line for "additional tip" is pure nerve -- I wouldn't add anything.

[Withnail42]

One of my favorite restaurants has started doing that. I found it to be a bit of a turn off. Haven't been back since. But they may also be in part due to the new loudmouth host they inexplicably hired.

[nobadfoodplz]

I would be taken aback by such forwardness by the restaurant.

[tabletopjournal]

My original post was simply to inquire about how widespread this pracice might be. From the responses, it sounds like it is not terribly widespread....but, yet, it does occur.

Now...whether it is approriate or not may be another whole thread for discussion. My guess would be that posters have already fought this one out before.

I'm still glad to hear peoples thoughts...thanks.

[beachmouse]

We've run into this in a few east coast places popular with the Europeans tourist crowd. The reasoning is that they got tired of their waitstaff getting undertipped from patrons not used to American custom in that regard.

[nocharge]

"European tourist" is definitely a category of diners that could be suspected of undertipping if left to their own devices. Sort of in the "large party" category. I was at a large party brunch the other day and after everyone had pitched in in accordance with what they felt they had consumed, we were still 30-40 percent short of the base amount. No wonder restaurants have service charges for large parties.

[tabletopjournal]

For large parties, I agree. However, there were just the 2 of us and to add on an automatic 18%....and then, look for us to add more - which I we did - was something I had not seen.

So, it's all the fault of those European tourists......hmmmmm.

[Harters]

Excellent news. Good to hear of a move by American restaurants towards the European model of adding a service charge instead of old fashioned tipping. Maybe the next step will be to adopt the European model of those countries, like France, where service is inherently included in the menu price of the meal

[tabletopjournal]

So...I'm thinking you feel that's a good thing - moving to a service charge that's included in the meal?

[Harters]

Absolutely without question.

In the UK, it is very common that a discretionary service charge is added to the bill, in the place of the tip. That's some degree of progress. Much better, as I indicate, is the French (or New Zealand) system where nothing additional to the menu price is required or requested.

[nocharge]

Then, it seems like you would have to deal with the issue of taxes as well. I'm sure there have been numerous visitors from countries where the displayed price includes everything that have had a bad surprise at a store or in a restaurant in the US because they have to pay tax on top of the listed price. In a restaurant, tax and tip could well amount to 30 percent more than what an innocent European tourist might expect based on the prices listed on the menu.

[Harters]

Indeed. Although there isnt commonality across Europe about taxes. For example, in the UK, Value Added Tax (similar to American sales tax) is always incorporated in the displayed price, so what you see is what you get. In some other countries, it's shown as an addition to the bill.

When I first started visiting the US, in 1980, I would have taken the view that the overall cost for a restaurant meal was much cheaper there than in the UK. I would not say that now - at the bottom end (chains, diners and the like), America is generally still much cheaper; at the high end I'd say prices are pretty much similar but, in the middle range, the UK offers much better value for money.

You mention the "innocent tourist" and I think that's where the problem can lie. I reckon it's incumbent on the traveller to know the important customs in the places they're visiting and follow accordingly.

[cowboyardee]

"I would not say that now - at the bottom end (chains, diners and the like), America is generally still much cheaper; at the high end I'd say prices are pretty much similar but, in the middle range, the UK offers much better value for money."
______
America's middle range dining varies so wildly in price and quality (which are often unrelated) from one city to another that I don't see how you can make a sweeping generalization of it.

[Harters]

Only by personal experience. I find that's the best way to discuss just about everything in life.

Presumably, by the same token, your personal experience indicates a sweeping generalisation that mid range American dining varies "so wildly".

[nocharge]

Both of Thomas Keller's three-Michelin-star restaurants, Per Se in NYC and the French Laundry in Yountville, have a service charge baked into the price of the prix fixe menus. No percentage is specified -- the menus just say "service included."

[twyst]

This is true. I worked at a place that didn't do it to american customers, but if we served Europeans we would have the MOD add gratuity to the ticket.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Bern's steakhouse in Tampa includes a mandatory 12% tip, odd number but printed on menu. Assume as have extraordinary wine list, people who buy wines costing many hundreds if not thousands of dollars might not want to tip 20% on their entire wine bill.

[twyst]

There is a lot of debate about the proper etiquette for this. I was a bartender at a high end restaurant while attending college, and I can say I never EXPECTED to be tipped 20% on a 7-800 bottle of wine. Id say it was about 50/50 with people who did and didnt. It wasnt totally unheard of for people to come in and have a food bill of $200 but their total check would be over $1000. In a case like that, as a server I was satisfied with getting 20% of the food and then being thrown $50 or so extra for handling their bottle of wine which I feel is still more than generous.

[nocharge]

Some restaurants in San Francisco do this including Michelin two-star Coi. As long as the service charge is stated on the menu, you are obligated to pay it just like you are obligated to pay for the dishes you ordered. However, if the word "gratuity" is used, the restaurant's ability to force you to pay it is not clear since the word may be interpreted as a voluntary payment. Using the wording "service charge" is a way to avoid any such unclarity.

From the restaurant's perspective, the beauty of a service charge is that it legally belongs to the restaurant. At least in California, it can do whatever it wants with the money, just like it can with money it charges for food and beverages and any distribution of a service charge to the employees is at the discretion of the restaurant. Not so for tips. A tip belongs to the tipped server although the restaurant can have a tip pooling policy so that the tip must be shared with certain other employees. However, the restaurant can't force the server to share the tip with managers, cooks, and dishwashers, etc.

An additional reason that service charges are attractive to California restaurants is that the state's minimum-wage laws doesn't have an exemption for tipped employees. So servers get both the standard minimum wage plus tips. At restaurants where patrons tend to tip a lot of money, there can be substantial income discrepancies between front-of-the-house employees and the kitchen staff. Using a service charge allows a restaurant to give the back-of-the-house employees a cut of the money. As Coi's menu says: "18% service charge (shared by the entire staff)"

[Quine]

Nice informative reply. TY!

[tabletopjournal]

First...normally I would tip 20+%, so that is an issue. And, yes, even with the automatic gratuity, and less than specatcular service....I ended up leaving something like 26%. Anytime I leave less than 20%, it's got have been a pretty bad experience.

And, yes, thanks for the explanation....some of which makes some sense. I was just posting that I had not seen that and wondered if that was a common practice around the country. Sorry to the poster who mentioned many previous threads on the subject...guess I didn't needed to research this before posting.

[nocharge]

Seems like even a "mandatory gratuity" may not be legally enforceable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/nyr...

[The Drama Queen]

I was wondering also if this is enforceable. Are we being told that no matter how bad the service is we still have to tip 18%? How can they tell us how much to tip? And what would give any waitperson the motivation to give good servie when they know they're going to get tipped anyway? And doncha just love how we, the public, get to subsidize the employees salaries while the owners rake in huge profits.

[RestaurantLawyer]

You are right, nocharge. When a restaurant deems something to be a "gratuity," the Department of Labor takes the position that it is intended for the server, and becomes the property of the server when it is left by the customer (although the restaurant can require the server to contribute some of it to a tip pool). Because it is not part of the charge for the meal, but is instead an additional amount paid to the server, if you don't think the server provided the proper level of service you can refuse to pay it.

A "service charge," on the other hand, typically goes to the restaurant, and is not optional (although you can always ask).

[bagelman01]

There is another wrinkle to the automatic gratuity in some jurisdictions.................

I belonged to a club that had an automatic gratuity added to every check. We received bills from the club at the end of each month.

The Connecticut Departmnent of Revenue Service (the tax guys) ruled that an automatic gratuity billed by the establishment is subject to sales tax. So, at that time in the early 1980s the 18% gratuity was subject to 8% tax.

Quite a reversal from the usual CH discussion of tipping before or after tax, now the tip is taxed.

[scubadoo97]

Holey bagel, bagelman. That's socking it to the consumer

[tabletopjournal]

Wow! Agree with you, Scubadoo!

[HDinCentralME]

Many previous threads on autograt practices. My take is ok if told in advance and can be questioned if service doesn't warrant.

[invinotheresverde]

Did you use any discount services, like Groupon or Restaurant.com? Often, gratuity is added regardless of party size.

[tabletopjournal]

No...that's the crazy thing. Nothing "unusual", coupons...etc. Just a dinner meeting. I was taken aback by the practice.....and, then, leaving another spot on the bill for an "additional tip".

Nor did I see any mention of this service charge on the menu.....could have been there, but I didn't see it.

My first inclination was to leave zero "additional tip" but then, you realize that the server is not deciding this. Besides....I also didn't want to get into a discussion over this with at a client dinner.

[cowboyardee]

Maybe I'm not understanding - why didn't you leave zero additional tip? Because you tip better than 18% or because you're insinuating that the auto gratuity goes to someone else instead of the server?

[Quine]

I would not say common at all, but have heard that some places are moving on that concept.
If it was not printed on the menu or someplace else, would be slightly miffed to just find it at the end of the meal on the tab.
(USA resident)