Almost 70 percent of Canadians believe their restaurant server expects a tip but doesn’t necessarily work enough to deserve one, a new survey suggests.
When asked if they agree with the statement “food servers nowadays simply expect a tip, but don’t work hard to earn it,” 46 percent of respondents indicated they somewhat agree and 21 percent said they strongly agree.
The survey also asked respondents what they believed was acceptable tipping for service in various scenarios, such as service quality and restaurant busyness.
Only 21 percent of respondents said they would tip 20–25 percent for good service in an exceptionally busy restaurant.
If the service was exceptional at such a restaurant, however, more respondents (26 percent) would tip 20–25 percent, and 10 percent would even tip 26 percent or higher. The highest proportion of respondents (32 percent) in that scenario would tip just 15–19 percent, while 4 percent would leave no tip at all.
While 43 percent of those polled said they never tip at coffee shops, 15 percent said they tip there all the time, found a new survey released on Dec. 30, 2022.
When it comes to exceptional service at a restaurant that’s busy but not exceptionally so, 20 percent of people would leave just a 10–14 percent tip, 34 percent would tip 15–19 percent, 26 percent would tip 20–25 percent, and 8 percent would tip 26 percent or more. Again, 4 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t leave a tip.
For a restaurant that’s not busy, 37 percent of respondents would tip 15–19 percent for exceptional service, while that percentage falls to 34 for good service.
The results are based on an online study by Research Co. that asked 1,000 adults questions about gratuities for dining out, food delivery, and fast food service on Dec. 10–12, 2022.
It’s worth noting that the Canada Revenue Agency expects servers to report all of their tips as taxable income. However, cash tips are not trackable and not all servers report those amounts. Meanwhile, when customers pay by debit or credit card, such tips are recorded by point-of-sale systems and would be trackable.
Poor Service
The survey suggests that Canadians aren’t shy about declining to tip for below-average service. If the server clearly isn’t busy, 31 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t leave a tip. Another 30 percent would leave 1–9 percent, while 25 percent would still leave a 10–14 percent tip.
In a clearly understaffed environment, receiving below-average service, 9 percent of those surveyed wouldn’t leave a tip at all, while 36 percent would leave a 10–14 percent tip, and 28 percent would leave a 15–19 percent gratuity.
In general, for average service in any environment, the majority of Canadians would leave a tip of 14 percent or less, with 41 percent of respondents saying they would leave 10–14 percent and 20 percent leaving 1–9 percent. Seven percent would leave nothing.
“Two-in-five Canadians aged 55 and over (40%) would walk away from a sit-down restaurant without leaving a tip if they perceive that their server was idle and aloof,” said Research Co. president Mario Canseco in a news release.
“The proportions are lower among Canadians aged 35-to-54 (29%) and aged 18-to-34 (24%).”
Takeout Tips
A slim majority of Canadians (54 percent) don’t tip when they pick up food to go, the survey found, with 20 percent of those surveyed saying they would tip less than 10 percent.
Similarly, more than half of those surveyed (53 percent) said they never tip when they visit a snack restaurant where they take their food to go. And almost half of those polled also never leave a gratuity when they visit a cafeteria-style restaurant (49 percent), a restaurant where they order to go and pick up the food up themselves (48 percent), or a coffee shop (43 percent).
However, 15 percent of those polled said they tip at coffee shops all the time, 16 percent most of the time, and 25 percent some of the time.
When it comes to home or office food delivery, 29 percent of respondents said they tip 1–9 percent, and 40 percent tip in the 10–14 percent range.
“A third of Canadians (33%) think food servers deserve a tip in all circumstances even if service was bad—a proportion that rises to 41% among those aged 18-to-34,” said Research Co.
Of those Canadians surveyed, some 70 percent think that if food servers’ salaries were higher, there would be no need for tipping.
Seventy percent of those polled also said they either strongly agree (25 percent) or somewhat agree (45 percent) that servers cannot make enough money just on their salaries and so it is important to leave a tip.
