A survey conducted by Restaurants Canada in April 2022 found that when dining at a table-service restaurant, 44 per cent of 1,500 Canadians surveyed said their tips are higher compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Suggested tips are also on the rise, according to CBC Calgary restaurant reviewer Elizabeth Carson, who noted that prompts at credit card machines that previously asked for tips of 10 to 20 per cent are now as high as 18, 20 or 25 per cent. Carson has also been asked to tip up to 30 percent and said she finds the higher messages annoying. It leads to an overall feeling that could be called cutting edge. This terminal at a Toronto restaurant asks for tips ranging from 18 to 30 percent by default. (Anis Heydari/CBC) “Because food and wages cost more, the bill is now 10 percent higher than it used to be. So it still equates to a very large tip because the bill is so high,” Carson said. The restaurant critic, who typically eats out three to six times a week, started noticing this trend during the first COVID-19 lockdown. “Restaurants couldn’t do anything but takeout. People felt really bad for restaurant workers, so people were leaving at much higher rates than recommended tipping levels,” Carson said. Carson suggested that restaurants noticed that customers were willing to tip more, so they started asking for more.
How your choices are made
While a customer’s choice may seem like their own, decisions like how much to tip can be influenced by a theory called “choice architecture,” or how choices are presented to us. Simon Pek from the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business examines these influences in his research into tipping practices. If these numbers are higher, it leads us to believe that a higher tip is more appropriate.- Simon Pek, Associate Professor, University of Victoria Pre-set options for tipping at the end of a restaurant transaction are an example of choice architecture, according to Pek. “When you see the point-of-sale device, the message being sent to you is that tipping is expected or the norm in that particular context,” he said. Simon Pek researches tipping at the University of Victoria and said that when presented with higher tipping rates, customers can feel they should tip more. (UVic Photo Services) “The first number you see or the range you see in front of you affects people’s decisions and perceptions about what the right advice is to do in that particular context.” “So if those numbers are higher, it leads us to believe that a higher tip is more appropriate in this context.”
It’s unclear how often 30 percent tips happen
Fintech companies like Square or Moneris don’t share data on how often Canadians choose the 30 per cent tip option. However, Square has confirmed that it is up to sellers and retailers to enable and adjust tipping settings at their point-of-sale terminals. Some restaurateurs said increasing tipping options for customers paying by debit or credit card could backfire, including Jacquie Titherington, a server and manager at Blue Star Diner in Calgary. “I feel like it’s pushing something that’s not necessarily going to work for the benefit of the workers, because I think when people see it, it can be a little overwhelming because it seems excessive,” said Titherington, who has 26 years of service. experience in the restaurant industry. Zoe Smith, who recently quit her job at a pub in Victoria to travel, says she can’t afford to leave a 30% tip when dining out – so she doesn’t expect customers to either. “I think when I do a good job, I don’t expect more than 18 percent. And if I get more than that, I’m happy and grateful, but … we’re all fighting out here, like everybody’s trying to make ends meet,” Smith said. . Between July 2020 and July 2022, Square tracked how much Canadians give for face-to-face transactions. The average tip was around 17 percent nationally, which was one percent higher than before the pandemic. Provincially, British Columbians left the lowest tips — an average of 16.7 per cent, compared to Newfoundlanders who were the top tippers in Canada according to Square’s data, with an average tip of 18.6 per cent.
The tip breakdown may vary by province
In Canada either the employee or the employer can controlling the distribution of gratuities. In restaurants where servers collect all tips from customers, they often pass a percentage of those earnings on to their colleagues, such as hosts and hostesses, bussers, dishwashers, and cooks. When tips are controlled by the employer, they can be pooled and distributed to staff through a tip distribution agreement set out in an employment contract. It’s up to sellers to enable and customize the tipping setting at their point-of-sale terminals, according to financial technology company Square. (Danielle Nerman/CBC) In some cases, restaurant owners are included in this arrangement and get what is called a cottage. However, this practice is illegal in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick and a gray area in many other jurisdictions, including Alberta. When Sean Gandossi was working at a takeout pizza stand in Calgary, he never saw any of his tips. “We had a tip option for the [point-of-sale] machine there … and we made great money in tips, like some nights it was over $1,000, but none of that money went to us,” Gandossi said.
Cost of Living money ❤ — how it wins (or breaks) us. See us Sundays on CBC Radio One at 12pm. (12:30 p.m. NT). Subscribe to our podcast and get the show early, every Friday night.
The owners said they reinvested those tips into the business, and Gadosi, who was 17 at the time, didn’t mind the deal because he was making $17.50 an hour. “When you’re even a little bit younger, you know, you think, OK, well, I’m making more than minimum wage…so, you know, I didn’t complain too much because I just didn’t really know a lot better,” she told CBC Radio’s The Cost of Living.
Ask who gets your tip, regardless of the percentage
Gandossi said he believes most customers didn’t know their tips went to the restaurant owners, not the staff. “You’re the one giving them the machine, right? You’re the one asking for the tip option or tip option,” Gadosi said. Tips you give restaurant staff through machines like this don’t always have to be given to restaurant staff, former servers say. (Steve Bruce/CBC) “It’s like pulling out a tip jar. You’re going to assume that if you put money in the tip jar that the person you’re seeing is going to be the one getting the tips.” Experts like tip researcher Simon Pek say if a customer wants to know where their tip is going, they should ask.
