Tipping is a common practice in the United States. However, it can be very confusing to remember how much to tip and who to tip at a restaurant. This article provides a guide for tipping at restaurants in America.

Tipping at Restaurants

Tipping expectations vary by culture and by service industry. Although tipping is a common practice in the United States in some other cultures or situations, giving a tip is not expected, and offering one could even be considered condescending or demeaning. In the United States, a tip is not legally required and the amount of the tip is at the discretion of the customer. However, it is important to understand cultural expectations of leaving a tip, as leaving an inadequate tip amount can be considered bad etiquette or even unethical.

Restaurants only pay a small portion of their employee’s salaries; customers’ tips provide the rest. In many states, restaurants are legally allowed to pay servers below minimum wage. The server’s income is then supplemented with the service they provide – tips. Tips can constitute over 60 percent of a server’s total earning. This means servers are paid based on a reward system: the person receiving the service can pay the server according to the quality of their performance. The better service the server provides, the more they are tipped.

It is also common for servers to give portions of their tip to the restaurant’s support staff. At the end of their shift, servers often pay a certain percentage of their sales to other staff members such as the kitchen staff, bartender, and bussers who do not receive tips directly.

When a customer leaves a small tip, the server receives less from the tipping pool than other staff. Over 14 percent of all full service restaurants participate in tip pools.