Tipping at buffets
 

What kind of tip do you leave in the following situations:

- Nice, high-quality dinner buffet: attentive waiter provides drinks (including bar drinks), promptly removes dirty plates, and otherwise provides full-service with the exception of bringing the actual food.

- Average-quality lunch or dinner buffet (such as a casino buffet): waiter serves water, soda, and tea (no bar), maybe takes the plates away if he's feeling like it.

- Breakfast buffet (such as what you find at a mid-range hotel): waiter brings you juice, coffee, and water, and you don't interact with him/her again, except to pay the bill in some cases.

I tip the normal 15% of the meal+bar cost for a fine buffet with good service. At casinos or mid-range hotels, I leave about a buck per person.

Is 15% too high? Is a buck-a-head for juice or a Coke too low? I imagine that waiters/waitresses hate working buffets...I'm curious as to what other people do.

For the nice/high quality, I usually leave 15%, even if it's the fact that I'm getting my own food.

For the average-quality, then a dollar or two (which is often more than 15% anyways as most of these types of buffets don't cost more than ten dollars anyways).

And for the breakfast buffet, when I don't see anyone at any time other than when they see me leaving and they run with the bill (after I've waited for 10 minutes for the bill) I leave zero. Nothing for nothing.

I had heard a couple of years ago that about 10% grat was appropriate for a buffet with waiter service, to me that seems about right.

I was a waiter at a restaurant that had a buffet two nights a week. Even though tips per person during the buffet were less, I made more money in tips on buffet nights because I served a lot more customers! (it doesn't take that long to find you a seat and serve drinks).

10% for a buffet sounds good.

I too usually leave 15% if service has been good.

10% ($1 minimum) for standard service at a buffet.

-David




[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 03-27-2001).]

Even with a buffet, excellent service warrants an above average tip: I have no problem tipping 15%.

Note: I have no problem tipping 20+% for top service at my favourite restaurants (JOV, Rodney's and Hiro in Toronto)...

Cheers,

Michael

Even with a buffet, excellent service warrants an above average tip: I have no problem tipping 15%.

Note: I have no problem tipping 20+% for top service at my favourite restaurants (JOV, Rodney's and Hiro in Toronto)...

Cheers,

Mykol

I tip at buffets just as I do in a regular restaurant, 15-25%. Why? Even though I am getting my own food, the wait person probably has to spend just as much or even more time at a "buffet table" clearing plates and serving items as most buffets prefer that guests get a clean plate for each trip. I don't eat all that much even at a buffet, but even with a trip for salad, a trip for dinner, a trip (maybe) for seconds of the best stuff and a trip for dessert, the waitperson or the bus person, with whom the waitperson shares tips will probably have made at least one additional trip to my table.

i agree with Spiff... buffet does not necessaily mean less work for the wait staff, sometimes it is more

so if everytime i get up to get food, come back and my dirty plates are gone, iced tea and water glasses always filled to the rim, i leave 15 to 20%....

You folks are more generous than I. I don't pay a full 15%-20% when there is no order taking and no food delivery. Busing I consider a standard task, just as I expect the floor to have been swept and the restrooms clean.

So paying a full tip for less than full service would be a disservice to professional waiters who do their job well.

Me, I leave a tip similar to what I'd give for wait-service at a table at a bar. Maybe a buck or two more.

Ronin, I'm with you. At buffet breakfast I would not tip. Tip? What for? I've done the work. All they do is clear lates and set tables which is part of the money that they make. Surely they do not live on tips alone?
I assure you when visiting Europe, it would not be expected. I have never seen anybody tip for a breakfast buffet.

Dinner is another issue and it is hard to quantify the what-ifs. Yes, I would tip and probably 15% at that. By the way, I always tip cash as that way it goes to the serivce provider and not divided up amongst the rest of the staff.

Actually, in the US most wait people make sub-minimum wage, often as little as $2.13 per hour. They depend on tips for their livelihood. In fact, if too many people stiff them, their employer must make up the difference to get them to minimum wage. Such a great standard of living for one who is serving others... In Europe, waitstaff are paid a living wage. Also, a service charge is added to bills in some countries in lieu of an expected tip.

As for tipping cash, the only difference it makes is how much the waitperson might have a record of for the IRS. Waitpeople seldom "hide" the tips they receive from their bus and bar staff. Most of the time, they actually exceed the "Suggested" percentage because bus people are also pitifully underpaid in the US. Something to think about the if you're feeling cavalier about tipping at the buffet in the US...


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"Sire, it is not a revolt. It is a Revolution!"

[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited 03-28-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited 03-28-2001).]

As a former waiter in my early education days, I too go with the 15-20% guide and a $1-2 minimum depending on service of course! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

An excellent argument for not tipping. It would put the onus to pay salary back on the employer, where it belongs.