Restaurant tipping in Europe: a comparative assessment

Figures & data

Table 1. Minimum wages in restaurants, study countries 2019.

Country	Monthly minimum wage (€)	Wage adjusted to comparative price levels (2018 data)*
France	1521	1339
Germany	1557	1458
Netherlands	1635	1416
Norway^a	2640	1748
Spain	1050	1097
Sweden^b	2085	1687
Switzerland^c	3154	2022

Source: Eurostat, 2019; European Commission, 2019

^aNorway does not have minimum wages, but there is a country-wide agreement with the hotel and restaurant union. Staff are paid based on experience and formal education. Here, the minimum beginner’s pay for staff without trade certificates or formal experience is €2,640, which would increase to €3005 for those with trade certificates after six years (Fellesforbundet, 2019).

^b Sweden also has a country-wide agreement with the hotel and restaurant union for a monthly minimum wage of €2085 for employees without work experience. This increases to €2235 for staff with six years of work experience (HRF, 2019).

^cSwiss minimum wage for staff without experience or formal education (Gastrosuisse, 2019).*EU27 average = 100. All conversions based on Oanda Currency Converter, 24 September 2019.

Table 2. Overview of more recent studies on tipping (2010–2019).

Bill size and tip	Method	Sample size	Study area	Reference
Average net bill US$24.12, average tip US$5.35 (22% added to net bill)	Exit survey in three restaurants, based on bills, tipping amount	n = 387 (response rate 19.4%)	Downtown, medium-sized city, southeastern USA	Whaley et al. (2019)
Average bill size US$44.00, average tip $9.00 (20% added to net bill)	Exit survey, ‘moderately priced restaurant’	n = 394 (response rate 63%)	‘large northern city’, USA	Brewster and Lynn (2014)
Hypothetical on US$45.50 bill, added $8.12–$8.78 tip (17.8%−19.3%)	Online survey	n = 914	US consumer panel	Brewster and Brauer (2017)
Depending on study, 11.9%-21.07% mean tip percentage	Metastudy	–	USA	Brewster and Nowak (2019)
Average bill size CHF 195.51, average tip size CHF8.10 (4.1%)	One restaurant, exit survey	n = 141	Switzerland	Fernandez et al. (2016)

Table 3. Sample characteristics.

Country (City)	Time	Participation rate
France (Aix-en-Provence)	20.00–23.00	30% (n = 168)
Germany (Freiburg)	18.00–22.00	25% (n = 300)
Netherlands (Harlem)	18.00–21.35	40% (n = 299)
Norway (Bergen)	18.00–22.00	25% (n = 300)
Spain (Sevilla)	22.15–23.45	70% (n = 300)
Sweden (Malmö)	19.00–22.00	30% (n = 285)
Switzerland (Lausanne)	20.00–23.00	30% (n = 127)

Table 4. Overview of descriptive statistics.

	FR	GE	NE	NO	SP	SWE	SWI
Sample size (N)	168	300	299	300	300	285	127
Age	38.94	46.41	36.01	31.67	38.58	40.79	35.21
Gender (male)	48.8%	54%	61.9%	44%	48.7%	51.2%	58.3%
Rest. visits per month	2.77	2.88	2.01	2.85	2.88	2.27	3.06
Party size	2.85	2.65	3.42	3.02	3.63	3.17	2.55
Payment in cash (yes)	15%	87.3%	49.8%	6.7%	54.7%	7.4%	38.6%
Split bill (yes)	42.9%	33.3%	50.5%	80.3%	0%	40.4%	26.8%
Av. Bill size (€)	57.25	37.55	25.41	37.69	76.06	64.45	72.88
Av. Tip size (€)	1.11	2.82	1.18	0.74	1.72	5.84	2.41
Av. Tip percentage	1.95%	7.52%	4.63%	1.95%	2.26%	9.06%	3.31%
Av. Tip size (actual, €)	3.47	2.92	2.12	5.38	2.59	7.05	3.65
Tip in cash (yes)	39%	91.3%	72.9%	24.5%	100%	24.2%	50.4%
Did tip (yes)	39.9%	96.7%	55.5%	14.3%	66.3%	82.8%	66.1%

FR = France; GE = Germany; NE = Netherlands; NO = Norway; SP = Spain; SWE = Sweden; SWI = Switzerland.

Table 5. Analysis of covariance: F statistics and effect sizes (${\eta }_p^2$) of between-subjects factors.

		Frequency of tipping		Tip likelihood		Tip size		Tip percentage
	F	df	${\eta }_p^2$	F	${\eta }_p^2$	F	${\eta }_p^2$	F	${\eta }_p^2$
Age	10.86**	1	.00	7.46**	.00	.11	.00	4.89*	.01
Gender	.97, ns	1		1.17, ns		.14, ns		2.36, ns
Income	49.74***	1	.01	14.35***	.01	1.26	.00	7.52**	.07
Bill adjusted	15.53***	1	.01	32.22***	.02	397.15***	.27	14.93***	.14
Payment	8.44***	1	.28	42.52***	.02	3.06	.00	.02, ns
Country	110.72***	6	.01	69.72***	.19	33.84***	.16	43.42***	.20

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

${\eta }_p^2$ near .01 indicates a small effect size, near .06 indicates a moderate effect size, near .14 a large effect size.

Figure 1. Interrelationship of tip size and income*. *purchasing power adjusted.

Eurostat. (2019). Monthly minimum wages – bi-annual data. Retrieved September 24, 2019 from https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=earn_mw_cur&lang=en

 Google Scholar

European Commission. (2019). Comparative price levels. Retrieved October 21 2019 from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tec00120/default/table?lang=en

 Google Scholar

Fellesforbundet. (2019). National collective agreement 2018–2020. Retrieved September 24, 2019 from https://www.fellesforbundet.no/globalassets/lonn-og-tariffsaker/overenskomster-2018-2020/riksavtalen-2018-2020—engelsk.pdf

 Google Scholar

HRF. (2019). Minimilön för lönegrupp 1. Retrieved September 24, 2019 from https://www.hrf.net/lon-och-villkor/din-lon/minimilon-for-kvalificerat-yrkesarbete-lonegrupp-1/

 Google Scholar

Gastrosuisse. (2019). Gastgewerbliche Löhne. Retrieved October 21 2019 from https://www.gastrosuisse.ch/fileadmin/oeffentliche-dateien/merkblaetter-gastgewerbe-gastrosuisse/downloads/merkblatt-gastgewerbliche-loehne-gueltig-ab-1-april-2019-bzw-ab-sommersaison-2019-gastrosuisse.pdf

 Google Scholar

Whaley, J. E., Kim, S. H., & Kim, Y. K. (2019). Drivers and impact of restaurant tipping behavior. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 22(2), 117–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2019.1570773

 Google Scholar

Brewster, Z. W., & Lynn, M. (2014). Black-White earnings gap among restaurant servers: A replication, extension, and exploration of consumer racial discrimination in tipping. Sociological Inquiry, 84, 545–569. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12056.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Brewster, Z. W., & Brauer, J. R. (2017). Tableside justice: Racial differences in retributive reactions to dissatisfaction. Sociology of Race & Ethnicity, 3(3), 383–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649216683966

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Brewster, Z. W., & Nowak III, G. R. (2019). Racial Prejudices, Racialized workplaces, and restaurant servers’ hyperbolic perceptions of black–white tipping differences. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 60(2), 159–173. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965518777221

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Fernandez, S., de Boer, C., & Terrier, L. (2016). Restaurant tipping: The rules are not the same everywhere [Paper presented]. EuroChrie conference, Budapest, Hungary.

 Google Scholar