The bloody service charge!

I own a restaurant. We stopped charging service charge. For people to complain we dont allow tipping. We do allow tipping. Just ask and you can. But our staff are paid well above minimum wage and get free meals and family discounts. We aren't a chain but a small family business.

We ger Reviews complaining we dont allow tipping and that our staff are on minimum wage. But if we did add service charge, that would be a problem too. They assume all staff are on minimum wage. They aren't. And actually min wage is quite high now where people on similar wages wouldn't of had a pay rise when the min wage went up!

Just ask to remove it. There's no drama. We aren't in the US where tipping is mandatory. But people just like to find something to complain about.

Also to add. Tips are charged tax and not all staff want it. Its nice for you to offer but sometimes makes things harder as its more tax to pay and work out and divide out. I have heard staff ask for tips to be paid in cash before.

Hospitality isnt easy. You cant make everyone happy. We work 7 days a week. Miss all the holidays and weekends and work long hours apart from Xmas day, for people to complain.

We are selling up soon. Can't deal with the stress nay more.

I’m going out for a meal on Xmas eve and expect the bill to be around 170 -200 for two people
I’ve been there before several times and the food and service is first class

I will tip probably £20 as I know they only put a service charge on for tables of 6 and more

I always ask for it to be removed!!

The cheek of these people.

HCA do not get tips. Cashiers do not get tips. Care home workers do not get tips.

I will only tip if I think the service has been excellent, and only then, if they haven't added a service charge first.

https://www.gov.uk/tips-at-work/tips-and-tax

just for pp who says tips are tax free

they’re not but how they are paid to the server will change how it is taxed

Did dickens write a book about you op?

I wish restaurants would abolish the service charge and just add whatever money they would miss from it, to the meal prices.

Then we'd find out who is doing well , and who wanted to eat out on the cheap but can't really afford to 😆😈

The £5 is more insulting than not tipping at all.

@Gall10 see also delivery driver, hospital cleaner, checkout staff or anyone who does a low paid job, especially in the public sector.

I don't tip. Nobody ever "tipped" me for doing my job.

Wow, what a terrible place. I would give them a shitty review to warn others not to go there.

We have sometimes asked for the service charge to be removed - only when really unhappy with the food or service and to be fair, each place has removed it without making a fuss.

£5 on a £200 bill is absolutely miserly. Bare minimum is 10%, so £20 at least, as long as the food and service was good. I know there's going to be a pushback...'We're not bloody America! etc', and yes it is out of hand there, but I do think £5 is v mean.

I don't pay the service charge and always ask for it to be removed. But I don't get angry about it, it's just one of those things.

If the service is exceptionally good I might leave a small tip but mostly I don't. Yes, the staff work hard but they're on minimum wage (as am I in my little part-time job) and we all work hard....

This is completely standard where I live (south east) and it's normally 12.5%. For the rare places that don't add it, we normally add at least 10% anyway, as long as the service & food has been decent.

It does seem to vary a bit place to place though. Went to the Cotswolds recently and was surprised to find that places were only adding 10% or one place had a 5% service charge which is unheard of where I live.

I’d say £200 in a chain restaurant is likely to be a biggish table of at least 4 people and possibly more. I’d definitely tip at least 20%.

£200 for 2 people is likely to be good food and great service - I’d be leaving 25% as a tip.

At a restaurant last week with a service charge. The service was non-existent, wrong orders came out, raw chicken for 1 person so we asked for it to be removed. The menu did say 'discretionary' service charge. Then the manager came over and said we HAD to pay or couldn't leave!

I can't stand it- I'll add a tip if the service is outstanding.

Unless service was bad I tip between 10-15% normally , have sometimes done 20% for really great meal and very lovely event.

Where I got annoyed last year was when a pub automatically added 15% onto my "bill " for 2 drinks as they had delivered them to my table !

So not to drip feed went into a pub (also has accommodation) , went to bar and bought 1 wine and 1 beer. Sat about 10-15 feet away by log fire, after about 45mins-1 hour of chatting we decided to have another drink, I got up to buy it and staff member came past taking sone glasses back to bar and said "did you want the sane again - I'll get it for you" and she then bought the 2 drinks over with card machine - as she quoted cost I queried it as it was more expensive than first round but same drinks , she replied "oh that will be the 15% service charge for the drinks" , I asked her to remove it , she had to get the manager, I explained situation and said if I had known 15% extra to deliver a few feet I would have declined her original offer , they in my mind grudgingly deducted it and we have never been back there .

😱 That’s tight AF

I think this is incredibly unreasonable, if you don't want to pay a service charge, don't go out, or eat at a restaurant that doesn't charge.

It’s put me off eating out tbf. We (4 friends) were charged £50 on top of a very expensive overpriced meal and just paid it thinking it was the expensive cocktails that had bumped up the bill - it’s only afterwards we realised we’d been effectively been mugged. It’s an insult.

I'm not a fan of American style tipping but even in Britain this is bloody tight arse behaviour!

I can’t remember a time when I’ve tipped a shop assistant/library worker/GP/ bus driver yet they’ve all given me great service.
£5 is £5 more than any of them get!

No difference really for me. Good/ok/fine is the minimum id expect so on a £200 bill, good/fine etc its £5

I like that's it's on there. Saves me calculating it. As long as it's not more than 15%. Then I can add a cash tip on top if the staff were especially good.

I'd never ever not tip in a sit down restaurant with table service. Unless the waiter literally swore at me or spilled my dinner down my back.

Even if the food sucks it's not the waiting staffs fault. If I don't like something I send it back straight away so I rarely feel ripped off.

It is confusing though- I always used to round up as a tip. But that doesn’t count now. I have to remember else I pay a tip twice.

I do think service is part of the experience and should not be a separate charge. We don’t tip shop assistants who find something for us or theatre attendants who show us to our seats etc etc. We are expected to see this as an addition in a restaurant which I find bizarre. Unfortunately they all do it. Usually 12.5%. They should have an all inclusive price as other services do. It’s an import from the USA in many ways and it’s in place of a tip for all our friends. We add 10% if no charge but I’m not doing 20% in the uk. It’s their job to serve well!

If every table a person served gave them a £5 tip it would add up to thousands of pounds over the year.

How many jobs get that much untaxed extra money over their normal income for meeting the basic requirement of the job, often to a minimal standard.

Lots of jobs pay the same and are at least has hard, often more so, but are never tipped.