In my experience here in Southern California, most caterers add 18% onto the food and bar bill for service. Often folks hiring the caterer will round it up to 20%. I’ve nevet heard of an event where a generous mandatory service charge was not added to the bill automatically.
My husband’s situation would not be what one usually thinks of as typical catering - he works for a company that provides food service to a large university - and they are exclusive for many of the facilities on campus that are desirable and in demand for a private function. Of course there are regular employees but then he also has to hire many temp staff, frequently students, who want to earn extra $$. There is an 18% charge - but it goes to the university per contract, so none of that is available for “tipping”.
Maybe all tipping is a thing of the past, then. If everything is built into the contract including that all service is going to be wonderful and I have done my research before I hire the caterer or walk into the restaurant and know I am getting what I am paying for, there is no incentive to go above and beyond. When restaurants “build tipping into the menu price,” which more and more are doing (and many have already done for large parties for years), then my only statement for mediocre or poor service or rude waitstaff is to …not hire them again for my next event and go on Yelp and complain?
Well, yeah, sure. The opposite side of that coin is that if you get good service, you can call and inform supervisors, write recommendations for a website or brochure, offer to be a reference, etc. I will always offer to be a positive reference if someone has provided me with service I’m pleased with. Helping them make more money through new customers is the ultimate “thank you.”
Sabaray – That distresses me to hear that the 18% service charge does not go to the servers (or at least part of it).
I don’t know what to make of that, however, in terms of my own behavior. When I add 20% to my credit card bill at a restaurant, I guess I can never tell if it is actually going to the servers or if the restaurant management is keeping it. But I’ve done my duty in terms of providing a responsible and generous tip.
I feel the same way about the 18%-rounded-to-20% service charge on a large, catered event. I’ve done my part to ensure that service is well compensated.
(In the restaurant context, there have been class action lawsuits when management tries to keep part of tips for themselves.)
I never add my tip to my credit card. I hand cash directly to the server.
It bothers me as well, nottelling. Food service is not a lucrative career and you can’t cut food costs without losing business - so you cut labor, either through wages or staffing levels. The 18% charge is pretty typical - companies like Aramark and Sodexo are eager to get the contracts so will agree to - oh, build a new dining hall and pay 18% to the U - but most employees are not seeing high wages. If a private client gives cash for tipping, I can guarantee the staff sees it. So, read your contract and know where all the fees are going! Sorry, getting a little off topic, and of course there are differences geographically and among the types of caterers and catering.
The 18% built into my contract with my caterer was specifically for the waitstaff; to me it would be fraud if it didn’t go to them. I don’t understand how that’s legal, @sabaray.
I suppose it is advantageous for the servers if most of their actual compensation comes as a tax-free cash tip.
In my admittedly limited experience of hiring people directly to help me with a party, they are paid far more per hour that the typical server’s job in order to make it worth their while without a “tip.” It has been a long time since I did it, but I seem to recall paying 2 people at least $150 back in about 1994. I think they were getting something like $20+ per hour each.
My sister hires people a couple of times a year. The whole family has a long term relationship with a great guy who used to work at their club, and he gets people for them, as well as sometimes working it himself. He was tending bar at my oldest great nephew’s graduation party last month. Two of his guys worked my sister’s 4th of July party a couple of days later. I’m not sure what they are paid, but it is more than $25 per hour.
I’ve actually never hired a caterer, although they’ve been among my clients, but if I did, knowing what I now know, I would discuss the server’s compensation with them. I think if most of us see 18% for service on an invoice, we would think that was a built-in tip, like at a restaurant, not their basic pay. Apparently not!
I can assure you it is very legal, @garland. These are not your typical catered events - you might be an alum with a connection to the U or you might be a big company that needs space for a shareholder meeting, hence a university site (I live in the boonies). It is clearly spelled out in each contract that there is an 18% charge on top of the usual taxes and that amount goes to the U. It is not designated as a tip or gratuity to the servers and my husband’s staff is quick to explain the purpose. It’s a cost of having the event there. If my husband coordinates lunches for visiting faculty candidates or conferences for the U (just an example), his budget handles that 18% contribution to the U. If you’re a private client having a wedding reception for your D who is an alum, the charge is added to your contract. If you’re thrilled with how your event went and you give my husband $500, he distributes all of that to the staff.
Okay, I get that. But it doesn’t have anything to do with a discussion of tipping , apparently. It’s just a coincidence that the 18% is the same. Which, frankly, is odd.
So we’re dissecting tipping for food service by trying to figure out how much of the tip the actual servers are getting, because we all know it’s a tough way to make a living (and, they often don’t earn minimum wage which is disgraceful), but we aren’t willing to do the same for other service providers, who if they are lucky earn minimum wage. Working at McDonalds is a tough way to make a living. Being a struggling musician, coaching a youth hockey league, dog grooming, moving furniture, working retail, washing dishes… all tough ways to make a living.
We all tip our hair stylist because that’s the way it’s always been, but what’s the difference between “I know I am paying the usual $110 for my color and cut so that’s what I am paying… but oh, yeah, don’t forget the tip,” and “I am hiring this DJ/band/florist/organist etc. for my wedding and no matter how exceptional the service, I will not tip because…I just don’t tip for that kind of service and I already paid for it in the contract.” Shouldn’t we be figuring out if the stylist is an employee of the salon or maybe just works for him/herself and rents the space (and for how much?), or knowing if the tip is split among other employees or the manager? Do we only tip for places we return to again and again and not for one-time events or restaurant visits (to be sure on the next visit we don’t get a bad haircut or gross food)?
Tipping is a gratuity for appreciated Service-with-a-capital-S above what we already agreed to pay. I get annoyed at pre-determined tipping before I even walk in the door - how is that showing gratitude for great service? Tip or don’t, there is no right or wrong (so maybe this thread is futile)! But don’t call it tipping if it isn’t - sabaray’s example is fine with me, as long as it’s clear (upfront) that the 18% is not a gratuity but an event fee…
That sounds like a highly idiosyncratic situation. It’s different than the typical caterer that adds 18% onto the bill specifically for service. The 18% in that case is a facilities charge, not s service charge.
And since there is no mandatory service charge included in the bill, then a tip would be appropriate.
I’ll simply say it is not a facility fee and yes, I prefaced my comments by stating it was not a typical catering situation. Clearly a living wage and the role of tipping in getting to said wage is the subject for another thread which I fear would become too political. Carry on. Just remember to read your contracts carefully - in my neck of the woods, the caterer who added a mandatory 18% service charge wouldn’t have much business!
KAnds…mom,
Your story echoed with me. How unfair to tip you $10 for 6 hours of work!!!
It reminded me of babysitting until 2:30 am, when couple expected home at 11, and they knew I had Sunday school at 8:30 the next day. I wish I had the assertiveness to to call them and say I’m charging 3x the amount for each hour past 11, or had my parents support to call out these people. I’d like to think that if my kid wasn’t home by 11:30, I would have gone to that house, told my kid to sleep, and be there to confront these irresponsible parents!,!!!
Or waitressing (the pewter pot at Harvard square, if anyone remembers). I was working for real, so no, I didn’t appreciate a note on a napkin saying thanks for great service, but I don’t have anything for a tip. Heck, I’m working the last shift, getting home late, and I have classes the next morning.
Pastor here. I charge a fee for nonmembers because it isn’t fair for my church to have to pay me to do a nonmember wedding. I’m contracted for 35 hours of work for the church each week. A wedding takes up at least fifteen hours of work and usually more (required counseling, preparing the service and sermon, rehearsal and the service). Most couples blow a fit but I deserve a professional compensation.
As to the earlier comment about the high price of an organist. They have to meet with the couple to select music, practice that music for several hours over time, attend the rehearsal and ceremony. That’s probably over twenty hours as well. $200 wouldn’t be much over minimum wage and you are paying for skilled labor.
We rarely get paid our true worth. I had a funeral last month for a nonmember. The funeral director told me that the family informed her they would pay me directly instead of through her. I knew what that meant. Three hours for planning the service with two different family groups, five hours of worship planning and three hours at the funeral home and cemetery for free.
Wow @KKmama , that takes nerve!
Im glad you present a bill for non members for weddings, but can you do the same for funerals? I can’t even imagine asking a pastor where we (or another family member, in the case of out of town funerals) weren’t a member to officiate without compensation. Are these people who attend your church sporadically but aren’t official members?
My Dad worked for years as a bartender at the “rolling bar” in catering establishments. He was a union member and the wages were set by contract. Once when I was in my teens and I understood the concept of tips etc. I asked him if they tipped him at the parties. He said that he never got tips. This job was his weekend job, and during the week he worked in a meat locker supplying meat to restaurants and hotels in NYC. We never had enough money growing up, and he never made a killing at either job. Perhaps if he had chosen to try to work in some high end bar in NY he might have made more money, who knows. I can assure everyone that even had a tip jar been common in those days, he would have been mortified to appear to be asking for a tip and would not have done it.
This stuck with me to this day, and I still wonder if the tips I have given per contract for parties I have made in catering establishments went to the workers or just to the top person at the venue. When I go to a catered party with an open bar, I always slip the bartender some money (discretely) because of my Dad. (I tip when it is pay per drink since that is easy.) I know that these people work hard, often into the wee hours of the night. Despite that, I think a tip jar at a wedding is incredibly tacky. As a host I would not want my guests to feel pressured to give tips at my party. If I give a tip at a party, it is because I feel like doing it.
I am sorry for some of the people who paid good money for poor service as per the stories above.
Re KKmama’s story, a lot of people seem to think that anything and everything at a church should be free, or at least very cheap. They seem to have no concept that the doors are kept open by the voluntary contributions of members, and that the vast majority of churches are running on a shoestring budget.
I’m a member of an historic landmark church, and have been on practically every committee there is over the years, the governing board, and am now a trustee. We had complete strangers ask us if we will cut our fee so that they can get married there, when they are paying for a catered reception elsewhere in town. Um, no. This building costs a fortune to maintain, and our staff deserve to be paid a decent amount. We host a lot of things for the community, but we are not a public utility. I doubt they ever thought of asking the caterer or the reception venue for a break…
Pastors/Priests/Churches should be paid for services… I would not consider this a tip.