Tipping....a scenario question...

Your bill is $1100…food $100, wine(1 bottle) is $1000…what do you tip?

Without a doubt, the expectation would be 20% on the $1100. And some will tell you that if you can afford the wine you can afford the tip. But I would leave a c-note.

$40-50

15%-20% of food cost based on quality of service, plus whatever a typical corkage fee would be for the restaurant, typically between $10-$50.

Great question and i’m looking forward to others responses. Especially views from those ITB.

This question is asked about once a year and there is no agreement.

This question was been hashed before. Tip whatever % you customarily do for food based on the service plus something for the wine service based on it’s level of service. I personally don’t feel the cost of the bottle should necessarily come into play.

Disclaimer: The tip for wine service should reflect the amount of time and effort for said service. For example, just ordering a bottle off the list with little or no input from the staff, vs calling ahead for info on a special bottle, having it opened and decanted before you arrive, having the sommelier spend time helping you choose a bottle etc.

Ditto!

Very different tipping culture over here. An even greater difference for those living in Australia and NZ, where tipping used to be quite uncommon (is that still the case?). Ditto plenty of other countries in Europe.

Whereas we normally tip as a percentage of the whole bill, I am tipping on service, not as a commission on the sale. If a sommelier goes out of their way to make sure everything is right about the bottle, then the tip would be higher than for someone that simply brings the right bottle, uncorks it, pours a taste to check it is sound and then leaves it there.

The disproportionate price of the bottle in this scenario really does bring out the dilemma of the question. A $100 meal bill with $50 wine would mean ~ $15 if the service was good, flexing up or down as appropriate. The wine is cheap enough that it just gets considered as part of the overall experience.

The catch comes when we start to consider the margins on wine vs food. Many places charge the same markup on wine & food ingredients e.g. if the the ingredients cost $15 and the wine cost $15, both the dish and the wine might each be sold for $50. They’ve not factored in the significant differences in labour costs of food vs. wines, but then they probably opened a restaurant because they love food, and wine is a way to maximise profit (and subsidise the food) to support that.

This is where I would find my moral compass on treating the staff well, fighting my moral unhappiness at being charged a huge amount for subsidising the diners who don’t enjoy wine. Morality cuts both ways.

So…, if the bottle were a ~ $700 retail wine, being sold for $1000, I’d be a lot more comfortable at tipping well (and choosing to eat/drink there in the first place) than if the wine were $250 retail, priced up at $1000. In that scenario I’d be thinking they’d fully priced service into the profit they were making.

I think this is a decent way of looking at it, though as Dale mentioned, it would be reasonable to also flex this based on what they had to do (and how they did it).

I’m not sure that I could leave less than $100, especially if some greater attention to service was accorded to the $1000 bottle.

Depends how many times you asked for them to refill your never ending pasta bowl.

I would leave at least 100

You’re wrong.

I agree with you.

Hi Ian, still the same down under. Tipping is completely optional and is not expected in most establishments. Some of the higher end places with more international guests will ask if you wish to tip. Many places do not even offer you the chance to tip when paying, the EFTPOS amount presented to you is the total bill and no way to add tip. Some places have a tip glass near the till if you wish to leave cash.

This question from Buzz is mostly a problem for folks in USA. This type of question simply does not arise in Aust and NZ ( well very very occasionally perhaps)

Having lived in the USA, Europe, Asia, Aust, NZ and Middle East, the expectations about tipping amounts/percentages in USA are out of step with the all other places I have lived. Personally I find it unfathomable that folks would be willing to tip 15% to 20% of the total bill in the scenario described by OP. Each to his own…

Brodie

A lot, because if I was spending $1000 on a bottle of wine money would not be an issue.

Thanks Brodie
I must admit I’d rather the rest of us followed the same model, where staff are paid fairly, so if we decide to tip, it’s because someone went above and beyond and we genuinely wanted to say thank you.
Regards
Ian

My opinion as someone who works in the restaurant industry in the US, I wouldn’t expect a 20% tip on the full cost of the wine. It would be appreciated, of course, but I understand the thought processes behind tipping a lower amount.

Additionally, when someone spends that much on wine, they will get more attention from the service staff and often free perks (extra dishes, tastes of dessert wine, etc.) If that plus the wine service encourages a huge tip, that’s great. If not, oh well, hopefully it was still a positive experience for the guest and a lucrative one for the restaurant and service staff.

If I spend $1,000 on a bottle at a restaurant any tip I give is coming straight out of my heirs’ legacy, because it means I’ve been given days to live. ZERO chance I come within spitting distance of that tab unless I am dead man walking.

And even then, because I don’t want to spend my last days griping about paying list prices for any wine.

Is 20% the “new normal” in the US? And is that before or after tax? Personally, I would probably go with $100. But there’s a bunch of variables - e.g. whether the $1000 bottle was well-priced or not. No way would it occur to me that I should somehow be “obligated” to tip 20% on the total.

This–though having once been a waiter, I would tip at least $100 and probably more. (I personally think it’s fair: if you can afford the wine, you can afford the tip.)