Restaurant Social Media
Birthday Certificate Discounts
Question: “Any ideas as to how to “help” my customers realize that when they bring in a Birthday or anniversary certificate they should be tipping on the amount prior to the discount?”
Answer:
Are you the server or are you the owner, would be my question back to you?
If you are the owner you should be more concerned about teaching your staff to focus on the majority of their tips than on the minority of these tables that come in to use a certificate that your restaurant sent them. Usually people that redeem these certificates come in with more than just themselves, and more often than not, they might not have come in at all if they did not get the B-day or anniversary certificate. Hence, the server would have made nothing if they did not come in at all. I would not “spoil” the customers experience to inform them that they should tip a certain %. Some people just don’t tip and no matter what you do, you can’t force them to.
Instead, enjoy the fact that you were able to use a marketing tool to bring in more revenue for your business. More “new” headcount can result in future return business, which may tip plenty to make up for those several tables that don’t tip on the original amount of the B-day or Anniversary certificate. This experience should be used as a chance to blow your customer away with service and product quality as more often than not, someone in the birthday party has never been to your restaurant before.
If you are the server, I would encourage you to not think of this on such a small scale. View your tips on a shiftly or weekly level and not on a table level. Don’t let it bother you because if you do, you will unknowingly give poor service to your other tables that may potentially tip you more than the average. Face the facts that not everyone is a tipper, but more often than not, most people do know what great service is and will pay for it. So, don’t let the exceptions take over your attitude to affect the service you give your other customers. You always come out ahead if you consistently give great service no matter what.
Members, once you get to know me you will find that I am very upfront with what I say. I don’t sugarcoat much, but I try to give my opinion on how I have seen it work well and how I have taken care of similar situations before. I try to encourage people to think “outside of the box” and think of things at a larger level or impact on how the small decisions you make on a daily level can impact your business more on a larger level.
Answer:
Are you the server or are you the owner, would be my question back to you?
If you are the owner you should be more concerned about teaching your staff to focus on the majority of their tips than on the minority of these tables that come in to use a certificate that your restaurant sent them. Usually people that redeem these certificates come in with more than just themselves, and more often than not, they might not have come in at all if they did not get the B-day or anniversary certificate. Hence, the server would have made nothing if they did not come in at all. I would not “spoil” the customers experience to inform them that they should tip a certain %. Some people just don’t tip and no matter what you do, you can’t force them to.
Instead, enjoy the fact that you were able to use a marketing tool to bring in more revenue for your business. More “new” headcount can result in future return business, which may tip plenty to make up for those several tables that don’t tip on the original amount of the B-day or Anniversary certificate. This experience should be used as a chance to blow your customer away with service and product quality as more often than not, someone in the birthday party has never been to your restaurant before.
If you are the server, I would encourage you to not think of this on such a small scale. View your tips on a shiftly or weekly level and not on a table level. Don’t let it bother you because if you do, you will unknowingly give poor service to your other tables that may potentially tip you more than the average. Face the facts that not everyone is a tipper, but more often than not, most people do know what great service is and will pay for it. So, don’t let the exceptions take over your attitude to affect the service you give your other customers. You always come out ahead if you consistently give great service no matter what.
Members, once you get to know me you will find that I am very upfront with what I say. I don’t sugarcoat much, but I try to give my opinion on how I have seen it work well and how I have taken care of similar situations before. I try to encourage people to think “outside of the box” and think of things at a larger level or impact on how the small decisions you make on a daily level can impact your business more on a larger level.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Steve Paterson on -
Hi Peter
I'm glad you posted this actually, because you're hitting on a sore spot of mine.
The sense of generous tip entitlement in this country bothers me to no end. Especially in light of the proliferation of minimum wage increases over the past decade.
I'm not beating up servers in general, I think many of them do a great job and I tip accordlingly. But to 'expect' a certain tip is fundamentally wrong. It should be at the sole discretion of the customer, period.
Allow me to use this scenario as an example;
2 people go out to dinner at an upscale establishment. They share an app, eat their salads and entree's and have two bottles of wine over a 3 hour period. The first bottle cost $100, and feeling pretty good, they decide to splurge $500 for the second bottle.
Is the server entitled to a 20% tip on the total bill? (That's a $120 worth of tips just for opening two bottles of wine.)
I would offer again, that the tip is completely discretionary and there should be no expectation of a certain tip percentage.
I guess this begs the question, Why can't we be more like most cultures where the servers and bartenders are paid a decent wage, and tipping is not a custom at all, unless you receive exceptional service and choose to tip for it?
-
Permalink Reply by Steve Paterson on
-
Sorry, I never did answer the question you asked. I'm not sure there is any one correct answer, but the topic got me fired up.
-
Permalink Reply by Chuck Cutaia on -
I have dealt this this very subject many times throughout different promotions. I had my system print at the bottom of the check (after the tax and total) a friendly suggested gratuity based on the meal prior to the discount.
Unless you waited tables, the average guest does not know the government taxes the server on their sales. None of my customers found this offensive or insulting. You will never be able to change the mind set of a server. They are in it for the cash at the end of the shift.
When I put the suggested grat at the bottom of the bill, it showed my team I cared. Did they always get the suggested amount? No, but it did soft the blow and was an excellent execution of teamwork.
-
Permalink Reply by Carl Muth on -
Peter,
Did you write this and post it on Larry's Blog http://www.restaurantconsulting101.com/blog2/?m=200802?. Or are you Larry posting under Peter's name?
Advertisement
Industry News
Food + Tech
Events
Videos
© 2012 Created by FohBoh.
