1. Introduce yourself.
Simply saying, “My name is …” boosted waitresses’ average tips from $3.49 to $5.44 — a jump of 56% — at a Charlie Brown’s restaurant in southern California.
2. Ladies, wear makeup.
While the feminist in me hates to break this news, a study in France showed that 50% more men left tips if the waitress wore makeup, and the average amount was 26% higher. Another study, also in France, found that red lipstick, when compared to pink and brown shades or au naturale, brought in the bucks.
3. Wear something unusual.
Again, the test subjects were women; they put flowers in their hair. They earned $1.75 per customer in tips versus $1.50 when they went without the flower. Lynn suggests (for both genders) wearing anything that personalizes you such as a loud tie or funny button, but to avoid wearing something political, religious or otherwise controversial.
4. Squat down at the table.
Lynn says squatting down next to the table brings your face closer to the customers’, giving you more opportunity to make eye contact and establish a connection.
He cautions, however, that this behavior may decrease tips from black customers. His (untested) hypothesis: African Americans prefer having more personal space than whites and may have felt that a server squatting violated it.
5. Stand close to customers.
Standing closer than typical when taking the food order is correlated with more tips from certain races. In the experiment, 43% of customers tipped when the server took orders from a half-foot away, 31% when taken 1.5 feet away and 23% when they were taken 2.5 feet. Standing closer also resulted in higher tips — 1.41 euros vs. 1.17 euros for the middle range and 1.15 euros for the farthest distance.
But this strategy probably works best with Hispanics and whites, who maintain smaller personal spaces than blacks and Asians.
6. Touch customers.
Touch has been shown to boost sales and favorability ratings of stores, and a similar effect was found in restaurants. In this study, customers left a 12% tip when they were not touched, a 14% tip if they were touched once on the shoulder and a 17% tip if they were touched twice on the palm of the hand. This applies to both male and female servers. It works especially if female servers touch female members of a mixed-gender group of customers, and increases tips from younger customers more than from older ones.
7. Smile wide.
Smiling helps people be perceived as more attractive, sociable, sincere and competent. It also seems to improve tips. One study found smiling a large, open-mouth smile produced tips 140% larger than a small, closed-mouth smile did. The experiment was conducted in a cocktail lounge, so presumably this effect would be lessened somewhat in a restaurant.
8. Compliment customer’s food choices.
Say things like “You made a good choice!” In tests, the compliment was associated with boosts in tips from 16.4% to 18.9%. In another test with large groups in which the server said, “You all made good choices!” after everyone had ordered, praise boosted the tip from 18.8% to 20.3 %.
9. Repeat the order.
Have you heard that people like it when others subtly imitate them? That may be why repeating a customer’s order, in experiments in Holland, was correlated with a boost in the number of people tipping and gratuity size — 78% of people tipped if their order was repeated as opposed to 52% of people whose orders were not repeated, and the amount was double for servers who repeated the order.
10. Upsell.
Encouraging the diners to order more, such as drinks, appetizers and dessert, or more expensive items such as steak instead of salad, is an obvious trick, but keep in mind this one nuance: It’s probably better done during a slow shift. If things are busy, then the amount you’ll earn from the table by adding on appetizers, drinks and desserts might be less than what you’d earn if you turned over the table to a fresh slate of diners who will be ordering entrees.
Otherwise, during slow shifts, make sure to ask the table if they’d like drinks, appetizers, another round of drinks, dessert and after-dinner drinks.
11. Be entertaining.
Sing, tell jokes, give the diners a puzzle on a card. You may find your tips increase from 19% to 22%, as they did in a study.
12. Forecast good weather.
It’s as simple as writing on the check, “The weather is supposed to be really good tomorrow. I hope you enjoy the day!” In the study, that increased tips from 18.7% without the forecast to 22.2%.
13. Write “thank you” on the check.
Doing so may make you seem friendlier to your customers, or they may feel obligated to live up to your feeling of gratitude by leaving you a larger check. Either way, the experiment, at an upscale restaurant in Philadelphia, showed tips of 18% with the thanks and 16% without. Lynn recommends using downtime to write “thank you” on the backs of a number of your checks even before customers arrive.
14. Draw a picture on the check.
A smiley face works to boost the size of the tip for female waitresses, but not men, who should instead draw, say, draw a lobster or a sun on the back of their checks.
15. Call customers by name.
When you take payment by credit card, say, for instance, “Thank you, Ms. Jones.” In the experiment, using the customer’s name was associated with a 10% higher tip.
16. Use tip trays with credit card logos.
When customers receive a bill on a tip tray with credit card insignias on it, their tips increased by about 25% — even if they were paying in cash. If your employer uses plain tip trays, ask to replace them with ones featuring credit card emblems.
17. Satisfy their sweet tooth.
A little gift of after-dinner mints or candies may make your customers feel obligated to reciprocate. Tips increase the most if you give the table a round of candy, and then spontaneously offer a second helping. In the experiment, that generated tips of 23% of the bill compared to 19% without candy.
18. Give tipping guidelines.
Thirty percent of adults in the United States are unaware that 15% to 20% is the general rule for tips. Plus, it’s not always easy to calculate percentages. If you work at a restaurant that allows calculations to be printed on the bottom of receipts, use that feature. It will increase your tips as long as service is not poor. Your manager also has an incentive to advertise the tipping rates because it will create a financial incentive for servers to provide better service.
