Backlash Against ‘Tip-flation’

By Isaac Phan Nay
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The moments after a server or barista hands over a credit card reader can be awkward. Will it offer tip options starting at 20 per cent? Will the server stare daggers at me if I don’t tip?

Tips used to be more private. Dropped in a cup, or calculated after the bill came.

Now, suggested tips are on the rise, irking some Canadians, and raising big questions about business practices that make workers more dependent on tips and keep their wages low.

University of British Columbia sociologist Amy Hanser said tipping shifts the burden of servers’ wages off of employers onto customers and undercuts servers’ power to negotiate for fair pay.

“It’s a terrible practice,” Hanser said. “It shouldn’t be contingent on service — if you do your job, you should get paid.”

As restaurants and cafés reopened after pandemic closures, tipping prompts increased. In a 2022 survey by Restaurants Canada, customers reported being faced with higher tip suggestions.

A Research Co. survey published last month shows Canadians are growing irked by suggested tips.

“Canadians know that people in the food services industry don’t make a lot of money,” said Mario Canseco, Research Co. president. “We know that they depend on the tips to survive and to get ahead.

“It’s not like we’re against the concept of tipping, but when the venue is forcing me to make a choice, it becomes complicated.”

The survey found that most consumers didn’t like facing a suggested tip when they paid.

But 68 percent of respondents said they believed food servers need tips to get by, and 69 percent said that if food servers had better salaries, there would be no need to tip them.

In British Columbia, employers are required to pay servers at least regular minimum wage — which rose to $17.85 per hour in June — before tips.

WorkBC data shows food and beverage servers make between minimum wage and $30 per hour before tips.

Ian Tostenson, who heads the British Columbia Restaurant and Food Services Association, said tips make up a significant part of servers’ wages.

He said servers often work three- or four-hour shifts and rely on tips for a significant chunk of their income.

“It’s a bit of a big deal when we don’t leave a tip,” he said. “That’s why there’s incentive for the servers to provide good service, and generally that works quite well.”

Tostenson rejects the idea that restaurants can raise wages and eliminate tips.

The Vancouver restaurant Folke and café Cowdog have adopted that business model.

But Tostenson said most restaurants that try a no-tip model give up on it.

“They have a hard time getting people to work there because servers like the upside on gratuities, and guests don’t like it because they are paying higher prices,” he said. “In North America, we love to tip, and we love to have control of tipping.”

But UBC’s Hanser said putting servers’ pay into the hands of customers raises equity issues. Customers’ biases could impact servers’ pay — more attractive people might get higher tips.

The reliance on tips means servers have to tolerate negative or abusive behaviour to make sure they’re tipped, Hanser said.

Management should be ensuring staff are performing adequately, not customers, she added.

The reliance on tips makes restaurant goers effectively the employer and leaves workers perpetually subject to the judgment of customers, Hanser said.

The business owner also shifts the responsibility to pay workers onto customers, and that keeps base wages low and undercuts their ability to negotiate for more pay.

“People who are in typically tipped jobs can be paid a lower hourly wage,” she said. “That really does suggest that tipping can erode the ability to ask for more wages from your employer.”

Workers in the restaurant sector don’t traditionally have the union power to negotiate for higher hourly wages. Statistics Canada data shows that in 2024, 5.8 percent of accommodation and food services workers had a collective agreement.

That includes workers at a Boston Pizza in New Westminster, who are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518. The union declined to comment on tipping.

But its contract shows that unionizing did not change tipping practices at that restaurant.

Before the agreement came into effect in 2021, employees at the restaurant pooled their tips. The collective agreement, which expired last year, kept that arrangement in place.

The union also organized workers at a Cartems Donuts in Vancouver. Their collective agreement required the employer to come up with a tip policy to standardize the practice for workers.

Hanser said she doesn’t think Canadians are ready to give up tipping. She said that to pay servers fair wages without tips, restaurants would likely have to raise prices significantly.

Plus, she said, the practice is deeply entrenched in our behaviour.

“This is a really hard thing to change,” Hanser said. “This is about a culture as much as it is about anything else.”

 Tipping Habits at Restaurants

53% of Canadians always tip at sit-down restaurants

Only 37% always tip at bars

Tipping “all the time” drops further at:
– Takeout counters (15%)
– Coffee shops (14%)
– Cafeterias (12%)
– Fast-food outlets (10%)

How Much Do Canadians Tip?

28% would leave no tip for below-average service when the server isn’t busy

10–14% tip preferred for:
– Average service
– Below-average service in an understaffed setting

15–19% tip common for:
– Good service, whether busy or not

20–25% tip reserved mostly for exceptional service during busy hours

No-Tip Zones

57% say tipping isn’t necessary for:
– Picking up food in person
– Online orders

Tipping Outside Restaurants

10–14% tip is seen as acceptable after:
– Haircuts/salon visits (35%)
– Restaurant-managed food delivery (33%)
– Third-party delivery apps (30%)
– Taxis or rideshares (30%)

Attitudes on Tipping Culture

69%: Better server wages would eliminate the need to tip

68%: Tipping remains essential because servers can’t live on wages alone

65%: Servers now expect tips, but don’t always work to earn them

35%: Tips are deserved in all circumstances, even poor service
– Agreementis  strongest among 18–34 year-olds (42%)

Disapproval of Common Tip Prompts

71% oppose suggested tips at online retailers

65% disapprove of credit card tip prompts at coffee shops

57% disapprove of printed suggested tips on sit-down restaurant bills

53% disapprove of credit card tip prompts at sit-down restaurants

Mandatory Gratuities?

Canadians split on automatic service charges for large parties:
– 45% approve
– 47% disapprove

Source - Research Co. poll, May 2025