This came up today and I realized I'm pretty clueless.

What's the etiquette for tipping caterers in the following situations:

- Dropping off food only, no serving involved.
- Serving but no setup or breakdown
- Full service catering

9/30/2011 12:15:20 PM

Worked for a restaurant that did a lot of catering, so here's my opinion:

- You normally don't tip someone for just dropping off the food. The restaurant will usually pay the guy delivering and/or dropping off. If you're a baller, then slip them a ten or twenty...but they won't be looking for it.

- I think the next step is set-up and breakdown, not "serving but no set-up but no breakdown" as you put it. Usually serving is extra. So in the 2nd step that I mentioned, I would say 10%. IMO, it's similar to picking up to-go food. The caterer (or server in a restaurant), it still packing up all your food, getting you utensils or sauces, etc...and they're doing it at the expense of waiting on other tables (or doing other work in regards to the caterer) that would be tipping them out. 10% is enough in this case.

- Full service, IMO, means you give them 20%...or whatever you'd normally tip at a restaurant. If their service sucks, then tip them less or not at all...it's up to you. Ask the caterer what they pay their servers. If it's a pretty good amount (sometimes it is, sometimes its peanuts), then factor that in to whatever you want to tip. Most of the times caterers pay their servers a flat rate for every job and a lot of time their servers go above and beyond and deserve a little extra.

So definitely ask the caterer what their policy is and tip accordingly.

[Edited on September 30, 2011 at 12:29 PM. Reason : .]

9/30/2011 12:28:48 PM

lol yeah I just realized that second one is definitely backwards

That's what I was kind of thinking but wasn't sure. Seems weird to me to tip if they're just throwing a bag of food at you and peacing out but at the same time I guess that's not much different from pizza delivery.

9/30/2011 12:56:34 PM

^ True...but I think pizza delivery guys rely more on tips. Caterers, in general, get paid a little more than your local Papa John's delivery guy. So I don't think the tip is expected.

9/30/2011 12:58:22 PM

I wasn't planning on tipping my wedding caterers. $400 goes straight to the servers, another service charge is for the bartenders (whom will get tipped by guests anyway) and then another service charge for the catering manager. This is on top of their hourly wage. I thought the catering manager told me not to worry about tips because the service fee covers it, but maybe I made that up....and maybe weddings are different altogether.

9/30/2011 1:41:23 PM

Sometimes the service fees will include tips to the waitstaff, bartenders, event managers etc

15% of the total bill for tipping is pretty much the norm.

You can always ask your caterer how they handle tips and if tips are included in their "service charge"

Quote :

"bartenders (whom will get tipped by guests anyway"

The catering company I used to work for did not allow their bartenders to put out tip jars. The catering company my husand and I run also does not allow tip jars.

[Edited on September 30, 2011 at 1:47 PM. Reason : f]

9/30/2011 1:45:54 PM

Yeah our bartender didn't have a tip jar at our wedding. I guess that was the company's policy because we didn't expressly disallow it.

We tipped something like $50/server at our wedding because those guys busted their butts and did an amazing job. I know the caterer we used charges $150/server but if they do a really good job I think it's good to tip them some extra.

9/30/2011 2:07:49 PM

the place we had our wedding did their own food (and the price was reasonable and delicious), but they included a mandatory 18% "service fee" that the woman SAID went to the staff who worked that night (don't know if she was lying or not)...there was a line item for "gratuity" on our contract that we left empty

9/30/2011 4:04:54 PM

Yeah if the tip is already being put on there, there's certainly no reason to throw in more unless you feel like they really deserve more.

10/3/2011 8:42:31 AM

So we had a meeting about this very topic at work today and boy was it eye opening. One of my coworkers actually said, "Well I know what to tip when the pizza guy brings one or two pizzas but I don't know what to tip if he brings ten pizzas so I just don't tip when I have pizzas delivered for a meeting."

10/11/2011 3:08:48 PM

This just in:



People are dumb.





Carry on.

10/11/2011 3:11:40 PM

lol yeah I really wanted to be like, "You don't know how to calculate a percentage of your bill?"

Granted there were some legitimate issues. Like we can't give cash tips for accounting reasons, so getting the caterer to include the tip in the total invoice but this shit isn't difficult. But it made me sad and kind of annoyed to find out that out of 20 some odd people responsible for event planning in my department, only 2 of them tip for full service catering simply because they have no idea what to tip.

10/11/2011 3:23:30 PM

As someone who's done catering for 8 years these are my feelings:

If I'm dropping the food off in disposable containers and not even setting it up on a table but just giving you the food, I don't expect a tip.

If I'm dropping food off in disposable containers and setting it up on a table so you can eat right away, I expect a tip. Not much $10-$20 is reasonable here.

If I'm full service catering an event that isn't a wedding but like a corporate cook out, middle school pta night, etc, I seriously doubt I'm going to get a tip from anyone. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised here, but usually not. Again $10-$20

If I'm full service catering your christmas party, holiday party, birthday party I am working 50-100% harder than the previous jobs. I know these events are more important to you than some others and am willing to go the extra mile here. I know how much you paid for the event, I know how much your deposit was and how you paid for everything (cash, check, CC.) I will bust my ass and set everything up really nice and I will drive to the store when your dumbass wife forgets limes and then I'll drive to the store when she realizes she forgot tonic water. I expect a tip commensurate to my service that takes into account the fact that you could have never pulled off this party with out me. $50 to 10% of the overall bill (not the bill minus the deposit you paid 6 months ago.)

If I'm full service catering your wedding I know this is an event most of us hope to have only once in our lives. A single day where my work can make or break your event. I know this and you know this. We bust our asses at weddings doing everything from setting the tables, dressing the windows, coordinating the other vendors, cutting the cake AND we bring/cook/serve the food! Mind you, once you're out the door, I'm cleaning everything up, packing it in my van and unloading everything back in the shop. Also, the bar tender has an easier job than the other caterers, they just stand there and pour drinks. Stop tipping him like he's jesus and stop tipping me like I'm judas. $100 minimum per staff or 20% of the bill (collective tip to be split.)

You guys may balk at these numbers, but the catering company I work for has consistently grown in the triangle for the past 10 years. Generally 10-20% year-over-year. Full time employees know which corporate customers tip and which don't and they will do their utmost to make sure those tippers have every single thing they need.


Also, a service fee pays for the server's wages, workers comp insurance, umbrella car insurance and any other related expenses that stem from paying an employee for about 8 hours worth of work. It. Is. Not. Gratuity. I don't see that except as my normal wage (~$11/hr)

10/18/2011 6:28:11 AM

^ aren't you married to the OP?


If so, couldn't she just have asked you?

[Edited on October 18, 2011 at 9:28 AM. Reason : or maybe i can't keep these TWW relationships straight. ]

10/18/2011 9:27:10 AM

^

10/18/2011 9:31:35 AM

^2 yeah but he wasn't picking up his phone when I needed an answer asap

10/18/2011 9:48:50 AM

^^ yep, I'm married to wolfpackgrrr, but I only do catering as a random side gig from time to time.

I have a 9-5 that thankfully keeps me from having to do alot of catering.

10/18/2011 11:05:24 AM

Just because the caterer charges you $150/server doesn't mean that the server gets all that money.

10/18/2011 11:09:22 AM

^ I tried explaining that to my coworkers to no avail.

10/18/2011 11:10:34 AM