Tip-flation or tipping fatigue?: Calgary restaurant facing tip issues

The perfect tip for food delivery or a takeout order remains a mystery, but one Calgary restaurant owner says customers who don’t tip his delivery drivers are badly damaging his business.

“It’s an issue because if the customer doesn’t tip, then the delivery driver is not gonna deliver the food. Here at the restaurant we have seen some issues a lot lately with the deliveries not being picked up when you confirm an order,” restaurant owner Jim Braun said.

Braun says drivers are passing on orders from his restaurant because they think they will not be getting a tip.

“We had a delivery guy come and pick up an order, so I asked him if he was busy. And he says ‘no.’ And I said ‘well, that’s not good.’ And then the driver went on to say that he’s releasing orders, and I had confusion all over my face. And I asked, ‘well, why is that?’ And he’s like, ‘well, nobody’s tipping.’ I was take aback. And I said, ‘well, that’s not fair to the customer and to the restaurant.’ Because if food sits here too long, we have to remake it and that is costing us for no reason.”

Some food delivery apps let customers predetermine their tip for the driver at the time of the order, so if a driver sees no tip, they can pass on the delivery.

Other delivery services let people adjust their tip amount even after their food is delivered, so the driver has no idea if he or she will be tipped at all.

With over 30 years of business experience in Calgary, Braun says some customers tip cash on delivery and some chose not to, which is their choice.

“I’m paying a 30 per cent commission for these guys to deliver our food. And with that 30 per cent, I know they’re getting a percentage of that,” Braun said. “So there’s no excuse on why you can’t deliver an order without a tip. Because they are still getting paid. They’re just not getting a tip on it. I can’t force the customer to tip.”

We asked some Calgarians about their tipping practices.

“When I go, I usually tip 20 per cent, especially in the city I find tipping is really high, so when you tip 20 per cent, your server usually gets half of it,” Sam, a Calgary student said.

Val Austen says, “I think it’s okay not to tip, I usually try to tip as much as I can. I just hit the first button I feel like on the automatic tipping machine is. I think it’s fine not to tip, it’s up to the customer totally what their budget and pocket feels like.”

A former server, Maddy Steven says, “I usually always tip because of personal experience, because I have not been tipped as a server and that sucks. As a server, you do have to pay for the tables when they don’t tip, so its definitely common courtesy to tip.”