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Our family went to a restaurant yesterday, and they put on a 20% gratuity by default, and then presented a credit card bill with a line for a secondary tip and suggested amounts based on percentage (18%, 20%, 25%) -- effectively tips of 42%, 44%, and 50%

The first tip (the default 20%) was hidden on the detailed receipt. The credit card receipt had no indication there was already a tip applied. I was struck by the dark pattern here.

Further, the service was so-so. We had to ask for water three times before we got refills, kids screaming the entire time. Dinner out is meant to be relaxing and enjoyable, not a quest to demand something you're already paying for.

When I spoke to a co-diner, the explanation was "well they are short on staff." OK, so if they are short on staff and couldn't refill glasses with water, how did that justify a 20% gratuity?

Also, if they are short on staff, and the smaller set of staff are sharing a tip, doesn't that even out a lower tip?

This has happened over and over and our default response is not to complain, or write bad reviews, but just to stop dining out. We cook at home, with high-quality ingredients, and enjoy the time together.

I think you're spot on about the role of tips and inflation. The article brings up patrons saving on marked up alcoholic beverages, but fails to mention the rise in expected tip percentages driven by larger defaults in point-of-sale systems. Tips are effectively a premium paid to eat in a restaurant instead of getting the food to go, and it's only natural that fewer people will be willing to pay that premium as it increases and is introduced in types of restaurants where it wouldn't have traditionally been charged. Couple that with inflation dwarfing wage growth over the last two years, and people are only going to be more sensitive to price differences.

Tips have inflated as well. When I was a kid a "good" tip was 15%. That became 18%, now 20% on top of the inflation in menu prices.

A 10% tip is still OK if the service is no more than mediocre... or did I just date myself ?

It varies a lot depending on location, but generally you can adjust by adding 5%. 15% is the new 10% and 20 is the new 15%.

Even after the eggpocalypse, a dozen eggs is still $3.99 at the grocery store. And they only take a few minutes to fry up. Pot of coffee, maybe a buck. I like going out to brunch as much as the next person, but I've done a lot more cooking at home rather than either dine in or take out these days.

I definitely agree on cooking at home more myself. Though for eating out for me used to be more for meeting people or spending time with your partner. I still do that, but instead of meeting at a brunch spot, you do a takeout and hang out elsewhere.

>My favorite brunch spot for some eggs and coffee used to cost $50 for 2 even during the pandemic shutdowns

Where on earth is this? This seems incredibly expensive even by East/West Coast standards.

For NYC it seems right -- each person has a $15 plate and a $4 coffee, that's $38 which then adds 8.875% = $3.37 for sales tax and $7.60 for 20% tip, for a total of $48.97.

Where they're getting $100 from though, I have no idea. Nobody's charging $30 for eggs or $8 for coffee unless you're at a top-end business hotel in Tokyo or something. Or the eggs come with caviar or they're accompanied with a small steak.

I’m in the Bay Area. The math is close. Pre pandemic we’d do two plates, two coffees and a fifth item (side of bacon or a single pancake or something else). It was $17 for a plate, $5 for a coffee and a few bucks for the side. Came down to around $50-55 depending on whether we ordered the side.

The same plate now costs $27, coffee is $7 and the sides are also similarly up priced. And that moves the needle up on the taxes and tips. This is a proper brunch spot, so it’s not just eggs.

Adding another anecdote for Seattle — a decent local breakfast spot (not upscale) has $15-$20 plates, with $4 for bottomless drip coffee (it’s not great). With 20% tip and 10% tax, it comes to around $30 a person.

I think $30 a person is pretty normal at a lot of decent places. You can definitely still get a good lunch for $15. But just not that normal. I do find $50 a person to be way more common than it should be if you go order a side and a drink as well.

I tried to think of a restaurant in NY that might sell eggs in the morning. I don’t live there so probably I’m biased towards places that might be better known to/targeted at tourists. I looked up the menu for Balthazar and they indeed have $28 eggs (Benedict) and $7 (bowl of) coffee. I guess that’s a bit expensive but could also be the price at a ‘favourite brunch place’.

Yeah, Balthazar is 100% a Soho tourist trap, I've never known anyone here who would actually eat there unless it was paid for by your company or something. (Not that the food is bad, it's just overpriced to take advantage of tourists, not a place locals go.)

A normal, nice popular brunch spot in "trendy" Williamsburg is Egg Shop. Their egg plates are all still $14–16, and coffee is still $3–4:

https://www.eggshopnyc.com/menus/#breakfast-lunch

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Basically all of the restaurants I’ve heard of in NY don’t do brunch, unsurprisingly. I looked up some breakfast menus at a few reasonably upscale downtown hotels and they had eggs of some kind around $20-$30, but I guess that’s probably not super representative either. I wouldn’t normally go to a local hotel restaurant where I live (though in other places where there are fewer non-hotel options I guess I might).

If it helps, I travel frequently between the Bay Area and NYC, and NYC is noticeably cheaper to eat out in than Bay Area. Maybe it’s the density of restaurants and the competition?

Definitely not outrageous for the west coast pre-pandemic prices. A nice breakfast plate in a popular city was easily $15/person. Add coffee, juice, etc. for two people and then gratuity and it's $50. I'm sure it's even worse now but I stopped going out years ago. I've heard you can't even get a burger and fries for less than $20 now.

So many complaints. In Helsinki a weekend brunch in the range of 20€-24€ will not have warm entrees, except maybe some eggs and some weenies. 30€ or more will get you an acceptable selection of warm foods.

Altho to be fair, VAT is included and tips are unnecessary.

Maybe the math all works out w.r.t. coastal brunches.

You're probably right and as a sibling comment noted a lot of restaurants are short-staffed which has to make service worse on average.

At the margins, also, people don't just automatically reset to all their previous behaviors. There's probably at least some subset of people who are like (to your example), "You know? Making brunch at home during the pandemic was really not a big deal. Why am I spending all that money to wait for a table at a crowded restaurant again?"

ADDED: While there's something to be said for sitting at a table on a nice weekend morning and watching the world walk by in the city, throwing together a brunch at home is probably one of the easier and cheaper meals you can do.

The inflation goes way beyond just an increase in the price.

The portion sizes often seem to be simultaneously decreasing, too.

The quality of the ingredients is also often noticeably less than it used to be.

On top of all of that, the service from the staff is also often terrible these days.

I end up paying far more, getting a much smaller quantity of food, what little I do get is inferior, and the overall experience is unpleasant.

It's not just getting the same for more money. It's now about getting far less for more money.

Tip nothing. Even if served. Others will tip more for your lack of tipping and things will even out.

Or even better, tip normally and post Internet comments about how you don't tip. Things will uneven out.

> Restaurants need to pay a lot more to attract workers

There's also been a large uptick in restaurants' costs in terms of raw materials.

Do you tip for takeout (without delivery)?

No. Tips are for service, attentiveness, and a nice dining experience. And often servers are paid a lower hourly wage in expectation that tips will make up the difference.

Handing a bag of food across the counter does not qualify.

Sometimes. I tip when I do it at the spots I frequent.

Also rent. Up and up and up.