Delaware ranks no. 1 in restaurant tipping, a distinction credited to a lack of sales tax, a sense of community in Delaware and more. Photo by Blake Wisz/Unsplash.
Here’s another thing that Delaware is first at: Tipping at restaurants.
That seems to surpriseFood & Wine magazine, which noted in a recent article how small the state is and suggested the higher tipping likely is because Delaware has no state or local sales taxes.
Carl Georigi, CEO of Platinum Dining Group, wasn’t surprised – but only after he checked the validity of the source of the information, which is a survey by Toast, which offers point-of-sale technology.
Karen Stauffer, senior director communications and strategy for the Delaware Restaurant Association, also was unsurprised.
Delaware is a small enough state that people and restaurants have connections up and down the state, it’s an industry that includes 1 of every 10 state workers, and the COVID 19 pandemic raised the state’s appreciation for the role of restaurants in the community, they say.
Carl Georigi
Tips tend to be based both on service and on community, Georigi said. His Platinum Group includes Taverna, Eclipse Bistro, Redfire, Capers & Lemons, El Camino and The Market.
“There’s more of a personal connection on an ongoing basis, much more than you would see maybe in a resort town where people are in and out or big city where, you know, sometimes lunches and dinners are just a function of business and that type of thing,” he said.
“I think here we experience a connection with our clientele and our regular customers that is really a direct result of the community being so small and close to them, even though it’s a state that operates like a large town sometimes because everybody knows everybody from north to south.”
“Delaware is a state of neighbors that celebrates restaurants and dining culture,” said Stauffer. “We may have a smaller state footprint, but there is no shortage of diverse and exciting restaurants, not to mention an industry workforce that represents 1 in 10 Delawareans.”
With no sales tax, happy diners have more room to show their appreciation and support of great food and service, she said.
“It’s no surprise that visitors to our ‘Culinary Coast’ and locals enjoying business and dining options in the north are leading the nation in tipping, in a state where restaurants and dining are at the very core of our neighborhoods, communities and hearts,” she said.
Delawareans had an average tipping percentage of 22.1% during the first three months of the year, according to a Toast survey cited by Food & Wine.
“It also has the highest tips for full-service restaurants, tipping an average of 22.5%, and quick-service restaurants, averaging 19.1%, according to Toast,” the magazine said.
California, the most populous state, tips the least of all states, especially for full-service restaurants, where the average tip was 17.9%, the magazine said.
It reckons that may be because California mandateshigher hourly wages for fast food and other workers, so consumers don’t feel the need to tip as much
The least generous tips at quick-service restaurants are in New Jersey, with an average tip percentage of 13.8% in the first quarter.
Georigi said tipping that rose dramatically during the pandemic has come back down, but is sill higher than it was pre-pandemic.
That’s partly because the tipping percentage baseline has risen.
It used to be 15%, he said.
“I think the standard now is 20%,” he said. “That’s certainly what I’m hearing from our servers and what we’re seeing in their tips declarations.”
And those tips are on menus that are a little higher because inflation drove food and supply costs up.
COVID brought the restaurant industry together in Delaware, Georigi said.
“We all share the same guests,” he said. People from all walks of life, they summer at the beach, or they vacation at the beach, whether they have a summer home, or whether they have saved up all year to rent a place for one week. So there’s a lot of connection between the owners, and between all of us owners and our guests.”
Tipping trends
Better tipping also may be generational.
Younger consumers are more likely to be cool with parting from their cash than older ones, according to the Toast survey.
Fewer than half of Gen Z consumers – 45% to be exact— expressed a negative view about tipping. By comparison, 51% of millennials, 62% of Gen Xers, and 72% of Boomers expressed some sort of unhappiness with the broader tipping scene in general.
“So, if you’re deciding where to collect the best tips, you might steer clear of the Garden State,” the magazine suggests, “and keep driving south down I-95, and hope your customers are Gen Zers.”
Anew survey on tipping culture from Bankrate, a consumer financial services company, smashes the ancient perception that women are poor tippers, especially at coffee bars, according to Food & Wine.
It said 20% of women say they always tip for their drinks, compared with 19% of male customers.
The Bankrate study also found that 34% of those surveyed hate the pre-populated tip screens that pop up at coffee shops, food trucks and elsewhere.
About 25% said they tip less if prompted on a screen. Two-thirds of the people surveyed (67%) say they base their tip on the quality of service.
Toast’s survey also said that overall tipping continues to be flat.
In the first three months of 2024, total restaurant tips were 18.9% — the same as in the last three months of 2023.
Sit-down restaurant tips remained flat at 19.4% in the first quarter of 2024, as were quick-service restaurant tips, which averaged 16% in the same period.
Total average tips and tips at full-service restaurants have been basically unchanged for the past year. Quick-service restaurant tips have hovered between 16.1% and 16% since spring 2023.
Restaurants considered 2023 the first “normal” year after the COVID pandemic shutdowns, Georigi said.
Foot traffic at his restaurants has remained steady, he said. His first quarter of 2024 matched the first quarter of 2023. In a few weeks, he’ll put together the second quarter report and will be interested to see if it continues the same.
Vincenza Carrieri-Russo and Margherita Carrieri-Russo, sisters who operate V&M Bistro on Marsh Road, said they were grateful for the recognition Delaware is getting for great tipping.
“Our heartfelt thanks go to our loyal guests, whose support and appreciation for our high-quality hospitality make this possible,” they said in a text. “At V&M Bistro, exceptional service and warm hospitality are our pride and joy, contributing to our success over the past decade in serving the Wilmington, Delaware community.”
