Tipping at Brunch: A Plain-English Guide

Brunch is the hardest shift in a restaurant. The room is full from the moment the doors open, the menu is cooked to order, the diners are caffeinated and hungry, and the staff is running every plate at full speed for four straight hours with no break. So tipping at brunch is not the same equation as tipping at dinner, and it's worth thinking about before the check arrives. The baseline.

In the United States, 20 percent on the pre-tax total is the modern standard for table service that did its job. At brunch, 20 percent is the floor, not the ceiling, because the per-cover spend is lower than at dinner and the work per cover is the same or higher. Bumping the percentage to compensate is the considerate move. If the meal cost forty dollars, a ten-dollar tip is more honest than an eight-dollar one.

The bar tip. If you sat at the bar, the bartender did the host's job and the server's job at once. Tip them as if they were both. A dollar a drink is a tired old number that no longer works in most cities.

Two to three dollars per drink, or 20 to 25 percent of the bar tab, is the contemporary range. The takeaway tip. Picking up a brunch bag is not the same as eating in, but it's not zero either. The kitchen still cooked the food, packed it carefully, and held it for you.

Ten percent is generous and easy, and it goes a long way with a small staff on a busy morning. The split-check tip. If you split the check eight ways, do not let the tip get lost in the math. Round up, generously, on each share.

The server bringing you eight checks is doing twice the work for the same total. Finally: cash on top of a card tip is the small kindness that defines the regular. Five dollars in twenties slipped to your favorite server, on top of the percentage on the card, is the move that gets you the same friendly seat next Saturday.