The Topic Is Tipping

Guests are dining out more often than last year and and rewarding great service, with the highest tips at bars and fine dining restaurants, according to  hospitality industry data from Lightspeed Commerce Inc.  The data suggests guests are willing to tip more for great service when digital tools are available to ease the payment process.

Key findings include:

Tipping is on the rise: Good news for servers: diners aren’t skimping on tips. Year-over-year, the median tip percentage increased by 2.3 percent, from 16.93 percent to 17.32 percent. Bars and fine dining take home the biggest tips: Overall, tipping trends are staying stable across business types year-over-year, with customers continuing to tip around 3 percent more at bars (19.25 percent) and fine dining restaurants (19.9 percent) than they do in casual restaurants (16.5 percent). Takeout tips are down: Tips for online orders and delivery dipped slightly, falling from 8.83 percent to 8.07 percent. In spite of earning…