what to tip at buffet

[mickeymousefan]

What is the approriate amount to tip at a WDW self serve buffet? Do you tip the standard 15-20% based on service or less than that because you get your food yourself?

 

[jel0511]

I personally tip the same at a buffet as I would at a full-service restaurant. If 'm at a more upscale restaurant with more than one server, then I tip even higher. I use the 15% to 25% rule for tipping, depending on service.

 

[webray]

Us too...we tip as we would in a regular restaurant..depending on food/service.

 

[ducklite]

I tip 20% at a buffet just like I would at a full service place. The servers at a buffet work just as hard clearing paltes, bussing tables, refilling drinks. In all honesty I think it's actually ahrder--making sure to clear plates at the right time...it's easier to pace things when you control how the food is being served to the table.

Of course if the service isn't good--drinks aren't refilled, or plates allowed to build up, I reduce the tip.

Anne

 

[mickeymousefan]

Ok.... thanks for the info, as I am adding tax and tips into my food budget calculations.
Since our dinner at Chef Mickeys will cost $63.00 that equals about a $12.00 tip. WOW!!!
To any CM's out there...... care to divulge how much you make in tips? Serving at a place like Chef Mickeys must be a very lucrative job.... even if the hourly wage in nothing.

 

[swilphil]

I've only been to one buffet in WDW and frankly my husband took care of the tip. I guess I'm in the minority and kind of cheap, but when we do buffets anywhere else I don't tip as much. I'm getting my own food and the waitperson doesn't have to take my order and give it to the kitchen. I still tip in the 10 to 15 percent range, instead of the usual 20 percent (or more if the service is outstanding).

I know with sitdown meals, wait staff is earning well under minimum wage and depends solely on tips. Usually other restaurant workers are making much more to compensate for lack of tips. Are the buffet waitstaff making the same hourly wage as other servers? I'm also assuming that in a buffet the waitstaff is given many more tables than they would in a sitdown.

Anyone out there in the know on this?? I used to be a waitress, and my husband works part time for tips. I certainly don't want to be leaving less than I should.

 

[Cinderella37]

My fiance always tips at least 20% at buffets (as well as at other meals). Often these servers go above and beyond, taking photos of us at character meals, etc.

I don't know how much servers average at buffets in WDW, but a few years ago we struck up a conversation with our waiter at Fulton's. He told us he used to be a teacher in Orlando but quit to wait tables for WDW. He said he makes almost triple serving than what he did teaching. I don't know the average teacher wage in FL, but if he was making $25,000/year (I know it's lower than in PA) teaching, he's really doing well waiting tables.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

I never even thought about it, we ate at Boma's recently and I tipped 20% like we always do in the nice WDW restraunts. Sometimes I threw in a little more if someone made our day, etc. OR we celebrated something and they did a good job with that, maybe an extra $5 or so... we once had a "shy" waiter, who ended up singing happy b-day and I gave him 20% and then $7 extra.

 

[ugadog99]

Well, I guess I'm going to be in the minority here, but I don't tip much at buffets. Perhaps that is because in all my times at WDW I have YET to have GREAT service at a buffet. Most of the time the plates pile up and I have to wait FOREVER for drink refills. If I do the work and have to WAIT to be waited on, I'm not tipping much. I must say, though, that the wait staff at Trail's End is excellent and I always tip them well.

 

[beattyfamily]

Another one who tips just as if it were a regular restaurant. 15% - 20%

 

[k_hase]

I once worked a buffet as a waitress (not in WDW) and I'm sure I did just as much work as I did in a sit-down place. Many people have the impression that the only thing a server does is bring you food and since you get your own food you don't need to tip much or at all. The truth in many buffet situations is that although the server isn't brining you the food, they are making sure that the plates and utensils on the bar are available, cleaning the buffet areas so that you can get to your food, restocking certain food items that the chefs aren't making on the spot and acting a busboy and server. Buffet was just about the worst serving job I ever had and I would never do it again, the tips in general are the much lower than average and we still made the lower hourly rate.

That said, servers in Disney certainly make their money. I also worked as a waitress in an upscale Washington DC restaurant and made more then than I do now as a teacher, I also was extremely tired, overworked, had no health insurance, no retirement plan, no vacation benefits. I think I single handedly kept a podiatrist and a dry cleaner (we wore white shirts that had to be pressed and heavy starched as a uniform, the restaurant did not contribute) in business. Not all people are as great as the people on this board when it comes to tipping, there are plenty of cheapskates and people who treat you like you are not worth a polite word, that you are lower than them. The number of people who snap their fingers at you, clap at you, or otherwise you hand signals to send you on your way or get you to do something more quickly is appalling. Despite the money, I'll never do it again!

 

[KevinFSU]

Not me...... I'm only in the 10%-15% at a buffet. For me, it all depends on my drink. If me or my family sit around with an empty glass for awhile, its only going to be 10% (or even less if I practically finish my meal with an empty glass).

 

[RamseyTrio]

We also always tip in the 20% range. I think buffet servers work just as hard as non-buffet servers- I always see them clearing my plates and refilling my glass. In an "upscale" restaurant my server is rarely the one who does those things.

 

[Amberle3]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, and having never worked in a restaurant I very well could be..

My impression is that in a more "upscale" restaurant, where the server is not the person bussing the tables, that the server has to share a portion of the tips with the other staff so they in fact don't receive the entire amount of the tip. And with a buffet there really isn't separate bussing staff, so that's one less person for the tip to be split with isn't it?

Which would mean that if you leave the same tip at a buffet vs a more upscale restaurant, that the buffet server is actually likely getting a larger tip in the end?

 

[Duck/Fish]

Wow. Color me cheap. I've always tipped around 10% at a buffet. I may have even read to do that here on the Dis.

 

[disboo]

We tip in the 10%+ range for buffets. If the server does a good job (plates remove, drinks served promptly. buffet explained) then it is more - up to 20% or so. I find I do tip more now than when I was youger, and I would not go under 10% ever (or 15% at a non-buffet) unless I had a complaint that I would pass along to a manager.

 

[arizonacolbys]

I, too, used to work as a server at a steakhouse chain here while working thru college. From my experience, it isn't just upscale restaurants that share tips. Many restaurant chains do this. Where I worked, at the end of every shift you printed out a report listing your total sales. I believe a total of 1% of your sales then was paid out to the bar, and another 1% to the hostess'.

I feel that we always tip pretty well, especially since I know how much the job stinks. However, I used to be under the impression that you should tip less at a buffet. Basically, at this point, I try to tip based on performance. If we eat at a buffet & only see the server 2 times - once to take our drink order & once to bring the check, I don't tip as well. We like to have our drinks refilled as necessary & this doesn't always happen enough at some buffets. However, if we do eat at a buffet & have a great server we don't hesitate to tip 20%.

In our experiences at Disney, it is pretty rare to get poor service. We usually get pretty good service & find that we sometimes tip more at our meals at WDW than at home.