If my caterer is a family run business, do I tip them???

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Labor Day week-end Brides9/4-7: What do you have left to do?

If my caterer is a family run business, do I tip them???

posted 2 years ago in Food

Member

535 posts

Busy bee

andreaandchinelo 09/04/2009 dc

Hi all,

I've read numerous tipping posts in search of my answer to this question. I've read that you have to tip the caterer upwards of 20%. But I'm wondering about what I should tip for my circumstances. I 've read posts about tipping people when they are not the owners of the business. But the people I contracted with are. I looked over my contract and they do charge a staff/labor charge that is upwards of almost 45% of our bill. The bigger quetion should be how do I negotiate this price down, but my question for this purpose is do I still need to tip? I feel like I don't since the labor charge is sooooo much...any help would be appreciated!

2 years ago

Member

5,018 posts

Bee Keeper

RecessionistaBride January 28, 2012

upwards of almost 45% of the bill? Ouch.

I wouldn't tip anything extra if they're charging that much. I imagine they've allotted for tips, etc in that high %.

2 years ago

Member

535 posts

Busy bee

andreaandchinelo 09/04/2009 dc

yeah...I didn't realize it was so much until I calculated it for this post. But I guess I didn't realize it was so much because our overall catering bill was so low that it didn't really bother me. But now that I see it's that much I really don't want to give them anything extra.

2 years ago

Member

245 posts

Helper bee

baffled111 Walla Walla WA

I think you should ask them straight out: Is the gratuity included in the service charge? If not, you need to add on 20%. (Servers and staff need to be paid as well as tipped in many states, so the caterer will probably have hourly wages to pay.)

2 years ago