Money be on er’ybody’s mind. Booze-related business owners – especially private liquor store owners – are now all in a tizzy over the possibility of reduced profit margins as a result of the BC Liquor Distribution Board recent pricing overhaul.
At press time for this story, they aren’t sure yet how they’ll be affected, since all the changes aren’t announced until April 1. But because everyone seems to be fretting over pennies, I guess now’s as good a time as any to discuss tasting room tipping etiquette.
Y’see, there seems to be some confusion on this issue, because tasting room tipping is not standard practice. The problem seems to stem from the fact the majority of costumers assume (wrongly) that tipping is for wait staff only, and since most tasting rooms have no wait staff, tips aren’t necessary.
Of course, there is an argument here about how tips are bogus and should just be rolled in to the cost of whatever it is we’re paying for…but that’s beside the point. The reality right now is that several brewery owners and operators have griped about this very issue. One brewery owner even emailed me, totally unprovoked, an outline of exactly what this tipping etiquette should be.
Because said brewery owner preferred to remain nameless, and because his outline is a perfectly formed article, I am adding my byline to it along with some minor commentary – and thus passing his ideas off as my own. Thank you, Nameless Brewery Owner. I hope you don’t mind.
The etiquette is as follows.
If you:
Buy a bottle of beer to go, no tip is required. This is just retail, and no one on the front end has to do any real work, except ring through the order.
Get a growler fill to go, no tip is required. Yes, staff has to fill the growler, but again, this is just retail.
Get a glass of beer and/or a tasting flight, a tip is strongly encouraged. The staff is working to serve you. You’re basically sitting at a bar…and you tip at bars, don’t you?
Get a glass (or two, or three) of beer, and then get a growler fill to go, tip on the glasses of beer, but not on the growler fill.
Sit around for a few hours drinking tasting flights, asking staff questions, then getting one of them to show you around the brewery, even though tours aren’t really part of normal operations, but heck, this staff member’s a nice guy, a tip is required. Well not really – it’s not the law or anything. But in the law of decent humanity, it’s required. If you don’t tip, you’re a jerk, and staff will always remember a jerk, and you’ll thus receive lousy service forever, or until the situation has been rectified (with tips, of course).
How much to tip: This is controversial. Some say 12 – 15 per cent is reasonable, while others say $1 per beer. But what about tasting flights, which are three to six different beers, and don’t always add up to one full beer? Sometimes they exceed the amount! Ack.
After careful deliberation and much research, we suggest you tip $1 per item (i.e. glass of beer, tasting flight, etc.) or 15 per cent on the total – whichever amount is greater.
Of course, this is all negated if the staff is a jerk or provides a negative experience. But, if the service is passable-to-excellent, tip the person.
Got it? Sound good? OK, go.
