Catering tip stupid question. :)

Bert's girl, check your contract, it might be included. I think mine in because it says "service charge"

Just want to point out to those who say it's a lot of $$$$- they are actually probably getting less then if they worked at a normal place if you broke it down.

We had this problem with a bar-tender. We where going to hire a friend of my sisters, but they could make more working a friday night then the $300 we could pay them.

CKJL, "service charge" =/= tip. Check with your venue/catering company but that's usually just a fee that goes to the house, the servers don't see any of it. We pay "staff fees" but that's to cover the cost of them being there - tip is on top of that.

And I agree with Shellie.......thinking about it more, our staff will be working about 16 hours for our wedding. Yeah we're paying an overtime charge so the company can take care of them but $200 tip in 16 hours doesn't sound like much when I break it down.

Kinda like if you went to a really nice restaurant - you would still charge on the total, even though it's a high total.

Our contract specifically states that the 20% service charge is added to our invoice in lieu of a gratuity. I still think it would be nice to give the servers a little extra, however.

Yeah, I e-mailed the venue and asked about it... we will see what they say.

not everyone works 16 hours... the cooks cook, then the waitstaff serves, then the bussers clean.. there so many people that a tip wouldn't even be much. When over 6 ppl go to a restaurant, they almost always add gratuity, the same should be the same for parties. it would make life easier

I don't mind paying it, I hate having to figure out IF i have to pay it

The only person we tipped beyond the service charge was our bartender who worked his butt off. We tipped him $60 but the guests were also tipping him $20's all night. He did search us out at the end of the night and thanked us personally so I'm thinking they don't get tipped that often.

I definitely see how it can break down to a much smaller sum per person... but we're doing buffet and per our contract only have 1 other wait-staff aside from the caterer herself. (Bar tending is completely separate from the catering for us) So with only 2 staff members, 20% gratuity, and they are each taking home a $400 dollar tip.

I'll probably be viewed as a crappy bride here, and I absolutely will be providing a gratuity to my caterer and staff.... but 100% honesty- until I buy or pay off some other wedding items that are needed, I'm not sure I can promise to give an extra 20% of my over $4000 catering bill to keep the Catering and Wedding Gods happy.

I should also mention that my venue is DIY - so my catering staff will not be setting up tables, decor, or even providing china or glassware. Not that the vendors don't deserve it - but by the same logic I could spread that $800 around to my friends and family who are coming early and staying late to help set-up and clean up.

Shellie.....Well said!

Our gratuity was part of our final total. We tipped the wait staff $100 each beyond that. We tipped my DOC nothing.

In my daughter's venue,the gratuity is included. However, we are going to give the DOC and waitstaff an additional tip. How much is yet to be determined. Also, the bartenders are allowed to accept a tip beyond what they are getting, but they are not allowed to put out tip jars. This was extremely important to me. I am not a huge fan of tip charges at weddings. Our guests spend enough going to the wedding. We will tip them at the end of the evening.

We are just tipping 10% of the entire bill, that is the suggested caterer tip according to their food book.

Gratuity is going to be included in our bill. If it weren't, I wouldn't tip onthe post tax total. FH and I never tip on tax, even in restuarants.

Good call about the tip jar, Carole! I have to check with my venue.

The gratuity was included in our contract, and it was 20% pre-tax, and it did NOT include rentals. The event planner at the venue was very surprised at the idea that the tip should include rentals. It seemed to me that the rentals were a little more expensive than if we had done them ourselves, so that probably compensated.

I thin 20% is a decent tip. However, the staff were just more than amazing, so we left some extra.

Have you all seen the term "venue service fee" ? Is that a fee just to pay for using the venue or is that the gratuity as well?

Mrs.B-Baby, I've only seen "service charge" or fee, whichever it was. So I'm not sure if adding "venue" changes things.

However, I know it was questionable whether that's actually a gratuity so we called and asked. Our venue specifically said that was the gratuity for the staff.

Thanks Mrs. S.

It's so interesting how everyone's contracts and situations are so different......no wonder this is so confusing. Plus definitely everybody's needs are different in terms of their staff and how long they're there - our staff is pretty dedicated the entire day.

Carole I asked our bartending company to write NO TIP JARS into our contract. I'm with you on that - as a guest it always makes me nervous that maybe the couple is NOT tipping the bar staff, and then I don't know if I need to and how much to give them and I fret about it every time I go for a refill.

You should tip on the total food amount. That's what I'm going to do. You should remember that they will be getting paid(probably hourly) as well as you already mentioned. I'm with you there.

And don't forget to tip after you evaluate their service. After all, a tip is to match the level of service offered. If the service is bad, I'd go as low as 10% and as high as 20% for good service. But then again, you'll have more important things to do than evaluate the service of your caterer on your wedding night!! https://iqcalculators.com/calculator/tip-calculator/