Does "18% Service Fee" = gratuity?

I think the general answer for that is to ask the caterer and see what they say.

Curious too. I mean, I'd personally treat it as a gratuity if that appeared on my bill at, say, a restaurant.

No, service fees are NOT gratuities.

@Jenny, that was my thought too!

You need to ask the vendor charging the fee. I believe usually it is no. There is a 14% gratuity fee and a 6% service fee at the restaurant for my wedding. Many places I looked at had 20% fees that did not include gratuity.

This really is quite interesting. I always thought of tips as a combination of a "service fee" and a reward for performing a job well. That is why I tip the pizza delivery guy, and why I leave a 15% minimum at a restaurant even if the service was very mediocre. If a gratuity is preset in advance like in @Miami2NorthernVA, it seems like it's more a service fee, rather than a reward for performance.

No, you usually pay a gratuity on top of a service fee.

Service fees can include: delivery, set-up, tear down, incidentals, run over, breakage, etc. Ask your vendor for a breakdown of what the service charge includes.

Usually not. Ask your caterer; most of the time, this is the chunk of change they use to pay the salary of the servers. If you want them to be tipped, then that should be separate, usually 40-75.00 per server.

This is a conversation to have with your venue or your caterer and ask all the questions you need to make sure you know what's going on.

You'll need to ask your caterer.

I've sent an email to see what's covered in the fee. I just wasn't sure if there was a universal answer that I was missing

I would ask. In my case, it's not. We were charged a 15% service fee and an 18% gratuity fee for our caterer.

It depends on the caterer. We have a 23% service fee and it includes the tip.

Ask your venue/caterer.

For us the service fee is to deliver, set up, keep it warm and fully stocked, and packaged at the end of the night providing there's anything leftover.

You need to ask... it most definitely could be.

My contract explained who was covered in the service charge for gratuity and who wasn't. I would ask your venue/caterer

I asked this of all our venues, we were told no it is not gratuity but it is a combined administrative and service fee, and this way all of our waitstaff are paid minimum wage rather than a server's wage. This varies by location but was typical of the venues we looked at in CT/MA

Nope, the gratuity is separate.

I think they will specify if there is a gratuity fee on top of a service fee. I think they're probably the same in your case

@Kreestan your caterer charged a gratuity fee? I thought a gratuity was the same as a tip. They don't get to stipulate and actually bill for the tip, but they apparently do for the gratuity... so what's the difference?