Consumer Trends

Survey: Millennials are terrible tippers

Some 10% of millennial diners say they never leave gratuity when dining out.
Unsplash Sam Truong Dan

No other demographic group tips as little as millennials when dining out, according to a new survey.

One in 10 millennials say they don’t tip servers when dining out, compared to 3% of older consumers, according to data from the marketplace site CreditCards.com, which surveyed 1,000 people.

When they do tip, millennials don’t tip as much as others: The median restaurant gratuity for millennial diners is 15%, less than the overall median of 18%. Some 51% of restaurant consumers older than 38 normally tip at least 20%, the survey found.

Interestingly, 30% of the youngest group of millennials, ages 18-27, said they would rather pay more for food in restaurants than having to leave a tip. Just 13% of baby boomers agreed.

Restaurants across the country continue to struggle with gratuity-related issues, including tip credits, tip sharing and whether to ditch tips entirely in favor of adding service fees to checks.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending

More from our partners