Do people with food service experience tip better?

To the extent servers can establish an interpersonal connection with the customer, they can earn higher tips. One source of interpersonal connection between the server and the customer is interpersonal similarity, in the form of food service experience. Research by social scientists, combined with casual empiricism, suggests that customers with food service experience tip better than customers without food service experience. Using survey data collected outside of five Richmond, Virginia restaurants, we test this. Our findings, which are robust across a variety of empirical specifications, indicate that the former tip between 4 and 5% more than the latter.

Research highlights▶ Customers with food service experience (FSE) tip 4 to 5% more than those without FSE. ▶ Finding is robust across a variety of empirical specifications. ▶ Finding suggests customers with FSE generated roughly $.5b in tip income in 2008.