3 Tricks to Turn 15% Tippers into 25% Tippers

As a server or bartender, it's your responsibility to deliver the experience your guests expect. As you engage with a guest, you're either killing their mood or improving their experience. You can guess which one leads to a bigger tip. It's your job to avoid mood killers and provide experience enhancers. You'll understand what I mean as you dive into this informative mini-guide, which provides three simple tricks to increase your tip percentage per check.

We'll dive into these three core areas:

1. Create an Experience
2. Timing is Everything
3. Suggestive Selling

Create an Experience

When guests go out, they're looking for an experience. Maybe they're on a date, celebrating a birthday, or a busy family that doesn't want to cook. Whatever the reason may be, you need to know what it is and what they expect, and deliver their expectations.

When greeting them for the first time, ask them! "Hello, my name is Tessa. I'll be your server tonight. Have you been here before?" They reply. You reply with, "We're excited you've come back. Are you celebrating anything tonight?" Or, "We're glad you came to visit us. Are you celebrating anything tonight?" If they're not celebrating, they will likely laugh a little, say no, and then explain why they're eating out. Reply accordingly until you understand the objective of their visit.

Outside of asking, you can assess the situation for a few key indicators: what are they wearing? What type of restaurant do you work in? Do they have kids? You may even pay attention to the brands of their clothes, shoes, and accessories to better understand if they're potentially money-conscience. I realize this sounds like profiling, and honestly, it is, but you must profile them with zero judgement and an open-mind. The more data you can collect on their expectations, the bigger your tip, because you will likely meet and exceed their expectations.

You're looking to exceed the expectations of every table you serve.

Now you know how you can best provide their ideal experience! Families who don't want to cook want a relaxing and enjoyable experience after a long day. Couples celebrating want a memorable experience. There's a big difference there. When you understand their objectives, you can better avoid "mood killers" and provide "experience enhancers."

Mood Killers

A mood killer is anytime your service does not meet expectations. For example, an empty drink is a major mood killer, or receiving your food without the sauce or condiments you need. For regulars, their normal order being out of stock may also be a mood killer.

Its your job to spot and identify mood killers before they arrive and avoid them altogether. Never let a drink go empty, ensure your guests always have what they need at the time they need it, and be ready with suggestions and alternative ideas to turn their frown upside down.

Experience Enhancers

Experience enhancers are the opposite of mood killers. These are ways that you can exceed their expectations. In order to get bigger tips, you need to exceed their expectations. Your service needs to be so great that it warrants them to change their normal behavior and improve your tip.

If your guests have kids that seem unruly, bringing them a basket of chips, stickers or activities, or submitting their food order before the parents is a great example of an experience enhancer. If it's someone's birthday, offering a free dessert, or singing to them and making their experience memorable is another great example.

With the cost of everything today, going out to eat isn't a luxury that everyone gets to enjoy. When you can provide an enhanced experience, even if they're just feeding their family quick, it sets you apart, and makes them feel like the investment was worth it.

Building Trust With Your Charisma

Whether you're a bubbly, energetic person or not, you need to harness whatever energy and charisma you may have and leverage it at work. No one wants a server that just asks them what they want and doesn't engage. They can get that from the McDonalds drive-thru.

Actually, the entire reason why this guide even exists is because of a subpar experience. We were out for a lunch date and the server did an okay job but she barely spoke to us. "What do you wanna drink?" "What do you wanna eat?" No greeting, no introduction, zero engagement with us at all. On top of that, she let drinks go empty and didn't return for many minutes after food arrived and we were missing a dressing. Her lack of personality was a major mood killer. The actual drink and food mistakes could have been excusable if she was at least kind and engaging.

Introduce yourself to your table, ask them about why they're there, if they've been there before, and engage! Provide considerate responses and give a crap. It doesn't cost anything to care, and it can surely help you profit in a server role.

I worked at an upscale restaurant during my senior year of high school, a place where the per-person cost was rarely under $100. I was the master of conversation in that role. Why? Because it was largely populated by older, wealthy individuals who had the means to spend their money. When they asked me about myself, they would learn that I was working so I could save for college. When I provided an amazing experience and engaged in meaningful conversations, the tips were monstrous. We're talking up to 200% sometimes. I had one table leave me $500 on a $250 tab. They told me directly it was to help me in my next phase of life.

One caveat I do want to share is that you shouldn't talk about yourself, at least not to deep lengths, until they ask for the details. You should include little tidbits as you engage, but never make the conversation about you unless the guests ask directly. A great example of this may be, "I played soccer as a kid too! What's your favorite thing about soccer?" (engaging with the guests' child) or "Wow, 20 years is a long time to be married. Any secret tips you can share? I just got engaged 4 months ago." These little tidbits make the conversation about your guests, but also add enough small details about yourself to humanize you and build a rapport. Like the upscale restaurant example, I didn't initiate the conversation about myself and going to college, but when they asked, I shared, and it became a reason for them to be generous after I provided an exceptional experience.

Timing is Everything

If you remember anything from this trick, remember the 2-minute rule.

Now that you know how to engage and exceed your guests' expectations, it's time to talk about timing. This is, by far, the most common mistake I see in service when I go out to eat.

Timing is everything—if you're not charismatic, at least master timing.

Your guests should be greeted immediately and have their drink order submitted within 2 minutes of being seated. They should receive their drinks within 2 minutes of ordering them. You should capture their appetizer or entree order within 2 minutes of receiving their drinks. And you should check in with them within 2 minutes of them receiving any food or beverages. Two minutes will pass quickly for you, especially if you're busy, but it will seem to pass fairly slowly for your guests. The longest amount of time that should go by without checking in with your tables is four minutes.

Why does timing matter so much? Remember the story about the okay server? She didn't return to our table for at least 5 minutes after we received our food, so that I could ask for my missing dressing. In those 5 minutes, my husband was halfway through his entree, and I hadn't even started! This was a major mood killer, especially after her dull personality. I was hungry, and hubby was nearly done! Multiple mood killers lead to a bad experience that could be reported to your manager or, worse yet, result in no tip at all.

You can avoid mood killers and enhance experiences simply by being present at the right time and quickly identifying their needs. Implement the two-minute rule on your next shift and see what happens. I bet you'll see your tip percentage go up!

PS: If you're sitting there saying to yourself, or maybe aloud, that you can't check in on your tables that frequently and still serve everyone, you're wrong. You can walk by a table and say, "Are we still doing okay over here?" and it takes you a matter of seconds. In the $100/Hour Server Guide I speak to how to be efficient with your steps so you can meet the timing recommendations.

Suggestive Selling

The last trick to improving your tips is increasing your check totals, which typically leads to a higher tip with the same level of effort. You can increase your check totals through upselling, or as I call it, suggestive selling. Thus far, you've learned about how to provide engaging experiences and time your service perfectly. When you sprinkle in suggestive selling, you'll really see the improvement!

So, what exactly is suggestive selling? Suggestive selling involves recommending your favorite menu items, which are usually slightly more expensive than the lowest-priced options. Suggestive selling is most effective when you've established a rapport with your guests. Just in your table greeting alone, asking them why they're out to eat and engaging with them will build enough trust that they will begin considering your recommendations.

The entire purpose of suggestive selling is to increase your check total. However, the recommendations tend to empower guests to make informed decisions. If your restaurant has an expansive menu, suggestive selling is key! Giant menus lead to decision paralysis, which can be a small mood killer in the moment.

How to Leverage Suggestive Selling

Use suggestive selling every time you take an order. When you take their drink order, have a handful of non-alcoholic and alcoholic options to recommend. For example, you can mention fresh strawberry lemonade, an ice-cold beer, or a house-curated cocktail. You would never suggest a soda or coffee; you're looking to get them to think outside the box and order something with a higher price tag.

Appetizers are almost always ordered through suggestive selling. Sometimes when I take my entire family out to eat, we'll order an appetizer, but it's far more rare that we do that. It tends to happen because the server mentions one that tickles our fancy.

Knowing the menu and offerings at your establishment is the absolute best way to leverage suggestive selling. If you're not familiar with the menu, it's challenging to leverage suggestive selling effectively. Create a list of menu items in various categories and price points, and memorize them.

Use Your Insights to Sell Better

Leverage the knowledge you've gained from engaging with them to understand what recommendations they may want. You can even get creative and find ways to ask them what they like, and therefore, can offer more curated recommendations. Are they beer drinkers? Do they love cheese? Did they come exclusively for the prime rib? The more you know, the better job you can do at providing recommendations they're eager to try.

One thing to consider in this area is also leveraging your knowledge to provide suggestions they can afford. Be sure to have recommendations that span a range of price points. If you're only suggesting the most expensive items, they may notice, and this could be a mood killer, as they now think you're only there for their money. Sure, you are only there for their money, but no one wants to feel that way.

Describing Words are Key

Notice how my examples leverage descriptive words? I'm not just going to recommend a beer, I'm going to suggest an ice-cold beer. You want to make whatever you're recommending sound even more appealing. When suggesting food, I strongly recommend leveraging flavor palettes and ingredients that complement each other. "Have you tried our fried cheese? It's crunchy on the outside and gooey hot cheese on the inside. I'm obsessed!"

Think Outside the Box with Add-Ons

The most impactful suggestive selling occurs when guests order something they didn't plan on purchasing. Appetizers are a great example of this, but another great example is add-ons. Add-ons are options like having your baked potato loaded, adding mushrooms to your steak, or opting for a side salad instead of fries. These add-ons have smaller price tags, but every little bit adds up to increase your check total.

Texas Roadhouse is the master of suggestive selling; nearly every item can be modified with add-ons. When I worked there, I created custom order pads. I added the various add-ons so I could quickly circle them for each guest, which allowed me to remember to suggest them in the first place. You can visit office supply stores and have them printed and glued together, creating a tear-off notepad.

Suggestive selling not only increases your check total, which leads to bigger tips, but it also impresses your manager. Any restaurant manager worth their salt will see your selling techniques and reward you accordingly.

Bringing It All Together

Each of these tricks will increase your tips for your next shift. Leveraging all of these tricks will massively increase your income as a server. If you're ready to dive in even deeper and learn how to apply these tricks most efficiently and most effectively, check out our $100/Hour Server Guide.

$100/Hour Server Guide

The $100/Hour Server Guide expands those concepts with complete systems, templates, and specific scripts you can use on your very next shift. You'll receive explicit examples for a variety of situations, along with efficiency techniques to handle more tables without compromising service quality.

$100/Hour Server Guide

Real techniques from servers who consistently net over $100/hour—not just on the busy shifts.

Get the Guide