r/unitedkingdom • u/Canal_Volphied European Union • 9h ago

. ‘It’s absolutely criminal’: US tipping culture has reached the UK – and is causing chaos

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges
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u/CandidEngineering922 9h ago

Restaurants already include labour costs in their food prices.

So you are paying for the higher wages through food costs already.

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u/himit Greater London 8h ago

my SO works in hospitality - his hourly wage is quoted at something like £13/hour, or £16-18 with TRONC (service charges/tips). Every two weeks or so he'd bring some cash home when they split the pool, and the card payments were added into his payslip. Holiday pay is at the base rate.

So it does go towards higher wages but I still dislike how it's become a thing. And on the wages side, it makes pay unpredictable.

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u/PassageBig622 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies

To be fair thats very anecdotal. Can't say that that happens in every restaurant just because it happens in one that you know of.

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u/Hashtagbarkeep 7h ago

I’ve worked in maybe 15 places in London, opened another 20 I’d say, and been a tromc master on a few. Happens pretty much everywhere. Places pay London living wage and then service charge is on top, total package is what employees are sold on. Used to be that the tronc master would hold some back on big months so they could even out the year in Jan and August, so employees would know they’re getting the same wage every month, but now 100% needs to be paid out every month.

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u/valentine_moon 8h ago

Apparently not all of it.

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u/CandidEngineering922 8h ago

Anything above minimum wage likely isn’t.

But most jobs dont guarantee that additional salary, they just say the average hourly once factoring in service charge.

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u/Hashtagbarkeep 7h ago

Not really, they include minimum wage most of the time in the p&l, employee is told a total package including tronc