Should you tip at a fast-food restaurant? Here’s what Canadians told a survey

The ever-evolving state of tipping culture in Canada has reached, well, a tipping point.
A vast majority of Canadians say it’s inappropriate to be asked for a tip at a fast-food restaurant, retail store or takeout restaurant, according to a new poll. It comes at a time when resentment for being asked to tip at more and more businesses is growing.
The online survey, conducted by Narrative Research and the Logit Group, asked 1,230 Canadians where it’s appropriate to be asked for a tip.
Service at a sit-down restaurant is the most appropriate spot, with 77 per cent of respondents agreeing. The salon was next, at 60 per cent, and hotel housekeeping at 49 per cent.
Being asked for a tip at a retail store was ruled the most inappropriate, with only seven per cent of Canadians saying it was OK. It was followed by takeout from a restaurant, at 19 per cent, grocery pickup at 20 per cent and a fast-food restaurant at 21 per cent.
The survey found men and women were split on tipping at the salon. Sixty-seven per cent of women said it was OK to be asked for a tip, while only 53 per cent of men said yes.
As some of the survey’s results would show, there is no clear-cut rule for tipping in Canada. It’s part of what a University of Guelph food economy professor has called “a bit of a Wild West.”
“If someone came in here and said, ‘Mike, what happens with tipping in Canada?’ I’d be hard pressed to give them a definitive answer to where you tip, where you don’t tip, and also how much to tip,” Michael von Massow told The Canadian Press in June.
The prevalence of payment machines has led to “tip-flation” and “tip creep,” according to von Massow, increases in the amount businesses expect you to tip, and the amount that ask for tips in the first place.
And it’s growing exhausting for many. As many as 83 per cent of Canadians believe too many businesses are asking for tips, an Angus Reid Institute survey from last year showed, and a majority of Canadians prefer higher wages for staff instead of tipping.
It’s become increasingly contentious, too. Some social media posts have fuelled the debate, including when a customer said service was “great” — then left a $6.59 tip on a $109.41 bill.
But that’s not the norm, according to the recent survey. At a sit-down restaurant, 53 per cent of Canadians said they would tip 15 per cent. Only 23 per cent said they would tip five per cent or less.
With files from The Canadian Press.