Poll: 76 Percent of Philadelphia Diners Say They’re Tipping More During the Pandemic

Philadelphia diners are being more generous when it comes to tipping restaurant staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent Eater Philly poll, 76 percent of respondents said they’re tipping more than they used to. That’s an increase from an earlier survey Eater Philly conducted in the spring, before restaurants reopened for onsite dining, when 65 percent predicted they would tip more than they had before the pandemic.

Now that outdoor and indoor dining are both permitted in the city (with limitations), Eater wanted to gauge how the pandemic has affected tipping habits, not only for dine-in service, where the standard is generally 18 to 20 percent, but for takeout and delivery too.

When dining at a restaurant, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, 435 out of 678 people said they’re leaving gratuities that fall somewhere between 18 and 25 percent, with the number of people split almost evenly between 18 to 20 percent and 25 percent. More than 130 people said they’re leaving 30 percent gratuity or more. One miserly diner said they don’t tip at all.

Eighty-six people — representing 13 percent of Eater Philly readers who are engaged enough with the local dining scene to take the survey — said they just don’t go out to eat at restaurants now. That’s a shift from a September poll which found that 46 percent of those surveyed (almost 400 people out of 872) did not feel comfortable eating at a restaurant.

When it comes to delivery orders, 40 percent of people who answered the survey said they’re tipping 18 to 20 percent. About half that number of respondents said they’re tipping 15 percent.

One percent said they don’t tip on delivery. When asked about pickup orders, that number moves up: 14 percent — 75 people out of 545 — said they don’t tip. And 23 percent of respondents said they tip 10 percent or less. But the biggest group (30 percent of respondents) said they’re tipping 18 to 20 percent.

View all the survey results here.

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