If I go to a dinner and the total bill comes to $300 before tip. However, the wine purchased from the restaurant as part of the dinner contributed $140 towards the total of $300. Do I include the wine as part of the total to calculate the tip? I do not want to penalize the server but to a degree I feel like I am getting hit twice? (1) Tipping the server on $300, and (2) Paying $140 for a bottle of wine that I could probably have purchased for $75 "retail" when in fact the restaurant actually purchases at less than retail. Again, how would you calculate the tip in this scenario?
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
How much to tip is of course a personal decision, but if you want to abide by current practice you should include the cost of the wine - and any other drinks - in your calculation. By that I mean the charge as it appears on the menu or wine list, not some other measure of value such as the retail price (which in fact can vary substantially). It's always possible to arrive at the "true" value of the wine using other theories, but in the end these are arbitrary. A diner is the client of the restaurant, not a store or some other part of the distribution chain. This is one reason accepted etiquette is based on one objective fact: the total bill including all beverages. Some people choose to look at the meal cost before tax, which is considered a reasonable and acceptable approach. I would prefer to focus on the fact that servers earn their income mainly from tips, and the diner still has considerable discretion in the percentage of gratuity depending upon the server's performance. It might also be worth noting that, in a more expensive restaurant, the total bill will be higher, but the tables typically turn fewer times, so the tip percentage has to be maintained in order for the server to be suitably compensated. That said, I find paying a seriously inflated price for bottled water far more frustrating than a (much smaller) mark-up on wine - but I still include the water's cost in my tip calculation.
