Tipping for Tea

Russian Life asked Food Editor Yelena Utenkova to give us an update on tipping in Russian restaurants — how much is acceptable, and when? She found out some interesting answers, straight from the waiter’s mouth.

The Russian word chaevye (tip) comes from the name of a drink — chai  or tea. At one time, a waitress in an eating-house was given the smallest coin “for service” — exactly enough to buy a cup of tea. But times are changing. Now, no one in Russia would think of tipping as little as a couple of thousand rubles — the price of a cup of tea. Treating a waiter to chai now costs significantly more.

“I am fully convinced that Russia has been integrated into the world economy,” noted one British journalist. “Now in Moscow restaurants, the tips are the same as anywhere else in the world — 10-15% of the bill.”

Tips were given in Russia even during Soviet times, when an attempt was made to ban this custom in some restaurants. This was unsuccessful, by the way, because going out to a restaurant was always such a big event for Soviet citizens that they wouldn’t think of being stingy. All the more so because the waiter would tend to serve them sloppily if he were not satisfied by their generosity.

Today, in a fine Moscow restaurant, it would not even occur to a waiter to demand a tip. It is not easy to find good work these days, and no one wants to blow it by reminding customers of their manners. Of course, nothing can stop a waiter from emphasizing with a look that, by not showing gratitude appropriately, you have seriously fallen in his estimation. And in some restaurants, though not very many, the administration puts a special note on the menu indicating that  “service is not included in the bill” as a hint that it is necessary to tip. More like the US and Europe, in Russia it is still fairly uncommon to have a 10-15% service charge included in the bill — so assume it isn’t.

Tips are given in Russia even when this practice is not customary. Several times this journalist has witnessed customers trying “to reward” cashiers at MacDonald’s and its Russian equivalent — Russkoye Bistro.

According to Andrei, a waiter who has worked in several Moscow restaurants, Russians are generally accustomed to throwing money around. Especially “New Russians,” whose generosity is legendary from anecdotes and jokes. But they are not overly loved in restaurants because they often spoil the “image” of a respectable restaurant. You never know what to expect from them — generous tips or criminal showdowns.

“The size of tips generally ranges from 5 to 20% of the bill,” Andrei said. As a rule, the higher-class the restaurant, the higher percentage customers pay. “I have noticed that Americans are the most generous, while the French usually leave small tips,” Andrei continued. “Germans also don’t like to throw their money around, but, by the way, it depends — I once received 100 marks from a German ‘for tea.’ But the most interesting are customers from exotic countries. One Korean left me as a tip a bottle of Eastern vodka with a preserved snake inside. It was interesting, of course, but I prefer the traditional approach. Personally, 10 percent cash suits me just fine.” In Andrei’s opinion, the majority of Moscow waiters hold the same view.

Nonetheless, according to an article in Ekspert magazine on waiter salaries, the practice of tipping is on shaky legal ground in Russia, which could lead to conflicts between restauranteurs and government regulators in the future. For example, Russia’s Tax Inspectorate has no clear-cut position on whether or not tips are considered a part of waiters’ salaries. According to Viktor Sokolsky of the Moscow Tax Inspectorate’s press service, the law clearly states that taxes must be paid on all forms of earnings. He admits, however, that there is currently no means of taxing tips, the main difficulty being that it is almost impossible to calculate the amount of income received. Therefore, it seems likely that this practice will continue unhindered in Russia until the legal wrinkles are sorted out.

As a point of reference, the Ekspert magazine article reported that the basic monthly salary, without tips, of waiters at a sampling of Moscow eateries ranged from about $200-400. Waiters’ incomes in Russia, as in most of the rest of the world, are heavily dependent on their tips.

—Yelena Utenkova