The Essential Etiquette For Tipping At Fast Food Restaurants

To tip or not to tip? That is the question we all grapple with as the mobile pay screen is turned our way at the fast food counter. If you feel that tipping culture has gotten out of hand, you're not alone. A recent 2024 report from Bentobox reveals that 66% of diners feel too many places are asking for tips these days. And, data from the restaurant management software company Toast supports this sentiment, showing that in 2023, 48% of quick-service restaurants — up from 38% in 2020 — were giving customers the option to tip. But when is the best time to do so at these places?

To avoid the back-and-forth confusion, know that tips are generally not necessary but always appreciated at fast food restaurants. We're talking about joints where employees receive minimum wage (aka are not tip-dependent); these are places where you are not being served, and where you quickly pick up your food at a counter or as you zip through a drive-thru — think McDonald's or Taco Bell.

Much of the shift in tipping culture can be attributed to the more aggressive tipping strategies sparked by COVID-19 and the influence of online ordering where systems are automatically wired to ask for gratuity. Since there are no set rules for this modern-day phenomenon, the question of whether or how much you should tip turns into a guessing game that can lead to guilt or a kind of tipper's remorse. There are also certain scenarios where proper etiquette would dictate some extra moolah, though there are a few guidelines to help you know how much to tack on.

Consider employee time when making your decision about whether or not to tip. For a standard burger and fry combo that a chain churns out in troves, gratuity likely isn't warranted. But if you're feeding your entire family or picking up lunch for the office, leading to a larger-than-normal order, a few extra bucks can help to compensate staff for the additional effort put in. Similarly, orders with special dietary restrictions requested or complex orders like one from a secret menu may call for a tip. If you're asking for a no-foam skimmed latte with an extra shot, two pumps of vanilla, two pumps of caramel, etc., it would be nice to dish out a little bit more.

In any of these situations, you don't need to follow the 20-25% tip rule as you would at a dine-in restaurant. Instead, you can choose to round up your total, give a couple of extra dollars, or if you do want to offer a percentage, 5-15% is an acceptable range. These tips can be left in a tip jar in the form of cash, on a credit card, or even through the restaurant's app if they have that capability in place. A few other considerations that may push customers to tip include if they came at a busy time or during the holidays, if they received exceptional service, or if the food was delivered — a scenario that generally always calls for a tip to the driver.