Study finds Utahns are among the cheapest restaurant tippers in the U.S.

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — A new study found that Utahns are among the cheapest restaurant tippers in the United States, but a local expert says Utahns are more generous than the data implies.

According to a study released by Toast — a technology platform for restaurants — Utah tied for seventh place among the worst states for tipping. On average, Utahns tip 18.7% at restaurants, which falls beneath the national average of 19.3%.

California was the cheapest state for tips at 17.3% and Delaware averaged the highest percentage with 21.5%.

A Toast spokesperson said the data was collected through its digital payment platform, which means the numbers did not include cash tips or people who chose not to tip at all.

Melva Sine, president and CEO of the Utah Restaurant Association, said most servers at casual and fine dining restaurants in Utah are “doing pretty well” making upwards of $26 an hour. She said the association has not received any tipping complaints from restaurants as of late.

“It seems to be that there’s a pretty calm spirit about it out there right now,” Sine said.

While the data points to lower tipping habits in Utah, Sine said Utahns are extremely generous tippers and helped save the restaurant industry during the pandemic.

“We were one of the states that were least impacted,” she said. “We did have some closures and we did have some of those things as a result of the pandemic, but because of the generosity of the people in our state, our restaurants did fairly well.”

Sine continued to say that Utahns’ generosity may now be stretching due to current economic pressures, such as the higher cost of feeding a family.

“I would say that people are still very generous, but they have to be making ends meet,” she said.

The study showed that Utahns pay just below the national average for full-service restaurants, but pay significantly less than the average for quick-service restaurants.

When it comes to quick-service restaurants — such as dessert shops or fast food restaurants — Sine said the employees are not as dependent on tips to meet their standard, making it so the tip is more of a personal choice and a way to say thank you.

“In a quick service restaurant, and some of these other types of restaurants, they’re making a higher wage hourly,” Sine said. “Me personally, I’m probably not going to leave a tip.”

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