Some 60% of guests tip at restaurants in Switzerland

Majority of Swiss catering businesses split tips Keystone-SDA

Over 60% of guests usually or always tip in a restaurant in Switzerland according to a recent study. It also found that more than half of Swiss restaurants divide tips between service and kitchen staff according to a specific rate.

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A study published on Tuesday by Bank Cler and the ZHAW School of Management and Law found that service receives 80% or more of the tips in around half of restaurants. One in five establishments split tips evenly between service and the other functions. The majority of kitchen staff find a 50/50 split appropriate, while a 70/30 split in favour of service staff is more popular.

Just under three quarters consider the distribution in their own company to be at least “fairly fair”. Service staff were the most positive about the distribution practices, while kitchen staff were more critical.

Tipping is an important income component for many employees in the catering industry. 36.4% of service staff and 27.8% stated that they would have an insufficient income without tips.

The survey of guests shows that nine out of ten want to use the tip to reward the service person who served them directly. Of these, however, only 40% want this person to receive the entire tip. According to Bank Cler, more than half would also like the kitchen staff to receive an additional tip.

German-speaking Switzerland tips more

In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, two thirds of guests usually or even always tip in a restaurant. In Italian-speaking Switzerland, this figure is only 29% and in French-speaking Switzerland it is 60%, according to the study.

Across Switzerland, just under 17% rarely or never tip. The main reason given for this is financial. The prices are already high enough or they have no money left over due to their low income.

According to the bank, slightly less than a third of those surveyed tip around 5%. Some 28% give around 10%. Around a quarter decide how much to tip depending on the situation. In German-speaking Switzerland, most guests tip around 10% of the bill amount, while in French-speaking and Italian-speaking Switzerland it is 5%.

The survey of restaurant employees was conducted online between April 8-30 2025. Over 100 data sets were collected from urban areas in German-speaking Switzerland. In April 2025, 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 81 living in German-, French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland were also surveyed online on the topic of tipping in restaurants.

Adapted from German by DeepL/jdp

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