What Is the Appropriate Tip at a Buffet Restaurant?

Wall Street

Journal

Depending on the class of the establishmentand the service you receive, you likelytip 15% to 20% of your check total at arestaurant, a reasonable compensation toa member of the wait staff working hard toserve you. But what if you have to do allthe food serving yourself? In other words,what should you tip at a buffet, whereservice is minimal? The posed this question to Peter Post,a director of the Emily Post Institute, whosays a suitable tip in a buffet restaurant is10%. Although the servers may not begoing through the rigors of a normal sit-downeating establishment, they're stillcatering to you by taking your drink orders,refilling them, clearing your plates, etc.Post also says to keep in mind that youshould calculate your tip based on thepretax amount of the meal no matterwhat type of restaurant it is, because it'ssenseless to pay a tip on the tax.