Should You Tip at Olive Garden?

Should you tip at Olive Garden? Well, this solely depends on you. However, it is important you should know that take out people do more work than you can ever imagine. Read through this guide to understand why there is a need to tip the waiters.

Have you ever imagined standing on your feet for hours and taking the orders of many people who troop in every day to eat at the restaurant?

In a place like Olive Garden where there are basically no empty seats,  it is not a joke to serve that many people every day.

While it is not a must to tip the servers, note that it is pure courtesy to do so. Some people even go as far as tip-sharing. They don’t just tip the waiters, they tip the bussers and bartenders too.

In as much, as we would advise you to tip the waiters, ensure you do so because you like the services provided and not because you feel obligated to do so.

Do You Need to Tip at Olive Garden?

Let’s be clear there is no Olive Garden’s Tip Policy that coerces you to tip the waiters. So it’s totally okay if what you have in your pocket was to pay for the Olive Garden’s service charge. 

All we are saying is if you absolutely love their service and would want to encourage them, then you can tip. You can tip them at least 15-20%.

For a restaurant like Olive Garden, the servers earn a lower hourly wage and usually rely on tips to make a significant income.

During the pandemic, most of the waiters were out of work, so you can imagine how hard it must have been to bounce back financially after staying home for over 6 months.

So tipping is expected, but tip only when you can and when you are impressed.

Should I Tip for Olive Garden Pickup?

Absolutely! If you can. When you place a takeout order in Olive Garden, you do all of the necessary requirements to get your food like calling or either ordering online.

If you use the phone, the order will be taken by whoever picks up the call. Sometimes it is the host, but most times it is a server or a bartender.

The cook goes to work and assembles all your orders making sure that what is given to you is accurate.

What you do not know is that in many restaurants, Olive Garden inclusive, the server packages the order and this pulls them away from their main work at the restaurant.

So they deserve to be tipped for the extra time spent putting your order together.

Although it is required by the law that the restaurants should fill in the gap between what the server makes and their regular minimum wage, this doesn’t always happen.

In addition to their low wage, the servers are required to share tips with several employers including the host and bussers who keep the table neat and wash the dishes.