A detail that makes people pay more tips in restaurants

[rabia198]

In Brazil and many European countries, such as France, the tip or service charge is already specified on the restaurant bill, usually at 10%. It is an optional fee, but most people pay it.

Intrigued by what would make people pay extra tips, in addition to the traditional 10%, a French researcher carried out an unusual experiment that led 46% of customers to leave an extra tip when paying their bills.

Researcher Nicolas Guéguen from the Université de Bretagne Sud tested his idea in three different restaurants. In each of them, the bill was presented to customers under a plate. Three different plates were used: one heart-shaped, one round and one square.

Customers who received the bill on a lithuania phone numbers heart-shaped plate left more tips than others. Specifically, they left a tip: 46.3% of customers who received the bill on a heart-shaped plate; 31.2% of customers who received the bill on a round plate; and 26.2% of customers who received the bill on a square plate.

According to the author of the research, published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology in August 2013, a simple physical detail in the environment, such as a heart-shaped plate, makes people think about love, activating their altruism and the behavior of helping others.

But the interesting thing about this research is understanding how the environment and seemingly simple actions can induce people to open their wallets and become more generous. Of course, all of this will only work if the experience has been positive, that is, if the food and service have been adequate in the customer's view.

This is a tip for Brazilian restaurants to try this idea if they haven't already. However, in Brazil, many restaurants do not distribute tips equally among waiters, kitchen staff and managers.

In fact, there are restaurants that charge 10% or more just to increase the business's revenue, without distributing it to the employees involved in customer service. And this causes many customers to refuse to tip, perhaps even with a heart-shaped plate.