Academic

Barista Tipping: Starbucks Versus Independent Cafes

By Dan Filler

I've noticed that tip baskets in local independent cafes often seem overstuffed compared to the jars at Starbucks.  Blog commenters have previously noted that neighborhood Starbucks stores garner more tip revenue than tourist and mall locations.  This makes sense, I imagine, because people are more likely to tip people they recognize (and perhaps even know).  In addition, repeat customers stand to gain more from tipping.  (Of course there is a literature on why people tip.)   

But entirely anecdotally, my sense is that tips are larger in the independents than in neighborhood Starbucks.  This is most evident in the fact that the indy jars often seem stuffed with dollar bills, rather than stray coins.  It's possible,  of course, that the employees are priming the pump, placing bills in the basket to start the day.  But it's also the case that customers are following the lead: I see people drop a buck in all the time.  (There is, of course, the empirically testable question of whether a heap of bills might deter smaller tips from people afraid of looking cheap.) 

Why might people tip more at New York's Cafe Grumpy or Seattle's Zoka?  Is it an anti-corporate gesture?  Do customers tend to conflate the Starbucks corporation with its employees, seeing them as less morally worthy?  Do customers assume that independent coffee shops pay less?   Are people less satisfied with their experience at Starbucks?  Or is there simply more social pressure to tip in the independent shops? 

This sounds like a thesis project in econ to me!

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on November 23, 2008 (boomark / email).