In USA, am I expected to tip if a restaurant has no employee other than owners?

Question

I sometimes visit a small restaurant owned by a couple. The husband is the chef and the wife the waitress. They do not have any employees. As I understand, most tipping occurs socially in lower-paying jobs that require little skill or education. Tips are to supplement the low income of the waiters/waitresses. In this particular case, I know the couple who own the restaurant makes far more money than I do. So am I still expected to tip for the service?

Edit I also noticed that on their receipt, the minimum suggested tip is 10% while many other restaurants have 15% or 18%.

Answer 1

Yes, you are expected to tip in all American restaurants with table service, except in the rare instances where you are explicitly told otherwise.

This is the system by which restaurants, including small restaurants and restaurants with skilled and educated staff, operate in the United States. (The idea that working in a restaurant is unskilled or easy work is generally only held by people who have never tried to do it, anyway.) You are free to believe it is not a good system, if you want, but that does not change the fact that tipping is essentially non-optional here. If you refuse to leave a tip, your actions will not be seen by the staff as making some clever principled point; you will simply be read as unbelievably cheap.

Answer 2

As I understand, most tipping occurs socially in lower-paying jobs that require little skill or education.

This assumption might be leading you astray. It's not that waiting tables is a “lower paying” job, certainly not one that requires little skill. And it's not that all people working in the hospitality industry are dirt poor. Rather, the problem is that the law allows restaurants to pay what is effectively a token wage (often not simply relatively low or at the minimal wage but ridiculously low and way below even the regular federal minimal wage) and count on the tips to make up the difference. The comments detail some interesting nuances that depend on the jurisdiction but beyond the details, the thing is that the tips effectively are the pay and there is little you can do individually to change that.

This also means that to be competitive, a restaurant must post prices that are way below what is actually required to run the business and compensate all those involved, because the service is not included. In fact, in some situations you won't even have a choice (e.g. for large groups) and the restaurants will impose a fixed “service charge” on the final bill… on top of the prices printed on the menu. It feels deceptive but that's the reality. So even if the owner-operators of a restaurant without employees have less overhead and get to keep the profit that's left after paying all expenses, you cannot assume that a fair compensation for their work is included in the price.

So am I still expected to tip for the service?

Edit I also noticed that on their receipt, the minimum suggested tip is 10% while many other restaurants have 15% or 18%.

It seems the question has answered itself. Pick the middle suggestion on the receipt (15%?) It doesn't really matter how strongly we may convince ourselves that we know better, looking for a reason to ignore this hint and what everybody else is doing is bound to be obnoxious.

Answer 3

Talking out of personal experience, during my first trip in the US, I went to family run restaurant like the one you describe. Dad cooked, mom took orders and daughter served at the table.

I didn't leave any tip on paying the bill, and the next time I went there both mom and daughter told me that I was supposed to leave a tip on the bill. And paying attention to the other customers, they all were leaving tips when paying.

Lesson learned and now shared.

Answer 4

The idea that a tip is given for the whole dining experience, not just for how quickly and politely the food was served, is the foundation of tip sharing. This means that front-of-house hosts, busboys, bartenders, and kitchen staff all share in the rewards. How the split is taken care of can shift from one eatery to another