What's the rationale for restaurants adding a service fee when you have a large party eating there?

[ShotgunSteven]

When a friend and I went to the Dave & Busters on Broadway, we had an amazing waitress. She was covering a table with a dozen or so people that were there for a birthday, a couple of other regular tables, and ours. Yet the service she provided was outstanding, and I tipped her accordingly. I have had worse service from a waitperson that had only my table to deal with.

I have to agree with those that are against the forced tipping, though. The particular waitress I had at Dave & Busters, I wouldn't mind if I was in a large party and it was added on automatically, although it would be less than I would tip if her performance with a large table was up to par with her performance at smaller tables. I wouldn't want to be denied the option of giving a low tip if the service sucked, though.

 

[DainBramaged]

Red Lobster has a policy of requiring two servers for any table over eight people. This 15% service charge is to make sure that the servers don't get stiffed for what is going to be a big dedication of their time. It would happen quite often if they didn't.

 

[JC86]

If I was a server, i'd be pissed if i had to serve a huge party of 12, then get left with no tip at all . . . if it were smaller tables and I had more of them, then it wouldn't matter that much. That being said, I don't like the idea of forced tipping . . . . Perhaps a compromise of 10% forced tip then write in for more tip if the service was good would work

 

[Jawo]

Italy has a "forced tip" system with a "bread and water" charge of ?2 - ?10+ depending on many factors including location and class of restaurant. Because of this I have heard of a Coke costing ?15 in Venice!

 

[kranky]

From my experiences of going out to lunch or dinner with a large group of coworkers, I can see why they have a service fee for groups of 8 or more. If they didn't, the tip would sometimes end up about 5%. Some people get real cheap when all they have to do is throw some money in the middle of the table without anyone counting it.

More than once I've basically demanded everyone throw in a couple more bucks because the tip was beyond insulting. And these people all make good money!