Sweden A covert phenomenon arose in Stockholm’s restaurant culture, which became permanent – This is how the city’s confusing top culture works

Stockholm

Stockholm restaurants have a cleverly born phenomenon that has now become a permanent part of restaurant culture.

It’s about dropping, in Swedish dricks.

There has traditionally been no tip culture in the Nordic countries, but especially with the generalization of payment terminals, dropping service money has become commonplace. Not cash in Stockholm just no longer even used.

Here’s how it works: At the end of a restaurant night or lunch, the waiter brings in an invoice, which is handled by a payment terminal. It reads the price of the delicacy, but the customer has to enter the amount he wants to pay into the machine.

It is expected that a little extra will be paid for the meal on top of the total. Or is it? And then how much should the tip cost?

There are many opinions on this. Because the phenomenon is relatively new, there is still uncertainty about dropping in the air.

So what miracle should be done?

Gabriel Feldt sits down at his main restaurant table at Stockholm’s Östermalm. He orders a top glass of red wine.

Feldt says he always leaves a tip, but the size of the tip varies. If the evening has been long and the waitress has brought food and drinks to the table several times, the tip may be bigger.

“I’m here almost every other day, so I tend to leave at least $ 50 [noin 5 euroa]. ”

It is also common to leave a tip of about 10 percent of the final bill amount. One restaurant reports that a 10 percent tip is the most common, but sometimes some leave up as many as 20 percent tips.

In the United States, for example, the bill may read that tips should be given, say, 15, 18, or 20 percent. In practice, the situation is such that waiters would not be paid enough without tips.

In Sweden, the size of a tip is usually not counted in the bill, but I guess the waiters still get enough pay?

Sure, Feldt says, but he thinks it’s about something else.

“It’s pretty clear to me that the waiters deserve a little extra. They treat me well and make my stress go away. I think tip culture is a good thing. ”

In Sweden According to the work experience, the minimum wage for a waitress must be approximately SEK 22,000–24,000 per month (approximately EUR 2,150–2,350). On the private side average salary of waiters is SEK 26,500 per month before taxes and SEK 33,400 per month from the state.

Top culture is a relatively new phenomenon in Sweden, says Feldt.

“I do remember that when, for example, fifteen years ago, my family and I had dinner, dropping was not common at all. In recent years, it has become increasingly common. ”

In fast food outlets, Feldt usually doesn’t drop, but every time the staff brings food to the table, he leaves a drop – even at lunch.

What if you don’t leave a tip? However, restaurant visits in Stockholm are not the cheapest. Is not dropping a big crime?

“Under no circumstances. It also depends on what culture it comes from. And about what the total amount of the bill is and how much money is in your wallet. For example, I would never mock a friend who leaves no tip. ”

Waiter Hannah Lindgren arrives and serves dinner to Feldt. According to his estimates, tip culture began to spread in Stockholm fifteen years ago.

Lindgren says restaurants have different attitudes to tips. Some waiters get the tips for themselves, some share them equally among all the waiters. He says there are certainly restaurants that take all the tips for themselves, but he has no experience of such.

“I think the lump sum for everyone is the fairest.”

Another restaurant says that the tips are distributed among the waiters and kitchen staff as follows: 40 percent for the kitchen, 60 percent for the waiters.

One restaurant did not want to talk about its practices because it says the tax issues around the tips are unclear.

Is also restaurants that have completely banned giving tips. For example, the restaurant chain Boulebar has imposed a ban on its restaurants in Denmark and Sweden.

“Tweets are a bit of a special phenomenon. After all, the doctor is not slipped after five hundred visits, ”said the restaurant’s chef Niklas Marklund in 2018 In an interview with Svenska Dagbladet.

In Sweden, the emergence of top culture has also been described as a bad phenomenon by the hotel and restaurant association.

In the same case with Svenska Dagbladet, the representative of the association stated that the tips were unnecessary because the price of the service was already included in the bill. The union believed that top culture would disappear in the future. Why pay more than the company wants, a union spokesman asked.

In Sweden, the taxpayer has also taken a stand by publishing instructions for restaurants tips for taxation.

First research on the topic began in 2011 when the researcher Paula Molinari began to become acquainted with Swedish top culture.

Molinarin according to the study tips have grown in importance in the hotel and restaurant industry but may not be of much financial importance to waiters. For customers, tips are above all a way to communicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the quality of service.

The study also revealed that there is a lot of ambiguity associated with dropping because there is no established culture or rules.

Molinari himself has told most often at least a little. Waiters interviewed in the study said that tips are most often shared equally among staff.

Subject is difficult, says the food writer and press officer at the Finnish Embassy in Stockholm Elna Nykänen Andersson.

He moved to Stockholm at the age of 22 and was scheduled to spend half a year in the city. However, the visit was permanent, and now Nykänen Andersson has lived in Stockholm for more than 20 years.

“In the old days, Sweden was just like Finland, that no tips were left. Dropping began to become more common sometime 10-15 years ago. ”

According to him, it is everyone’s choice whether to leave a tip or not.

“I would say most of my acquaintances and friends always leave something, but I’ve never experienced that a waitress would be indignant if she didn’t leave a tip.”

How Nykänen Andersson drops himself?

“Usually about 10 percent, or else I round up to the next round sum. Sometimes you can leave quite a bit. If the bill is even SEK 570, I will round it to SEK 600. ”

If the restaurant has made a special effort or changed the portions, or if the child has even poured a drink, which has caused the waiter extra work, it feels good to leave a tip, Nykänen Andersson says. On the other hand, if you only eat a quick lunch, the tip can also be left out. He always drops in his heel.

Nykänen Andersson does not consider dropping to be a great sin. He also knows the locals who never leave a tip. Refusal is also mentioned in the extensive debate that is taking place on the subject On the Reddit forum.

“Especially for a tourist, it’s not a big sin. The situation in Stockholm is so unclear, ”says Nykänen Andersson.

Top culture and payment terminals asking for tips have also become more common in Finland, but leaving service money is still far from as common as in Stockholm.

University researcher Essi Pöyry The Consumer Research Center of the University of Helsinki confirms that dropping is probably more common in Stockholm than in Helsinki. According to Pöyry, this is due, for example, to the fact that Stockholm is a more international city with more wealth and a more diverse restaurant culture.

“On the other hand, Finland seems to be rare from a global point of view, because there is such a strong ethos here about adequate social security and working conditions that protect employees.”

On the other hand, Sweden has used to be like that.

Read more: The waitress stands next to you and the payment terminal shouts a tip, even though Finland is not a tip country – What to do?