At Smoothie King, part-time employees earn an hourly wage plus tips. Tips are a kicker though. The majority of customers do not tip. This never surprised me though because I would not necessarily think of Smoothie King as a place to tip. At ice-cream shops, the workers always have tip jars, and it seems to be customary to tip at those workers. However, Smoothie King has a different vibe from an ice-cream shop. From the outside looking in, I would say the business model of Smoothie King parallels that of the fast food industry although it is not your typical “fast food.” When considering my practices at fast food places, I almost never tip, and I don’t think many people do unless the service is absolutely outstanding. With that in mind, I never expected that people would tip at Smoothie King, and I understand why most people do not.
According to Consumer Reports, it is suggested to tip a barista $1–$3 and $1–$2 per drink or 15 percent of the tab for a bartender (Glennon). I would parallel the work a Smoothie King employee does directly for the customer to that of a barista or bartender. When serving customers, the order is received and accounts for any personal dietary needs or requests. Then, the smoothie is crafted from scratch to produce a fresh drink for each customer. During a rush, we are hustling behind the counter to multitask between taking orders and making multiple smoothies at once to keep up with the customer flow. To me, this type of work seems to be very similar to the work of baristas and bartenders. Based on this parallel, I believe that Smoothie King workers deserve tips provided that they meet high standards for product quality and customer service.
It is always a nice surprise to receive a tip! It shows that the customers are grateful for our efforts. The tips typically come from the regular customers who we have developed relationships with. As employees, we have brainstormed ways, outside of maintaining high standards of customer service, to bring in more tips. Personally, I do not think that the tip jar tucked inside of the drive-thru window or next to the in-store register really catches the customers’ attention. Smoothie King has an app, similar to the Starbucks app, that is used for loyalty, rewards, and mobile pay. If the app-developers added a tipping screen after the app is scanned, I would expect to see an increase in tips. The convenience factor of tipping through the app would appeal to customers. They wouldn’t have to dig through their wallet for a spare one-dollar bill or reach their arm through the window an extra time to hand over the tip; it could all be taken care of digitally at their fingertips.
Unfortunately, as merely team members of one of Smoothie King’s nationwide locations, my co-workers and I have negligible, if any, influence on the features of the corporate app. However, one day, my best friend and I took matters into our own hands in order to experiment with a feasible way for us to increase tips during our shift. We decided to work in strawberry and banana costumes that we found in the back of the store. These costumes are rather humorous (see below) and somewhat difficult to work in, but it was worth it! Customers laughed at the surprise when they pulled up to the window, and they seemed to appreciate our decked out attire. The experiment worked, and we managed to bring in more tips while in the costumes!
Many places say, “Tips are never expected but always appreciated!” This mentality certainly applies to Smoothie King as well!
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Works Cited
Glennon, Lorraine. “How Much of a Tip Should You Leave?” Consumer Reports, 2018, www.consumerreports.org/tipping/how-much-to-tip/.
I have worked in several similar situations, and certainly agree that tips are never expected but always appreciated. I wouldn’t have expected a place like Smoothie King to be somewhere it is customary to tip. At least you came up with a fun way to entertain customers and get more tips.
I think it’s super important for everyone to work in the service industry for at least a short period of time. It gives so much perspective and has changed how I tip and mainly increased my patience when being waited on. Not enough people appreciate the work it takes to be a waiter/waitress, cashier, barista, etc.
I never really thought about tipping at a place like Smoothie King. Anytime I go to Starbucks, I never really think about tipping the baristas. I thought the costumes were a clever and humorous way to experiment with the tips you receive.
Girl, I always expect tips. Well not when I would work counter – that’s when I know what you mean about a tip being a nice surprise but on deliveries, that’s different. But people really don’t even tip on deliveries sometimes which is straight up annoying. Love your costume though.