How Do You Tip On A Restaurant Gift Card?

It's always a treat to receive a gift card to your favorite restaurant. A night out at a popular restaurant is the perfect way to reconnect with friends or loved ones, celebrate a special occasion, or just try out that cool new spot in town — and when you cinch a hard-to-get reservation and someone else covers the tab, it's even better. But if you're given a gift card that covers the entirety of your meal and another payment method isn't necessary, how does tipping work?

Dining etiquette is essential for a smooth night out, and tipping is no exception. There are a few ways you can tip your server if you're paying the tab with a gift card, and one might work better than the others depending on your situation. The primary question to ask is whether the restaurant permits tipping on a gift card or if they require another form of payment. In most cases, you should be able to use the gift card to tip, however, if you learn that a separate form of payment is required, you do have options.

Let the server know you plan to use a gift card before paying the bill; mention that you want to tip on it as well since they might be required to enter it into their POS system at the restaurant. As long as they allow tipping on the card, then the transaction should be a breeze. 

However, if they don't allow tipping on a gift card or the gift card doesn't cover the whole total with a tip included, then you'll have to use another form of payment. You have two options: cash or card. Paying with cash is easy; just calculate the percentage as normal, then leave that amount in cash. But if you need to use a card, you can ask the server to charge a few dollars (they might have a minimum credit charge that you have to meet), then leave the tip on that credit card receipt.

Something to remember: always tip on the total bill. If your bill comes to $100 and you're using a $50 gift card, you might be paying $50 out of pocket, but the tip should always reflect the service total, not your total payment. A 20% tip means you're paying $20 on that bill, not $10.