The Cheapest Tip Hack in Hospitality

At the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia, April 2026, keynote speaker Will Guidara of Unreasonable Hospitality fame, referenced a fascinating piece of hospitality research. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, was conducted across two separate restaurants in 1992 and 1998. Researchers found that servers who gave guests candy with the check received meaningfully higher tips. Additionally, the biggest gains came when servers made a second trip to offer an additional piece rather than handing everything over at once.

In 1992, researchers gave servers a simple instruction: randomly give some tables a piece of chocolate with the check, and give others nothing. Tables that received chocolate tipped an average of 17.8% compared to 15.1% for those that didn't. Across all tabs in the study, that difference added up to 18% more tip dollars in the server's pocket.

A follow-up study in 1998 tried to figure out what drove the effect and whether it could be pushed further. The server offered candy in three different ways: one piece, two pieces at once, or one piece followed by a surprise second piece. In the follow-up study, the breakdown looked like this:

• No candy: 18.95%

• 1 piece: 19.59%

• 2 pieces: 21.62%

• 1+1 method: 22.99%

Tips increased with each condition, but the highest tips came from the 1+1 method, where the server came back with a second piece after already walking away. Same total candy as the two-piece condition, but the return trip made it feel like a personal gesture rather than a routine handout.

While I don't think a mint is the right parting gift for a taproom, the right item is out there. The right parting gift should do double duty: surprise the guest and remind them where they were.

What you can consider:

• Small snack (hop candy, chocolate, whatever fits your brand)

• $1 off your next visit coupon

• Brewery sticker

• Bottle cap magnet

• Branded matchbook

• Temporary tattoo

I’d love to hear any other unique ideas you try out.

Also worth noting: the restaurant in the study had servers bring the check to the table and pick it up later. That's not always how a taproom works. Will counter service see the same impact? Maybe a guest gets handed something small and clicks the higher tip option without much thought. Or will guests with table service tip higher because the setup more closely mirrors the study. It's up to you to find out and report back.

While not apples to apples, Secret Hopper tracks whether a staff member thanks a guest upon leaving. On visits where guests do not receive a thank you, they tip an average of 21.9%. On visits where guests do receive a thank you, they tip an average of 25.9%. Also an 18% increase.

Whether it's a mint or your words, making your guest feel appreciated on the way out matters more than most operators realize.

If you found this article helpful, please share it with someone who’d also find value. Thank you for reading.

The data was collected from a set of 1398 unique taproom visits from January 1, 2024 to August 23, 2025. Each tab represents 2 guests and includes tax and tip.