To tip or not? Research on the Kenyan tip culture
Tipping is considered a matter of custom and etiquette and in most cases it depends on who you ask. In Kenya especially, there isn’t much formality on how much is a decent tip or what is the ideal tip situation.
Late last year, we sent out this survey seeking to understand the tipping culture in Kenya, this post is a summary on the findings.
Goal and assumptions
The goal of the study was to understand the tipping behaviours in Kenya. We had several assumptions before the research.
- Kenyans are generally poor at tipping.
- Sometimes you want to tip but don’t have spare cash.
- Not sure what is an appropriate amount to tip.
- Paying to the business till with Lipa na MPESA limits tipping as you don’t want your money going to the business, you want to tip the service provider directly.
- Economy ni mbaya (times are tough), tipping isn’t a priority as services have become expensive.
The Process
- Desk research — Tipping is common in the hospitality industry. Most of the tipping information we came across is shared on expatriate forums and travel sites. Another interesting finding was a twitter trend where a restaurant was said to give prompt services to those who tip. In digital products, early this year, Uber introduced the tipping feature on it’s platform in Kenya. We didn’t however find much on tipping in Kenya online.
- One-on-one interviews — Several people considered this an old and common practice but they don’t call it tipping. An example case, when you give the gateman (KES 50 ya chai). Another finding was tipping doesn’t always have to be a monetary appreciation, sometimes you could buy them something. Most confirmed they tipped when they travel especially in places where the tip is included in the bill but if they had a choice, they wouldn’t tip. They actually found it a culture shock. From this we learnt that tipping can be explained in different ways — Service tip, gifting or monetary reward.
- Online survey — The survey was specific to restaurant tipping. In this research , restaurant refers to a casual dining restaurant with table service, rather than a fast food restaurant, where one orders food at a counter. There were 65 responses to the survey. From the survey responses, 33 people tipped, 32 people didn’t tip.
Findings
How did you tip and how much was the tip?
Most of those who tipped did it using cash. This was between KES 50 -1500, with the common one being KES 200.
Why did you tip?
Some of the reasons people tip include:
- Great service — This was the main reason why people tipped. Fast and friendly service were the top determinant of a good service.
- ‘It was the change, so I told the service provider to keep change’.
- ‘I usually do it, it’s part of my eat out budget’.
- One participant stated that the restaurant ambience made them tip.
Why did you not tip?
Some of the reasons people didn’t tip include:
- Service didn’t warrant a tip.
- It’s not in me to tip.
- I only had cash for the meal.
- Price was already high enough.
- I was not the one making the payments — Either they were in a group or it was a company function.
- I paid to the business till number .
- Didn’t get the chance to.
- Not sure how much is a good tip.
Who are the top three people you are likely to tip and why them?
From a list of housekeeper, hairdresser, doorman, cab driver, delivery person, gardener, waiter (bartender),masseuse.
The top was waiter (bartender), followed by doorman then delivery person.
These people deal with all kinds of attitude from many people
They are actually the top three service providers that I tend to get close with. This is because they handle the most delicate tasks on the things I really value such my food, house and people close to me.
Because they do ask for tips
Personal connection to them and I interact with them frequently
Interact with them often. Tipping then gets you favours
They are underappreciated and charge less for their services
From these reasons, the three top themes on tipping were:
- Individual — It’s in them to tip
- Situational — The decision to tip was influenced by a situation or social pressure
- Service — Depending on the experience and service offered
Location
Most people from the survey tipped in restaurants located around Westlands and Kilimani as compared to those in the CBD.
These findings mostly apply to restaurants and focuses on those giving tips/ receiving the service. We hope to do another research in the future from the service providers view.
Digital payment tipping
To tip or not? We didn’t gather much on mobile payments tipping from this research, however we are curious on what’s your take on tipping in the digital payments age? Let us know. You can share your tipping experiences with us.
Some interesting reads we found on the internet on digital tipping.
