Lithuanian bars rebound after full closure: bartenders hope to collect significantly more tips

Lithuanian waiters and bartenders have already started calling the summer season revolutionary, because after many months of work, when they were forced to stay home due to the pandemic, they now have increasing tips. For many, this is an important part of their income. The staff in the capital’s bars and cafes, of which I have spoken, openly say that a considerable amount can be added to salaries of 500-700 euros, thanks to daily tips. For many, it will be even bigger this year, as a new item has hit the market to which waiters and bartenders are responding with great enthusiasm.

“Tips are the main part of our earnings, if you know how to work well, serve customers correctly, you will earn more than you will receive an official salary,” says Justė Gaižauskaitė, manager of the popular Invino bar in Vilnius. . She stands behind the bar herself, also serves customers at tables, and can openly say that people returning to bars can do whatever they can to help line the pockets of bar workers they meet. seriously disadvantaged by the pandemic. The most important thing, according to Justė, is correct communication, listening to all the client’s wishes and covering up any mistakes in a professional manner. “If you understand the details of this job, you follow the rhythm, you find a common language with your clients – this job can work for many years,” says the manager of the favorite bar of Lithuanian celebrities in the entertainment world.

In Lithuania, the work of waiters and bartenders has been underestimated for many years, often only young and selfish students have held these positions, and often only during a temporary stage of life. Meanwhile, in Italy, Spain or France, people have been working in these positions for decades. There, the attitude of both waiters and customers towards them has been quite different since ancient times. More respect, more profits, better social guarantees. After all, it is not surprising that a waiter in his fifties or sixties approaches the table of a good pizzeria in Milan or Rome. However, there are still very few such places in Lithuania. However, the situation is changing and the growing incomes of workers in this field are contributing enormously.

J. Gaižauskaitė, who has worked in the bar for eight years, does not deny that he loves his job without ceasing and would not want to change it for something else. According to their estimates, about 80 percent. more or less tips are left for clients served per day. It is usually a 2 euro coin. “Maybe I would leave more, but the further away, the less I would pay in cash. Many of our guests pay with cards, they just don’t carry cash,” says a professional bar clerk.

The same trend was noted by the manager of the “Downtown Forest” bar in the Paupis district, Kasparas Jasiukėnas himself who worked at the bar. “I would leave a tip, but I have no cash”, according to him, this is the most common explanation heard by waiters and bartenders in Lithuanian bars and cafes. These customers shrug, apologize, and walk through the door. In the United States or many Western European countries, a waiter would immediately replace a bank card reader and offer to tip this way, many even have the option to choose what percentage of the total account the customer wants to leave. Five percent, ten, fifteen or twenty. One of the options is to enter the chosen amount. We do not have such a system in Lithuania. You can leave your tip card with you in only a few places. Also, as the bartender Kaspar says, he does not pay the workers in the bars and cafes.

“There are many fees to pay the tips that are left with a bank scanner, so we only have a small part of the money left,” he complains. A man who served beer from morning to night to customers noted that Lithuanians do not try to calculate the percentage of the amount when leaving a tip, many help as small as what they have in their wallet at the time. “One, two euros, rarely five,” he says. The maximum amount he has received from a table has been 100 euros.

However, the problem of not having cash and the problems of decreasing tips for Lithuanian cafes and bars should soon become a thing of the past, at least that is the goal of the developers of a new device specially designed for this market. In mid-May, a unique innovation was launched in our country: the Tipit tip scanner. It’s a small card reader-like device that lets you transfer tips directly to a bar or cafeteria staff account and pay the lowest possible fees – just 15 percent. GPM.

“We have been using this news for three weeks and I can say that I immediately felt a very good trend,” says the manager of the “Invino” bar. After seeing the new device on the bar, customers themselves ask who it is for and want to try it out of curiosity. “Especially to encourage people to tip in a new way, my colleagues and I create badges that say we have a dream and need advice to make it come true,” says the bartender, who immediately points to the new machine.
In his opinion, for many customers, this immediately became the most convenient way to thank them for the good service, so the amount of money raised should increase significantly.

The Downtown Forest bar has also introduced new technology and K. Jasiukėnas, who works there, also counts the tips that have started to grow. “It just came to our knowledge then. People yearned to get out of their homes, yearned to communicate with each other, and also now to leave advice easier than before. You don’t even have to scratch your wallet, a lot of people add their smartphones to the device, where more and more people have bank cards installed, “said the bartender.

Startup Tipit’s plans are to attract investment and cover all of Lithuania with new devices within a year. In the five-year perspective, it is planned to move to other Baltic countries and finally to the entire European market for bars and restaurants.

In Lithuania, the Švyturys-Utenos alus company made a strong contribution to this innovation, supporting the start-up and paving the way for bars where this producer’s products are sold.

On the Tipit device, everyone can choose how much they want to leave the person who repaired it. The amounts can range between 50 cents and 15 euros. More or less leaving is a personal matter for each one.

Tipping is an extremely complex subject, full of intrigue and disagreement. They all interpret this according to themselves. In most cases, it depends on the thickness of a person’s wallet, but certainly not always. Certain character traits also have a big impact. For example, if a person is generous, he will leave more to the staff who take care of him, if he is stingy, less or not at all. Waiters would confirm that often even the wealthiest, all kinds of celebrities, display a spy.

Psychologists say that when it comes to tips, a lot is determined by the instant mood of both the customer and the person serving you. How much to leave and whether or not to go is often decided at the last minute, as if writing a note of work and effort. However, only here one thing should be understood: what is the “top ten” (the best rating), everyone has their own opinion and certain tips. For someone, the best service is worth 2 Eur, someone does not save 20 or 50 Eur. And that expression of the amount does not necessarily mean something, it is simply a system created in the person’s own mind that probably only he himself understands. A waiter who hops around the table for two hours may be expecting a budget of € 10, and the customer leaves € 5 thinking that it is a lot and very good.

There is no rule book on how much and for whom to tip, there are no specific agreements. However, there is an unwritten code in each country that it would be polite to follow. Suppose that people who work in the United States service are willing to fight hard for the extra money left in their account. Here is an example from one of my trips. In New York, in the trendy Nolita district, my friend and I sat at the bar for two cocktails. We drank them for about forty minutes, got spiced nuts for cocktails. Everything was great, we got an $ 18 bill for them. We help for $ 20, like 2 leaving for a tip. However, the waiter stopped us and started asking us “is something wrong?” At first he did not understand why he thought that, but he did not make a fuss and began to propose to increase that amount himself because $ 2 (10%) is obviously too little, according to New Yorkers, there should be at least $ 4 (20 percent) left . As the waiter suggested, and we did, I apologized several more times. It was a lesson for me that I will never forget. The United States is a leading country where everyone awaits you in almost every corner.

In many Western European countries, meanwhile, cafes and bars add tips immediately to the bill. And it’s indicated on the receipt, whether you want it or not. In England, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, they like to collect what they should have in such a simple way. “We receive too low a salary, we work a lot, we are dedicated, so we want people to be grateful for it. But not everyone is grateful, so the best way is to add your own advice, ”says Rodrigo Rocha, an old friend of mine who works at a popular fish restaurant in Lisbon. Adding up salary and tips per month, he earns more than 3,000 euros, so Rodrigo is happy and has no intention of changing his profession.