KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Unlike in the United States, tipping is not as customary in countries like Argentina and England.
With hundreds of thousands of these people calling Kansas City home this summer for the World Cup, bars like the Blue Line Hockey Bar in the River Market are implementing an 18-20% gratuity fee on your tab. Although it’s not because they want you to spend more money, it’s because they believe their employees will lose money if they don’t.
“Our staff will pay three percent, our servers pay three percent, to the bartenders for alcohol sales,” The Blue Line Hockey Bar owner, Steve Stegall, said. “Well, if they don’t get tipped, they’re losing money.”
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Since alcohol prices are already higher when you go to a professional sporting event, having that added gratuity isn’t a problem for Max Cooper.
“I feel like it’s a common thing for sporting events,” Cooper said. “I mean, you go to any sporting event, like you go to a Chiefs game, you go to a Royals game, the beer prices and all the beverage prices are already jacked up to what it is.”
Expecting a lot of Europeans and Algerians coming into his bar to spend money this summer, Stegal says doing this has nothing to do with people coming in from other countries, but rather making sure his employees are properly compensated.
“If they just don’t understand how we tip here in America, how the whole industry works, it’s not good for the industry,” Stegal said. “So, this is a time where everybody should be making money.”
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Stegal tells FOX4 it will be well known to customers that there will be an implemented gratuity fee as it will be posted on the ticket, menu and the door. Once the World Cup is over, the Blue Line will be getting rid of the gratuity.
