Contemporary bargoers — particularly Gen Z drinkers — have recently been called out for their lack of etiquette around paying the bill. Some reports suggest they don’t open tabs, which can interrupt a bartender’s flow, closing out tabs left and right instead of processing a single transaction at the end of the night.
Another common paying practice recently called into question is requesting to split the check. As consumers pinch their pennies and keep their cash close to their chests, many are reluctant to put their cards down for an entire table’s worth of food and drinks. Instead, certain groups like to split a check, either evenly or item-by-item, to keep things “easy” and “fair.”
What’s “easy” and “fair” for customers isn’t always the case for those on the other side of the transaction. To better understand the proper paying etiquette, VinePair tapped former bar owner and Luxardo brand ambassador Laura Newman and bartender Ashtyn “Ash” Harris to lay out the do’s and don’ts of splitting the tab.
Overall, both pros agree that splitting the bill is generally an acceptable request. Most modern point-of-sale (POS) systems, such as Toast and Square, can do the dividing and itemizing automatically and ease the bartender’s job. While splitting a check into individual tabs may take servers a few extra minutes — and, in turn, inconvenience them during a busy service — the task has become a normal part of the job.
“I have no problem splitting a tab,” Newman says. “At the end of the day, I always keep in mind that hospitality comes first, and even if it’s during a high-volume night where I’m trying to get things done quickly, the job is to make the guests feel welcome.”
Harris agrees that splitting checks is par for the course, albeit time consuming. What irks her, however, is when larger groups that order a host of different dishes and drinks ask for a divided check. In large-group cases, she says best practice is to inform the bartender or server ahead of time that they’ll want individual checks.
“A group of six asking for split, itemized checks is what grinds my gears, especially if they did not mention that prior to ordering,” Harris, who works behind the stick at esteemed cocktail bar Press Club in Washington, D.C., says. “For large groups, I try to keep an organized tab by seat number to make separate checks easier.”
No matter how time consuming, Newman and Harris will both execute the request if the group asks for it. That said, while there is no set form of etiquette for splitting tabs, Newman says it’s up to the guests’ discretion to measure how inconvenient a split check would be for bartenders. If a group deems the request too disruptive to the server’s workflow they should opt to put one person’s card down and do the splitting themselves.
“A group of three might ask, ‘I had these three drinks, my friend had three different drinks, and the two of us are going to split an order of tater tots, but the three of us are going to split the nachos,’” Newman says. “I can split that, but at that point, just Venmo.”
For checks with low totals, groups of friends should also consider implementing the old-school rule of “I’ll cover this one, and you get the next one.” At some point in a relationship, it’s just easier to call it even over time rather than dissecting each and every bill.
Splitting checks doesn’t necessarily impact a bartender’s tips, but the pause to their flow could compromise other sales, Newman says. If a server spends a long time closing out each individual of a large group — time that could have been dedicated to serving different guests — other tables may feel overlooked and tip less.
Regardless of how annoying the request may be or how it may sacrifice sales, both Harris and Newman express they can’t dictate how a group chooses to pay their check.
“I can’t tell guests how to pay their tab,” Harris says, “but I do love the guest who covers the check because they want points on their card, or because they know how to use Venmo or Cash App, etc.”
