Missouri restaurant group proposes automatic 20% tips for World Cup visitors

Missouri restaurant officials propose adding automatic 20% gratuities to bills as Europeans and other international visitors arrive for the World Cup in Kansas City.

The city will host six matches during the tournament. Mike Burris, executive director of the Missouri Restaurant Association, said local restaurants and bars expect to generate $60 million to $90 million in revenue. Many tourists, however, come from countries where tipping is uncommon or unknown.

"Of all the countries coming here, some of them will know about [tipping], and some of them don't know anything about it," Burris told the Kansas City Beacon. He added that servers would feel unhappy after providing 90 minutes of service without a tip due to cultural differences.

To address this, the association advises Kansas City restaurants to implement the automatic gratuity during the event. Trey Meyers, the group's director of marketing and communications, said international visitors often assume service is included in the bill. "As a temporary measure, this makes a lot of sense," Meyers told Axios. "We don't want servers to be slighted by any means just because different cultures are coming into our city."

David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic, a food industry research firm, agreed. Missouri, like most states, allows restaurants to pay tipped workers below minimum wage. Low tips from tourists could reduce server earnings and complicate tip credit claims, where employers must cover shortfalls to reach minimum wage.

"U.S. consumers are already familiar with the practice, and it would actually simplify the experience for international tourists by removing confusion about tipping expectations," Henkes told Fox News Digital. "It will also reassure servers that they will not be negatively impacted by visitors that may be unfamiliar with U.S. customs and aren't tipping to the level that servers would expect."

Henkes warned of potential backlash. Restaurant prices have risen faster than general inflation, and traffic has declined amid an affordability crisis. Diners already face tipping fatigue on services once tip-free. Anything seen as raising costs risks pushback, especially without clear communication or if extra tipping seems expected on top.

Jasper Mirabile, executive chef and co-owner of Jasper's Italian Restaurant, plans to skip the automatic tip. "We have so many customers who have been dining here for years who actually tip more than 20%," he told The Kansas City Star. "I don't think it's going to be a problem."

Tipping remains essential for many restaurants. "The challenge is that, in many states, the tip credit is a vital initiative that helps restaurants keep costs low," Henkes said. Major policy changes in cities like Washington and Chicago have raised concerns about long-term viability in the low-margin industry.