We are excited to launch the ‘Tips for the kitchen staff’ feature on our platform that now allows our customers to show appreciation for the food our restaurant partners prepare for them, every time they order. At Zomato, we understand that a lot of hard work, skill, and creativity goes behind preparing food, and we keep asking ourselves – how can we motivate not just the restaurants but also their kitchen staff to continue working their magic. And to motivate them, we have introduced ‘Tips for the kitchen staff’. With this feature, customers can tip the restaurant’s kitchen staff – the wonderful chefs, cleaning staff, helpers, etc. as a way of appreciation. This new feature will enrich the food ordering and delivery experience for both our restaurant partners and customers. 

Building on the success of a 2018 initiative that allows customers to tip delivery partners, this is a similar initiative which is introduced based on inputs from Zomato’s restaurant partner network. The introduction of ‘Tips for the kitchen staff’ feature enables the customers to seamlessly express gratitude for their food deliveries, an option that was limited to traditional dining-in experience until now.

As a customer, what are the options I have to tip?

For a seamless customer experience, customers are asked if they would like to tip the restaurant’s kitchen staff after they have rated their order 4 or 5 stars. Customers also have the option to tip the restaurant kitchen staff from the live order tracking page after placing the order. 

We recognize that the customers are used to paying a service charge in terms of % of their order value. Therefore, on the platform you will find the option to tip the kitchen staff in % ranging from 3% to 10% of your item value. However, if you do not want to select from one of the pre defined % slabs, you can also enter any amount of your choice up to a maximum cap.

How do the restaurants receive tips?

The entire tip amount that customers pay is credited to restaurants (after any tax deductions, if applicable) to be distributed among their staff. Zomato does not keep any commissions out of the tip amount and it is passed through 100%. Our restaurant partners can keep a track of tips in their weekly payouts and statement of account on the merchant app or web dashboard.

If you are from the restaurant management, we ask you to sign a pledge to distribute the entire amount among your staff, should you be keen to be included in the program! This feature is now live on our platform and we are truly looking forward to providing an elevated food ordering and delivery experience to both our customers and restaurant partners! 

The team that made it all possible 

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the team that made it all possible in a small amount of time – Prateek from the design team and Ritick, Satyaprakash, Ishika, Rishabh, Devang, Saksham, Tanishq, Dilip. Special mention to Rana – our engineering rock star for seamlessly ensuring collaboration between multiple teams such as billing tech, merchant tech, consumer tech, iOS and Android to launch this update.

The next time you love something you order from your favorite restaurant, thank the team behind the scenes in a way that motivates them a lot. With a tip!