Some Boston-area restaurants have considered adding a standard gratuity to customer bills during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, aiming to avoid confusion among international visitors unfamiliar with American tipping culture.
“In our culture, the waitstaff don’t get paid a living wage, and they rely on their tips,” explained Jenny Mayhew of Foxborough.
Supporters of an included gratuity said it could prevent situations where customers chose not to tip at all.
“If you just say, like, it’s up to you, then you could run into people that aren’t gonna even tip at all,” said Leah Perry.
Others emphasized the importance of educating visitors about tipping expectations.
“I really hope that the people that are coming overseas do learn that people should be tipped for their hard work,” said Daisy DaCruz.
Some people had trouble buying the roundtrip MBTA train tickets to Boston’s World Cup stadium, in Foxboro. Meanwhile, Bentley University offered a tour of the facilities that the French national team will use as its base during the 2026 tournament.
Tipping customs vary widely around the world. In Argentina, tipping typically hovered around 10%, while in the Netherlands it could be considered rude.
To address those differences, some businesses proposed a 20% included gratuity during the six-week tournament. Davio’s Italian restaurant owner Steve DiFillippo said consistency would benefit both customers and staff.
“We want everyone to do the same thing. That way, if they, you know, come to us one night and they go to another restaurant the next night, it should be the same,” he said.
DiFillippo, who also serves on the board of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said customers would be notified of the policy on menus and emphasized the importance of protecting workers.
“Our servers and bartenders are the lifeblood of our industry. We would never want them to get hurt.”
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The idea had support beyond Massachusetts. Industry leaders in Missouri also backed included gratuity and encouraged restaurants in Kansas City to clearly communicate policies to World Cup fans.
“It’s not that people from these other countries are trying to shortchange you or cheat you. It’s just that it’s not part of their culture.”
Last month’s international friendly at Gillette Stadium between France and Brazil served as a test run for Davio’s bartender on Patriot Plaza Christine Peterson.
“We didn’t have any issues at that point in time,” she said.
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Peterson said automatic gratuity could provide more stable income.
“That’s primarily how we do get paid, is through our tips,” she said.
Not all restaurant owners agreed. George Pantos, who owns Jimmy’s Pub & Restaurant in nearby Mansfield, opposed adding service charges.
“I’m not a fan of that,” he said.
Instead, he preferred posting signs reminding customers about tipping customs: “If we’re as busy as we speculate, it won’t be a problem.”
Of the national teams playing in Foxborough in the group phase of the tournament, all except France and Norway have tipping customs.
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