Should restaurants drop automatic tips for large parties?

• Flickr: Damian Gadal
• Let’s talk about tips and checks.

It’s the end of the meal, and the check comes. The server places it in the middle of your large group. And the math begins. You may soon need to add another calculation into the mix.

The Orlando Sentinel writes that the Darden Restaurants – the group behind Olive Garden and Red Lobster – are considering eliminating automatic gratuities for parties of eight or more (they’ve already taken away the automatic 18 percent at about 100 restaurants). In the piece, Kansas City waiter David Hayden worries that the move could leave servers in the lurch. As Hayden tells The Sentinel, “There are too many times when you can really end up in the hole waiting on a table because they didn’t leave an adequate tip.”

Should restaurants drop automatic tips for large parties?