Do hostesses at restaurants get a cut of the tips?

Some do, some don't. Ask her or just tip her as you walk by.

Depends on the establishment. Most good restaurants require waitstaff to tip out host staff and the kitchen.

In the restaurants (higher end) dd has worked in, she was paid an hourly wage higher than minimum, no share of the tips. That way hostesses didn't seat to benefit themselves. When she bussed, front waited (food to table) or waited tables, her hourly rate decreased substantially. Those positions split the tips for the evening. Depending on the night and the crowd, hosting may or may not have paid more for the night.

20 years ago, when I was both a hostess and a waitress at Chili's, I did not get a cut of the tips when I hosted, but I made a much higher hourly wage, like almost 3 times as much. Granted my server wage was well below minimum, so it's not like I was making a ton as a hostess. With tips, I made more money serving, but it was a much more stressful job. I don't think anyone ever tipped me when I was hosting, and I had a few crappy, over-crowded nights. My trick was to always over-estimate how long I thought the wait would be. That way, most of the time people were happy that I "got them in early" and if it did run over, they still thought they were being seated on time.

My granddaughter is a hostess and does not share in the tips unless she puts together the take out orders and the customer tips, then she keeps those $

Back in the day, I worked in eleven restaurants, ranging from mid-priced to very posh, and I never tipped the host unless it was a maitre'd system. 


That's interesting that there's now a connection between those two things. Everybody I knew tipped bussers and bartenders based on their true earnings. The income we declared had nothing to do with it; plus, everybody had a good idea what we were really earning.

(But there was a range in percentages "tipped out" just 'cause some servers were cheap and/or didn't appreciate how much a good busser benefited their pocket. There was one amazing busser I routinely tipped 30%. We used to fight over who got to work with him. He got a lot of customer tips, too.)

Exactly. My dd is a server in a high end restaurant. Her paycheck covers taxes (FICA) , and her tip forward to the bartender, hostess and bus people. The tip forwards are based on her sales for the shift.Sometimes she gets skunked as the table tipped poorly but her tip forward is based on the sale.So less ends up in her pocket.

On night a table was angry because they could not use two promotional discounts. They left no tip on a very high bill. She was still responsible for the tip forwards.So please if you are angry about restaurant policy do not take it out on the server but speak to the manager.My dd did alert the manager to speak to the table but they still left without tipping. The restaurant business is crappy IMHO. My dd studied here and in Italy to be a pastry chef. She was earning $11 an hour with no benefits working in a high end restaurant.When she asked for more money they told her to waitress. So she did so in one of their sister restaurants. She is looking for a job outside of the industry now.

Sorry OP for the hijack.

It sounds like tipping out to host staff might vary depending largely on whether a state has a tip credit or not. In Oregon and Washington, there is no tip credit - minimum wage is the same for everyone. I can see not tipping out staff that makes 2-3x the hourly rate of waitstaff in states with a tip credit.

scrappinghappy  I will try and make the suggestion. DD is so bitter right now.I hope she doesn't bite my head off for suggesting it.LOL but she needs the money too. My dd lives on Long Island in NY. I know the population is there to support this type of business. Actually, I just remembered her boyfriend and his friends just suggested something like this to her. She has culinary skills too not just pastry.DD and the bf were dining at a hibachi place and had the pleasure of speaking to a woman about dd's cooking skills. The woman asked if dd did private catering.I know she would want to work with someone first before going out on her own. Thanks for jogging the memory. I'll have to jog dd's memory on this one too.