The countdown is on as Kansas City is set to host six World Cup matches starting June 16. Four national soccer teams — Argentina, England, the Netherlands and Algeria — will soon also set up base camps in the area where the teams will practice and stay between matches.
Takeaways
- The Missouri Restaurant Association has recommended auto-gratuity during the World Cup, but adoption is voluntary and far from universal in the Kansas City area.
- Visiting countries like the Netherlands and England customarily tip 5% to 10%, while tipping at all is unusual for many other countries.
- Tips average 19.7% in the Kansas City area and the discrepancy between customs and pay structures threatens to have tipped employees “working twice as hard for half as much.”
The Kansas City area is expected to be swarmed with fans of the teams, and the local hospitality industry could see a boon. Mike Burris, executive director of the Missouri Restaurant Association, said that local restaurants and bars are expected to book $60 million to $90 million in business from the World Cup, according to estimates shared with him from KC 2026.
Just how much of that money ends up in the pockets of restaurant servers remains to be seen.
Countries that Kansas City is hosting for matches and base camps share proud traditions and passion for their soccer teams. They also have a less commonly recognized trait: cultural norms where restaurant servers are tipped at a much lower rate than in the United States, if at all.“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 Beacon. “If I was a server, I wouldn’t be too happy if I took care of somebody for 90 minutes and they didn’t tip just because they didn’t know any better.”For tipped employees, part of more than 116,000 leisure and hospitality workers in the area, that cultural difference in tipping custom and pay structure is cause for concern. It could mean a stretch of 40 days where they are as busy as ever while simultaneously making less than usual. For some that would mean exhaustion while having to choose which bill not to pay. “That’s the fear,” said Charles Peach, managing partner of The Combine and The Skyline Rooftop Bar. “We’ll roll out the red carpet for all of these people coming into Kansas City and show them a great time, and at the same time, we’ll be working twice as hard for half as much.”To counteract this scenario, the Missouri Restaurant Association recommended that restaurants add a 20% automatic gratuity to checks temporarily during the World Cup. Some restaurants have announced they will do so, including Peach’s establishments. He says it’s necessary to protect staff’s take-home pay…