For the many international people living in Brussels, the rules of the Belgian hospitality sector are shrouded in mystery.
The etiquette around tipping causes particular confusion. Tipping has its own unwritten rules, and every country has its own way of rewarding service. What is expected of customers in Brussels when it comes to tipping?
No fixed rules — but a shared habit?
To get a feel of the sector as a whole, we spoke to HORECA Brussels, the federation responsible for the hospitality industry. According to Martin Stameschkine, spokesperson for the HORECA federation, although tipping is not mandatory in Belgium, it is still expected.
However, each type of venue has its own conventions. “In practice, most customers leave between 5% and 10% of the bill in restaurants," said Stameschkine. "In bars or brasseries, it is more common to round up the bill or leave a few euros. Professionals do not consider tips to be a right, but rather a direct encouragement for good service.”
This puts Belgium in line with most European countries. According to Lonely Planet, across much of Europe it is standard to give "between 5% and 10% (in local currency cash) unless the service or food has been poor". In France, Germany, Spain and the UK, it is common to add a service charge to a bill for parties of six or more, which does not yet appear to be a common practice in Belgium.
Alexia, a 27-year-old sculpture graduate who has worked in various bars and restaurants since she was in high school, does not believe Belgians are generous tippers. “Either in Brussels or in Flanders, local customers are not generous. From Belgians, I was getting a tip maybe one out of ten times," she said.
Who keeps the tips?
For customers, even when you give a tip, it’s not always clear as to how the tips are divided - especially when you put the money in a jar at the counter, or if you have been served by several waiters during your meal. According to Stameschkine, this varies from one establishment to another.
"In some, tips are pooled and then distributed among the service staff, or even partially with the kitchen staff. In others, they remain with the person who receives them directly,” he said.
In theory, restaurant owners are not supposed to take the tips from their employees: “Tips belong to the staff, unless there is a clearly established collective agreement," said Stameschkine.
Sadly, owners do not always comply with these rules. Alexia says that friends of hers have worked in restaurants where they did not receive the tips they had earned.
"I have heard friends working as waiters and being the victims of that system," she said. "When I was working as a server at a bar at the Belgian coast myself, the tips would only go to the waiters working full time, the students couldn’t keep their tips. It was so unfair”.
C'est pas possible
Members of the international community living in Brussels often complain about reluctant waiters, armed with a c’est pas possible ('it’s not possible') attitude when asked to make a little extra effort.
For Alexia, this is due partly to the fact that many waiters are students working side-jobs (in 2024, 48% of hospitality workers were students) and partly because tipping is not mandatory. “They don’t want to make an effort, as they don’t always get tipped even if they do a good job," she says.
Stameschkine does not believe that a change in the tipping system would be beneficial to waiters. “The Federation believes that the current system - service included, tips left to the customer's discretion - is balanced and respectful of both the work of staff and the purchasing power of customers,” he explains.
Tipping in a cashless age
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us have gone cashless, which sometimes makes tipping tricky. However, the newest payments terminals now have a a tipping option when you pay the bill. This might seem like a good alternative, but this system is far from perfect.
"These amounts are automatically taxed because they are included in the establishment's turnover", explains Stameschkine. "This is why HORECA Brussels is calling for tips paid by card to be tax-exempt, so that they can be returned in full to workers. In a context where contactless payment is becoming the norm, this measure would be both fair and incentivising."
If your waiter or waitress deserves it, giving them a few euros in cash is still the best way to say thanks. In the end, whether you’re rounding up a bill or leaving a few coins behind, what matters most is the gesture. In a city where locals, students, and internationals share café tables every day, a simple tip can still go a long way.
