The French food scene is at the mercy of American food culture. What is happening?

- Red Sauce, which serves Italian-American dishes in the style of traditional American restaurants, has become one of the most popular dining destinations in Paris over the past year. The restaurant is one of dozens of experiences inspired by American culture that have appeared throughout the French capital in recent years.

Although American specialties have gained acceptance and status in France thanks to the power of social media and marketing, the movement of other elements of North American food culture across the Atlantic faces a mixture of curiosity, hesitation and even resistance. Perhaps the most controversial matter, and some describe it as the most dangerous, is the increasing adoption of the culture of tips, especially digital ones, throughout France.

This is a shift that some consider an “Americanization” of French restaurant culture, a phenomenon that has become the focus of news and talk shows in recent years. Digital tipping options on the rise Unlike in the US, tipping in France has never been considered mandatory, with service sector workers paid the minimum wage.

A 15% service charge (known as “service compris”) is added to restaurant bills and is used to pay staff salaries. If customers feel generous or had a great experience, they may leave a small amount to pay for their coffee.

Elizabeth Deborse, editor-in-chief of the restaurant guide Le Fooding in France and Belgium, points out that the French word for tip, “pourboire,” is a compound word that literally means “for a drink.” “In France, a tip was traditionally a change in your pocket that you left on the table so the staff could buy themselves a drink later,” she says.

But since the advent of digital tipping options via card payment machines and QR codes in the past few years, there has been a change in the country's tipping culture. On social media platforms and electronic forums, some French users described the emergence of digital tips as a scam that benefits restaurants and payment platforms that charge commissions, more than the interest of waiters and service providers.

Some people also resent feeling pressured to tip, especially when the waiter is standing next to them holding the payment machine waiting for the amount to be determined. Rose Camara, an English teacher who lives in Lyon, says: “When I see the tip option on the digital app, I always decline it, because I fear that this will lead to adopting the system used in the United States.”

Although she doesn't mind tipping for good service, she resents the digital tipping system because it seems prescriptive, with the machine charging specific amounts based on pre-determined percentages. Tipping should be optional. Christophe Sock runs seven cafés and bars in the south of France, mainly in cities such as Toulouse, Cannes and Nice, where he is famous for owning the Irish pub chain “Ma Nolan’s”.

Sock says he began to notice a pattern of generous gratuities, similar to that of North America, in his restaurants during the 1990s, coinciding with the increase in direct international flights that brought large numbers of wealthy American and Canadian tourists to the French Riviera region. “The Anglophone culture brought the custom of gratuities to France, and that is very clear,” he tells Ofoq News.

Sock explains that the option of paying tips digitally via card payment machines has become widespread after the French government decided to exempt tips paid by card from taxes starting in 2022, knowing that they were previously subject to taxes as part of the restaurant’s revenue. But this trend remains unpopular with some restaurant owners, including Sook.

Although tips, whether digital or cash, are tax-free until the end of 2028, Sock, who is also president of the Nice region branch of the Federation of Hospitality Professions and Industries, fears that digital tips will make it easier for the government to tax them in the future. It also lacked tact, which made him cancel this option in all his restaurants.

“Tipping should be optional for the customer,” he says. Not Upscale Priscilla Kwang offers another perspective as a chef and restaurateur. She lived in New York City, San Francisco, and Hong Kong before returning to Paris, where she runs two restaurants.

“I completely rejected tips at my first restaurant,” says Quang. “I don’t think it’s classy to have a tip button right in front of your eyes when you pay the bill, especially since the average bill at that first restaurant was kind of high.”

Early dinner and quick lunch But the culture of tipping is not the only thing that has crossed the Atlantic to reach France, as the capital has also seen a slight change in dinner times, which in France traditionally start around 7:30 pm and reach their peak around 8:00 pm. A new generation of restaurants began opening their doors as early as 6:30 p.m., in keeping with North American dinner times.

For Canadian chef Jules St. Cyr, who opened Bittikesu in April, the decision to move dinner to 6:30 p.m. was a matter of logistical considerations, given that the 15-course tasting menu takes about two and a half hours. The second dinner session begins at 9:00 pm.

But this move was also aimed at achieving a balance between work and personal life, as the chef says: “I do not want my staff and team to finish their tasks too late, as it is not worth it in the long run.” At the same time, the famous French lunch, which used to last for two hours and was usually accompanied by drinks, began to lean more and more towards the North American lunch break style, as the demands of modern life required reducing breaks, thus replacing traditional restaurant meals with fast food.

As for whether the current geopolitical climate and anti-American sentiment might affect the French appetite for all things American, Deborse, whose book was published in 2023 entitled “American Appétit,” believes that the French are able to separate politics and American popular culture, and this includes food culture.