Waitresses who wear red clothes or put on red lipstick get up to 26 percent extra in tips than while wearing other colours, a study has found.
Bigger tips come only from male customers, and no matter what colour waitresses wear, female diners give the same kind of amounts every time, the Daily Mail reported citing the study by the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research.
A total of 11 waitresses were studied in five restaurants over a six-week period. They were asked to wear the same kind of T-shirt every day but with alternate colours.
When wearing black, white, green, blue or yellow T-shirts, the size of the tips from both male and female customers was almost identical.
But when they wore red, the tips went up by between 15 and 26 percent from male customers. Tips from female customer remained the same.
A total of 272 restaurant customers were studied by researchers Nicolas Gueguen and Celine Jacob, sociologists from the Universite de Bretagne-Sud, France.
The researchers said the colour red is perceived by men to increase the physical and sexual attractiveness of women.
And it confirmed that it would make female customers “react negatively” and tip less.
The team had earlier found that putting on red lipstick can also improve tips. Male customers were two-thirds more likely to leave a gratuity to waitresses with “luscious red lips”.
The researchers tracked the tips left for seven waitresses over two months against the variously coloured lipstick they wore.
In 450 transactions, waitresses wearing pink or brown lipstick, or none at all, got tips on average about 30 percent of the time.
But when they put on red lipstick, male customers tipped half the time – and left more money.
–IAns