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Philadelphia restaurants may add a mandatory 20% service charge to your bill for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Games.
The Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association (PRLA) held a World Cup hospitality briefing at Brauhaus Schmitz this afternoon to anticipate the influx of tourists and various cultural customs that Philadelphians restaurateurs can expect this summer.
“The world is coming,” said Lauren Swartz, the President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. “People have very different expectations about how they’ll be served, how long the meal should take, how they should interact with the host or the hostess.”
Philly sports fans, she noted, might approach a game at a bar setting differently than someone from say, Côte d’Ivoire or Croatia.
“We say things like ‘Go Birds,’ and we do high fives, and we do like the bro hug, tap on the back, right? And that feels very comfortable to us,” she said. “But people in different cultures, of course, have very different ways of doing this.”
One of the biggest hospitality differences across cultures is tipping. While a 20% tip is customary here in the United States, in other countries that percentage is much lower or even non-existent.
“This event this summer brings a very real operating challenge that we should address head on, and that’s tipping,” said Ben Fileccia, the senior vice president of strategy and engagement at the PRLA. “In Philadelphia, as you know, our service teams rely on tips as a core part of their earnings, and our employees should not be the ones forced to educate every table, every check, every night during the World Cup, while we’re all in the weeds.”
The room at Brauhaus Schmitz was packed with different restaurateurs around the city heeding Fileccia’s advice. One of whom was Doug Hager, the owner of the popular German spot.
“We do get a lot of international people here, and we have issues with no tips or very low tips,” Hager said. “It does cause conflicts between staff and customers that we want to avoid.”
While Hager said that he could foresee regulars taking issue with such a policy change, ultimately he feels they will understand.
“I think it’s a good idea,” he said. “It’s a temporary thing. You know, talking about whether that should be the norm is a different conversation. But for the World Cup, we’re gonna do it.”
Danielle Gackenbach, marketing manager at Chickie’s & Pete’s, also thought that implementing a mandatory service charge during the World Cup games made sense.
“We’re kicking the idea around a little bit,” Gackenbach said, adding that if Chickie’s & Pete’s does implement a service charge they will do so mindfully, so that “nobody’s surprised and nobody’s confused.”
Fileccia noted that restaurants that do decide to implement the charge, will need to do so in a fair and uniform manner.
“Apply it consistently to all checks,” he advised. “Not only large parties, not only the guy you don’t know. Consistency improves fairness, reduces confusion, and prevents your staff from having to explain why one table has a [gratuity] on it and the other table doesn’t.”
Still, with the games’ arrival this summer, many temporary changes may actually benefit Philadelphians. Raheem Manning, the city’s nighttime economy director, advised businesses on how they can apply for a Philly 250 permit, which will allow restaurants to extend their operating hours until 4 a.m.
Gackenbach said that Chickie’s & Pete’s South Philly location would be a great candidate for the permit.
“We’re so close to the stadiums,” she said. “People are going to be so excited. Especially the later games, people are going to want to be out and staying out.”
Meg Kane, CEO for Philadelphia Soccer 2026, advised businesses to anticipate an influx of patrons.
“We are expecting about 500,000 visitors,” she said. “We are expecting to book more than 100,000 plus hotel rooms in the Philadelphia region during the 39 days of this tournament.”
“Think of this as soccer Coachella,” she said, describing the 39‑day FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill.
“This is really going to be big,” Hager said. “We’re one of the top soccer destinations in Philadelphia, so we’ve already been planning for a year for this, and now we’re 42 days away.”
“We’re planning for just a crazy month,” he said. “We’re going to do our best.”
