How to split a restaurant bill fairly
· 4 min read
The bill arrives. Somebody says “shall we just split it?” and everybody nods — including the friend who had a side salad and tap water, while you shared two bottles of wine across the table. Nobody wants to be the one doing sums, so the person who ate least quietly pays the most.
There’s a better way, and it doesn’t have to be awkward.
Even or itemised?
Split evenly when everyone ordered roughly the same, or the group agreed beforehand (“set menu, £35 each”). It’s fast and nobody minds.
Split by what you had when orders are very different: someone skipped the drinks, someone had the lobster, someone arrived for dessert only. This is the fair default for most groups.
A simple method that works
- Everyone owns their own dishes. Your main, your drink, your dessert.
- Shared plates are shared by the people who ate them. Three of you split the nachos? A third each. One person had two of the five dumplings? They pay two-fifths.
- Share the service in proportion. If service is 12.5%, everyone pays 12.5% of their own food and drink — not an equal slice. The person who had a starter only shouldn’t pay the same service as the person who had three courses.
- Same for tips and discounts. A 20%-off voucher should knock 20% off everyone’s share.
- Fix the pennies. £10 between three is £3.33, £3.33, £3.34. Someone gets the extra penny — it’s usually fairest to give it to the person who paid, so they’re never out of pocket.
Who pays, and how to pay back
The easiest night out has one person paying the restaurant and everybody else paying them back straight away, while the numbers are fresh. Give the payer’s bank details and a clear reference, and ask people to say when they’ve paid so nobody has to chase.
Let your phone do it
This is exactly what Outzu does at the table. The payer scans the receipt, everybody taps what they had on their own phone, shared dishes split themselves, and service is shared in proportion — to the penny. Everyone sees who to pay and how, and the payer sees who has paid.
Fair, fast, and nobody has to be the bad guy with the calculator.