What was the response of the den moms who placed the order? Was the lack of a tip on purpose or? What did they say about it?
So, I'll add a few thoughts and updates.
1. I really thought the biggest discussion would be about whether or not to ask the parent organization for getting money back for a tip being left. I had no idea the discussion would be more about whether or not tipping on such an order should happen. This place never ceases to amaze.
2. I'm overall not a fan of the tipping culture, but I understand it is what it is and there are certain expectations. I'm a reasonable tipper. 20% when going out to eat, more for good/personable service. I don't tip when picking up food myself or regular counter service. I also tip good service at my home when there's any significant work done.
3. That said, this is not your normal service. Sure, the owner of the Papa John's is making money on the order, but the kids working there have to work really hard to put this kind of order together. They should absolutely get extra for that. That goes for any large catering order from any restaurant.
So, in this situation, there's about 300 kids in the grade, it was an average of 2 slices per kid. The pizzas were $7.99/each, hence the bill coming to just over $650. No tax was charged (guessing the school is exempt) and there was no service fee.
My wife showed up first. When she got the receipt, she confirmed with the manager nothing extra was given. She didn't have any cash on her, so she asked if they could run a tip only on her credit card as there was no way she wasn't going to leave them something. As she asked, she then noticed someone holding the door open as she was about to start loading the pizzas and was hoping he was a customer as she was just going to pay for his pizza and add the tip on that. He was just an employee at the store next door and was just being nice, so that didn't work.
Then the other parent showed up at that moment and learned of the situation. He had cash and offered to leave it. He gave a $100 with my wife asking for his Venmo to split. He refused.
Of note, there were only 2 workers in the store. They were the ones that put together the whole order.
When they got to the school, my wife talked to the parent organizer and explained what happened. She told the other parent how to submit a reimbursement to get it back (even though it wasn't guaranteed), but he still refused and said not to worry about it.
In the end, we would have been fine leaving that same tip. I would have submitted the reimbursement form if we did, though.
I also think it's incredibly poor form for them to place that kind of order and not tip and, as such, doubt we will do any other kind of volunteering for this group.