Splitting a restaurant bill without pulling out a calculator

The meal is over, the bill arrives, and everyone pulls out their phone to do the maths. In France, restaurants and bars are the top category of shared expenses, with more than one in five shared expenses, according to Tricount (in French): small amounts, but they come up often. Here’s how to settle the bill in under a minute.

Equal shares or everyone pays for what they had?

It’s the only real question, and it’s best settled before you order.

• Equal shares: the quickest and friendliest option. It works whenever orders are similar, which is most of the time.
• Everyone pays for what they had: useful when the gaps are big, for example a friend who only has dessert while the others have a starter, main and wine.

A good compromise: equal shares on the food you shared, and everyone pays separately for what’s really different, like a bottle not everyone drank.

Why one card for everyone gets stuck

Often, one person pays the whole bill “to keep it simple”. In reality, they front the money, send the total to the group, then wait to be paid back. A few days later, one or two people still haven’t paid, and someone has to chase.

On the other hand, asking the waiter to run six cards one after the other takes time, and some restaurants refuse beyond two or three.

Three rules for a frictionless bill

1. Agree on the rule when you order: “shall we split it equally?”. Nobody is surprised at the end.
2. Round it: a €23.40 share becomes €23 or €24. Nobody will remember 40 cents, but everyone will remember the time spent working them out.
3. Settle right away: whatever isn’t paid at the table becomes a debt, and a debt needs chasing.

The tip

In France, service is included in the prices. Tipping is a free gesture: if there is one, add it to the total before splitting, so it’s shared like the rest.

What if everyone paid their share when the bill arrives?

That’s the idea behind squenta: you create a squenta for the dinner, your friends join it by link or QR code, and the bill is split equally. Everyone pays their share right away, from their own bank, with no fees. Nobody fronts, nobody chases. squenta is coming in 2027.