diff --git a/router/src/infer.rs b/router/src/infer.rs
index ddd3c763..a61331d5 100644
--- a/router/src/infer.rs
+++ b/router/src/infer.rs
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ pub struct Infer {
     /// Inference limit
     limit_concurrent_requests: Arc<Semaphore>,
     /// Chat template (template, bos_token, eos_token)
-    template: (Option<Template<'static, 'static>>, String, String),
+    template: (
+        Option<Template<'static, 'static>>,
+        Option<String>,
+        Option<String>,
+    ),
 }
 
 /// Infer shared state
@@ -92,18 +96,20 @@ impl Infer {
                 .template_from_str(Box::leak(template_str))
                 .unwrap()
         });
-
+        let eos_token = tokenizer_config
+            .eos_token
+            .map_or_else(String::new, |t| t)
+            .into();
+        let bos_token = tokenizer_config
+            .bos_token
+            .map_or_else(String::new, |t| t)
+            .into();
         Self {
             validation,
             queue,
             shared,
             limit_concurrent_requests: semaphore,
-            template: (
-                template,
-                // initialize bos_token and eos_token to empty strings if not provided
-                tokenizer_config.bos_token.unwrap_or_default(),
-                tokenizer_config.eos_token.unwrap_or_default(),
-            ),
+            template: (template, eos_token, bos_token),
         }
     }
 
@@ -160,14 +166,14 @@ impl Infer {
     /// Apply the chat template to the chat request
     #[instrument(skip_all)]
     pub(crate) fn apply_chat_template(&self, messages: Vec<Message>) -> Result<String, InferError> {
-        let (template, bos_token, eos_token) = self.template.clone();
+        let (template, bos_token, eos_token) = &self.template;
         template
             .as_ref()
             .ok_or_else(|| InferError::TemplateError(ErrorKind::TemplateNotFound.into()))?
             .render(ChatTemplateInputs {
                 messages,
-                eos_token,
-                bos_token,
+                eos_token: eos_token.as_deref(),
+                bos_token: bos_token.as_deref(),
             })
             .map_err(|e| {
                 metrics::increment_counter!("tgi_request_failure", "err" => "template");
@@ -773,8 +779,8 @@ mod tests {
                     content: "magic!".to_string(),
                 },
             ],
-            bos_token: "[BOS]".to_string(),
-            eos_token: "[EOS]".to_string(),
+            bos_token: Some("[BOS]"),
+            eos_token: Some("[EOS]"),
         };
 
         let result = tmpl.unwrap().render(chat_template_inputs).unwrap();
@@ -852,8 +858,8 @@ magic!"#
                     content: "magic!".to_string(),
                 },
             ],
-            bos_token: "[BOS]".to_string(),
-            eos_token: "[EOS]".to_string(),
+            bos_token: Some("[BOS]"),
+            eos_token: Some("[EOS]"),
         };
 
         let result = tmpl.unwrap().render(chat_template_inputs); //.err().unwrap();
@@ -924,8 +930,8 @@ magic!"#
                     content: "magic!".to_string(),
                 },
             ],
-            bos_token: "[BOS]".to_string(),
-            eos_token: "[EOS]".to_string(),
+            bos_token: Some("[BOS]"),
+            eos_token: Some("[EOS]"),
         };
 
         let result = tmpl.unwrap().render(chat_template_inputs).unwrap();
diff --git a/router/src/lib.rs b/router/src/lib.rs
index 213df7bf..983079d6 100644
--- a/router/src/lib.rs
+++ b/router/src/lib.rs
@@ -368,10 +368,10 @@ pub(crate) struct ChatRequest {
 }
 
 #[derive(Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
-pub(crate) struct ChatTemplateInputs {
+pub(crate) struct ChatTemplateInputs<'a> {
     messages: Vec<Message>,
-    bos_token: String,
-    eos_token: String,
+    bos_token: Option<&'a str>,
+    eos_token: Option<&'a str>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Clone, Deserialize, ToSchema, Serialize)]
diff --git a/router/src/server.rs b/router/src/server.rs
index e721e97d..530a935b 100644
--- a/router/src/server.rs
+++ b/router/src/server.rs
@@ -659,9 +659,9 @@ async fn chat_completions(
 
         // build the complete response object with the full text
         let response = ChatCompletion::new(
-            generation.generated_text,
             model_id,
             system_fingerprint,
+            generation.generated_text,
             current_time,
             generation.details.unwrap(),
             logprobs,