Switching to Toast
Feeling limited by your current tech? Toast is here for you, starting with easy onboarding.
Opening a New Restaurant
We'll take care of the technology, so you can focus on what matters most.
Online Ordering
A commission-free solution, totally integrated with your POS for real-time updates.
Payroll Suite
Fast, easy payroll synced right with your POS.
Access Capital
Fast, flexible funding to power your restaurant.
Free Tools and Templates
Guides, e-books, and templates designed to help you run your restaurant business better.
Video Courses
Learn something new today — whether you've got 5 minutes or 50.
Trends and analysis from across the industry
Resources to help you get the most out of Toast
Restaurants of all kinds finding success with Toast
Get rewarded for helping restaurant clients succeed
Explore new and upcoming Toast solutions
Toast solutions for any concept
Run your business with online ordering, payroll, and more
Tools, insights, and advice
Front of house, back of house, and online seamlessly connect and work in sync.
Toast is designed for restaurant success. Customize Toast to fit the needs of your restaurant type.
Industry Insights
Toast Central
Customer Stories
Local Partner Advocates
Innovation at Toast
Interested in Toast? Get a Free Demo
Fill out the form and we’ll send a link of your download to your email
We’ll send a link of your download to your email
By requesting a demo, you agree to receive automated text messages from Toast. We’ll handle your info according to our privacy statement. Additional information for California residents available here.
Resource
Download the Tip Pooling Calculator to learn how to distribute tips back to your restaurant’s employees using the tip pooling method.
Tipping and restaurants have long gone hand in hand. Restaurants in the U.S. almost always offer guests the opportunity to give an additional amount on top of their check total as a “thank you” for an exceptional dining experience.But collecting tips from guests is only one piece of the equation in restaurants. The next big piece to figure out as a restaurant is how you want to distribute the tips back to your employees. There are three common ways to distribute tips back to employees:
Some restaurateurs decide to go the most common route, with tipped employees like waitstaff and bartenders keeping whatever tips they make during their shift. Others decide to do tip pooling or tip sharing. You have to decide what makes the most sense for your restaurant, while also considering the federal and state regulations (or limitations) that may apply to your desired approach.
Tip pooling is the simplest way of collecting tips earned by a role and redistributing them within the same group or among additional employees. Tip pools are based on tips and/or gratuity and usually not on the percentage of a sales category.In addition to federal regulations regarding tips, such as those found in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Fact Sheet #15, some state and local governments have implemented their own tip pooling regulations. We recommend you check federal, state, and local laws on tipping prior to creating a tip policy for your restaurant.Note that according to the Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a valid tip pool may not include employees who do not customarily and regularly receive tips. In some states, restaurants can pay their tipped employees a reduced wage of a minimum of $2.13/hour, so long as the combination of the employees' wages and tips bring the employee's hourly wage up to the requisite minimum wage. This is known as a tip credit. It is important to check what additional tip credit regulations may be applicable to you when choosing whether to utilize a tip credit.
Ready to get calculating? Download the Tip Pooling Calculator to learn how to distribute tips back to your restaurant’s employees using the tip pooling method.
DISCLAIMER: The Tip Pooling Calculator is for informational purposes only, and Toast does not guarantee the accuracy or suitability of its content for a particular purpose. The information obtained by using the tool is not, and should not be taken as, accounting, tax, financial or legal advice. Additionally, Toast does not provide support services for the use of this tool or the results obtained from it.