Question 1

What is a tip pool?

Accepted Answer

A tip pool combines all (or a portion of) the tips collected during a shift into a single amount that is then redistributed among staff — often by hours worked or by assigned shift points — rather than each employee keeping only the tips they personally received.

Question 2

What is the difference between "hours" and "points" splitting?

Accepted Answer

Splitting by hours divides the pool in direct proportion to how many hours each employee worked. Splitting by points lets you assign a weight (points) per employee — useful when a restaurant wants to give more weight to certain roles or seniority, not just raw hours worked.

Question 3

What is a tip-out?

Accepted Answer

A tip-out is the portion of a server's tips (or sales) that they pay to support staff who helped them that shift — typically bartenders, bussers, hosts, or food runners — usually expressed as a fixed percentage of sales or of tips received.

Question 4

Should tip-out be based on sales or on tips?

Accepted Answer

Both models are common. A sales-based tip-out (e.g. 5% of bar sales to the bartender) pays support staff a consistent amount regardless of how generous customers were. A tips-based tip-out (e.g. 20% of tips) scales the payout with what the server actually collected. Check your state and local wage laws — some jurisdictions restrict how tip-outs can be structured.

Question 5

Why do the tip pool shares always add up exactly to the total?

Accepted Answer

Each employee's raw share is rounded to the nearest cent, and any leftover fraction of a cent from that rounding is added to the employee with the largest hours/points, so the displayed shares always sum exactly to the pool total.

Question 6

Is this calculator legal or tax advice?

Accepted Answer

No — this tool only performs the arithmetic of splitting a pool or computing a tip-out. Tip pooling and tip-out rules vary by state and country (for example, some restrict which roles can participate in a tip pool). Confirm your policy complies with local wage and hour laws.

Restaurant Tip Pool & Tip-Out Calculator

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How This Calculator Works

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a tip pool?

What is the difference between "hours" and "points" splitting?

What is a tip-out?

Should tip-out be based on sales or on tips?

Why do the tip pool shares always add up exactly to the total?

Is this calculator legal or tax advice?

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