Free tool
Tip-out calculator for restaurants
A tip-out is the share of a server's tips passed on to the people who helped earn them: the bar that made the drinks, the kitchen, bussers, and runners. Enter a shift's numbers below to see what each role receives and what the server keeps.
Tip-out calculator
| Bar | 40.00 |
|---|---|
| Kitchen | 20.00 |
| Bussers | 54.00 |
| Total tip-out | 114.00 |
| Server keeps | 246.00 |
How tip-outs work
Most restaurants calculate each role's tip-out in one of two ways, and many mix them:
- A percentage of sales. The server pays a set share of their net sales, for example 2% to the bar. It rewards the support staff for the volume they helped serve, whatever the guests tipped.
- A percentage of tips. The server pays a set share of the tips they collected, for example 15% to the bussers. A server can never owe more than they received.
Sales-based tip-outs are common for the bar and kitchen because their work scales with what was sold. The trade-off is that a table that tips poorly still costs the server the full percentage. Tip-based tip-outs avoid that, but the support staff's share then depends on guests they never served directly.
A worked example
A server rings up 2,000 in net sales and collects 360 in tips. The house tips out 2% of sales to the bar, 1% of sales to the kitchen, and 15% of tips to the bussers:
| Role | Rule | Tip-out |
|---|---|---|
| Bar | 2% of 2,000 in sales | 40.00 |
| Kitchen | 1% of 2,000 in sales | 20.00 |
| Bussers | 15% of 360 in tips | 54.00 |
| Server keeps | 360 − 40 − 20 − 54 | 246.00 |
Choosing your percentages
There's no universal rate. Start from what your team does today, write it down, and check the result against a few real shifts before changing anything. A few decisions make the numbers fair and repeatable:
- Decide what counts as sales, such as net sales after comps and discounts, and use the same figure every shift.
- Decide whether alcohol and food sales are treated differently. Some restaurants tip out the bar only on drink sales.
- Check that the total tip-out on a slow, low-tipping shift still leaves the server a fair share.
- Write the rule down where every server can read it, so nobody has to work it out from memory at the end of a double.
Rules to check first
Tip-sharing rules vary by country, state, and province. Before you set or change a tip-out, check the local rules on who may take part in a tip pool (managers and owners are often excluded), whether a tip-out can be required, and what records you need to keep. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Tracking tip-outs every shift
A calculator helps with one shift. Keeping tip-outs consistent across a team is harder: every server needs the same rule, managers need to review the numbers, and the history has to still make sense after the rule changes. Barley's tip-outs let servers enter their numbers at the end of each shift, apply your restaurant's own formula, and give managers daily, monthly, and custom-range totals.