How do I calculate a tip-out?

Take support roles off the top as a percentage of total tips (e.g. bar 5%, bussers 3%), then split what remains among the team by hours worked. This calculator does both live as you type.

What is the difference between a tip-out and a tip pool?

A tip-out is money one tipped employee passes to a support role (a server tipping out the bar or a busser). A tip pool combines several people’s tips and redistributes the total, usually by hours worked or an agreed formula. Many restaurants do both: support roles are tipped out off the top, then the rest is pooled.

What is a standard tip-out percentage?

There is no legal standard — it varies by house, region, and role. Commonly used starting points are roughly 3–5% of tips (or 1–2% of sales) to bussers and food runners, and 5–10% of tips to the bar, but every restaurant sets its own. Treat any number as a starting point, not a rule.

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

Both methods are used. A percentage of tips is simplest and moves with how good the shift was. A percentage of sales ties the tip-out to volume regardless of how much each server earned in tips. Restaurants pick one and apply it consistently.

How do you split tips by hours worked?

Add up everyone’s hours for the shift, divide the pooled tips by total hours to get a per-hour rate, then multiply each person’s hours by that rate. This calculator does it automatically and rounds to the cent so the payouts always add back to the total.

Can a manager or owner take a share of the tips?

Rules vary by country and, in the US, by state. In many places managers and owners are restricted or barred from keeping employees’ tips or joining a tip pool. Always check the rules where you operate before setting a policy — this tool does the maths, not the legal advice.

Does the split always add up exactly?

Yes. Payouts are calculated to the cent using largest-remainder rounding, so the individual amounts always add back up to the total you entered — no missing or phantom penny.

Does it remember my team?

It saves your staff names, roles, and tip-out percentages in your browser, so the next shift you just enter the total tips and hours. Nothing leaves your device — it’s stored locally, not on a server.

Is this a free tip pool calculator?

Yes. It handles both tip-outs (a share passed to support roles) and pooled tips split by hours worked, with no sign-up and no cost. Use it as a tip sharing or tip distribution calculator for any shift size.

Tip-Out Calculator

Split a shift's tips in seconds. It remembers your team.

Saves your teamExact to the centWorks on your phone

Total tips to split

Tip-outs — off the top

—

Team — split by hours

—

Saved on this device

Come back tomorrow — your team's already here. Just enter the total and hours.

How a tip-out works

A tip-out is the share a tipped employee passes to the support roles who helped earn it — the bar, bussers, food runners, or hosts. A tip pool is the related idea of combining several people's tips and redistributing the total by an agreed rule. Most restaurants do both in one move: support roles are tipped out off the top, then whatever's left is pooled among the team. That's exactly the order this calculator follows — enter the shift's total tips, take the support percentages off the top, then split the remainder by hours worked.

The three ways restaurants split tips

There's no single correct method — pick one and apply it consistently so the team trusts it:

Percentage of tips. Support roles get a set share of the tips collected (say 5% to the bar). Simple, and it moves with how good the shift was.
Percentage of sales. The tip-out is tied to sales volume instead — e.g. the bar gets 5% of bar sales — regardless of how much any one server earned in tips. Common in higher-volume rooms.
Split by hours (or equally). The pooled amount is divided by total hours worked and paid out per hour, so someone who worked a double gets more than someone who came in for the rush. This tool splits the pool by hours automatically.

Typical tip-out percentages by role

These are commonly used starting points, not rules — every house sets its own, and they vary by region and concept. Use them to sense-check your policy, then adjust to what's fair for your team.

Commonly used tip-out percentages by support role
Support role	Commonly used tip-out
Bar / bartenders	5–10% of tips
Bussers	3–5% of tips
Food runners	2–4% of tips
Hosts	1–2% of tips

A worked example

Say a shift collects $800 in tips. You tip out the bar 5% off the top, which is $40, leaving $760 to pool. Three servers worked 8, 6, and 6 hours — 20 hours total — so the pool pays $38 per hour: $304, $228, and $228. Every payout adds back exactly to the $800 you started with, because the calculator rounds to the cent with no penny left over.

A quick word on the rules

Tipping law has changed a lot lately and it varies by country and, in the US, by state — for example, who is allowed to be in a tip pool and whether managers can take a share. This tool handles the maths; it isn't legal advice, so check the rules where you operate before you set a policy. Labour is also your second-biggest controllable cost, so it's worth sizing up with the labor cost percentage calculator and seeing how fast you turn tables with the table turnover calculator.

Turn this split into a written policy

The Tip-Out Policy Generator reuses the roles and percentages you just entered and builds a printable, signable policy for your team — with region-specific rules for the US, UK, Ireland and Canada.

Open the policy generator

Made by Bzz

This is one tool. Bzz is the whole app.

Bzz is a free digital buzzer for restaurants and bars. Guests scan a QR code, track their spot from their phone, and get pinged the moment their table's ready — so you turn tables faster and sell to guests while they wait. No hardware, no app download for your guests.

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Guests join the waitlist from their own phone — no clipboard, no pager.

Ping when ready

One tap sends guests back to their table the second it opens up.

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Questions

How do I calculate a tip-out?: Take support roles off the top as a percentage of total tips (e.g. bar 5%, bussers 3%), then split what remains among the team by hours worked. This calculator does both live as you type.
What is the difference between a tip-out and a tip pool?: A tip-out is money one tipped employee passes to a support role (a server tipping out the bar or a busser). A tip pool combines several people’s tips and redistributes the total, usually by hours worked or an agreed formula. Many restaurants do both: support roles are tipped out off the top, then the rest is pooled.
What is a standard tip-out percentage?: There is no legal standard — it varies by house, region, and role. Commonly used starting points are roughly 3–5% of tips (or 1–2% of sales) to bussers and food runners, and 5–10% of tips to the bar, but every restaurant sets its own. Treat any number as a starting point, not a rule.
Should tip-outs be based on tips or on sales?: Both methods are used. A percentage of tips is simplest and moves with how good the shift was. A percentage of sales ties the tip-out to volume regardless of how much each server earned in tips. Restaurants pick one and apply it consistently.
How do you split tips by hours worked?: Add up everyone’s hours for the shift, divide the pooled tips by total hours to get a per-hour rate, then multiply each person’s hours by that rate. This calculator does it automatically and rounds to the cent so the payouts always add back to the total.
Can a manager or owner take a share of the tips?: Rules vary by country and, in the US, by state. In many places managers and owners are restricted or barred from keeping employees’ tips or joining a tip pool. Always check the rules where you operate before setting a policy — this tool does the maths, not the legal advice.
Does the split always add up exactly?: Yes. Payouts are calculated to the cent using largest-remainder rounding, so the individual amounts always add back up to the total you entered — no missing or phantom penny.
Does it remember my team?: It saves your staff names, roles, and tip-out percentages in your browser, so the next shift you just enter the total tips and hours. Nothing leaves your device — it’s stored locally, not on a server.
Is this a free tip pool calculator?: Yes. It handles both tip-outs (a share passed to support roles) and pooled tips split by hours worked, with no sign-up and no cost. Use it as a tip sharing or tip distribution calculator for any shift size.

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Is your number normal?

Compare it against the published figures for your kind of business. Every benchmark shows who published it and when it was last checked.

Full-service restaurantTable service, tipped floor staff, and the highest labour ratio of any format. Median 36.5% of sales.Bar and pubPour cost leads, food follows, and the wet-to-dry split decides everything.

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