Tip pooling
Tip pooling software for restaurants
Tip pooling software takes the tips from a shift, splits them between the staff in the pool by a rule you set, and records who was paid what. Smooth Ops does this as the Tips module: split by hours worked, evenly, or by shares, with every payout on the record per person per shift and an export that goes straight to payroll. $25 a month per location, and you can buy it without buying the rest of the app. Built by operators with 14+ years of operations across 20+ locations. Try it for 30 days free, no credit card.
Most tip disputes are not about the math
They are about the rule being unclear, or applied differently on a busy night than on a slow one. Somebody works a double, somebody leaves early, somebody covers the bar for an hour, and the split that felt obvious at 11pm looks arbitrary the next week.
Setting the rule once and applying it every shift removes most of that. The number stops being a judgment call the closing manager makes at the end of a long night, and the people being paid can see how it was reached. That is most of what tip pooling software is actually for.
Three ways to split a pool
You pick the rule per shift. None of these is the “right” one, they just fit different rooms.
By hours worked
The pool is divided in proportion to the hours each person was on the clock for that shift.
The default for most front of house pools, and the easiest to explain to a new hire.
Evenly
The pool is divided equally between everyone in it, regardless of hours.
Small teams working identical shifts, where hour-weighting adds argument without adding fairness.
By shares
Each role carries a weight you set, and the pool is divided by those weights.
Pools that include the kitchen, where a server and a line cook are not meant to draw the same amount.
A payout record you can hand to payroll
Every payout is recorded per person per shift and exports straight to payroll. Tip records are the kind of thing nobody thinks about until they are asked to produce them, and reconstructing them after the fact from memory and a notebook is genuinely painful.
This is the part that protects you. When a dispute comes up it is almost always about one specific night, and the useful answer is a line item showing the pool, the rule, and what each person drew from it. Not a recollection.
What this does not do
Smooth Ops does not handle tip credit, tipped minimum wage, or the question of who is legally allowed to be in a pool. Those rules vary by state, they change, and getting them wrong is expensive. Be careful with any tip software that claims to solve them for you.
What Smooth Ops does is apply your rule consistently and keep the record. Whether the rule itself is lawful where you operate is a question for your payroll provider or an employment attorney, and it is worth asking them once rather than assuming.
Buy the tip pooling, not the suite
Most tip tools arrive bundled: inside a payroll platform, or inside a full restaurant management system you have to adopt wholesale to get the one feature you came for.
Smooth Ops is sold by the module. Tips is $25 a month per location and that is a complete purchase. If you later want recipe costing, inventory, or the rest, you add them one at a time, or take everything for $99 a month per location. Month to month, no contract, no implementation project.
Tip pooling, answered
What is tip pooling software?+
Tip pooling software takes the tips collected over a shift, splits them between the staff in the pool by a rule you set, and records who was paid what. Smooth Ops does this as the Tips module: split by hours worked, evenly, or by shares, with every payout recorded per person per shift and exportable to payroll.
Can it handle tip pooling across front and back of house?+
Yes, by shares, which is the usual way kitchens are included in a pool. You set who is in the pool and at what weight, so a server and a line cook can draw different amounts from the same shift.
Does Smooth Ops handle tip credit and minimum wage rules?+
No, and you should be careful with anyone who says their software does. Tip credit, tipped minimum wage, and who is legally allowed in a pool vary by state and change over time. Smooth Ops splits the pool by the rule you set and keeps the record. Whether that rule is lawful where you operate is a question for your payroll provider or an employment attorney.
Why does the payout record matter?+
Tips are one of the most common sources of wage disputes in restaurants, and the disagreement is almost never about a whole shift. It is about one night, months ago, that nobody wrote down properly. A per person per shift record is not exciting, and it is the single most useful thing you can have when somebody asks.
How much does tip pooling in Smooth Ops cost?+
The Tips module is $25 a month per location. Everything together, all the modules, is $99 a month per location. Month to month, no contract, cancel anytime, and you can run Tips on its own without buying the rest of the app.
Can I use Smooth Ops just for tips?+
Yes. Smooth Ops is sold by the module, so Tips at $25 a month per location is a complete purchase on its own. Most tip tools are bundled into a payroll platform or a full restaurant management suite you have to adopt wholesale. This is the part you actually need, priced on its own.
Split the pool the same way every shift
Set the rule once, keep the record, export to payroll. $25 a month per location.
30 days free, no credit card