Tip jar!!

Just wondering how everyone handles the tip jar. I used to keep the tips and say the money went to all the sodas everyone drank. Now I have a second location and the people in this town really fill the tip jar. I can’t decide if I just split it with everyone.

I would never take the tip jar, that is for your employees by your customers. If your customers knew that the tips they where leaving were going to you and not your employees i imagine most would not leave a tip.

I have managed stores with both fountain drinks and cans/bottles. And i would never take the tip jar stating it was for paying for employee sodas. The policy should always be that they pay for what they drink.

Now as a owner, i have a fountain drink. I allow my employees to fill/refill a employee cup (yes i buy regular dinner cups for them to use so they do not use the cups we sell) while they are on shift. The cost is minimal, the employees appreciate it and keeps them happy.

Just my two cents.

I agree, Tip jars are for the employee’s thats also what customers think…

You are worried about your staff drinking soda but the cost is so minimal…

if at your location, a customer can get free refills and if they can fill the cup themselves they prob waste all that soda…

Like the previous guy says… if your customers knew that those tips were not going to the employees they would not tip.

Are you going to get rich off the tip jar? no.

We disperse the the tips based on the percentage of total hours worked. I do not take any tips and the managers are only allowed to claim 75% of their hours in total.

Here is an example

[list]Amy - 15 hours
Tammy - 40 hours (manager)
Joe - 20 hours
Bill - 20 hours
Tom - 15 hours
[/list]
15+30+20+20+15= 100 hours

Tips are $400 for the period so:

[list]Amy and Tom get $60 each
Tammy gets $120
Joe and Bill $80 each[/list]

We are a Del-CO . The tip jar is split up each night among the kitchen staff. My wife and I do not take a share even if we work the day shift alone and if a cook runs any deliveries that night (a few of them are on the insurance as drivers) they do not take a share. Normally it does not amount to much. On a typical night it will accumulate between 10 and 20 dollars. Several of the drivers will also sweeten the pot if they have a good night. I have seen it get above $50.00 a few times but those days are rare.

Charging your employees for drinks (because that’s what you’re doing by taking their tips)? I can’t even imagine that. Tips are based on service, and the fuller that tip jar is, the better the service, which I would think would mean happier customers, which translates into more repeat customers and better business for you. What goes around comes around. If you want your employees to care about your business, care about them.

Our employees pay for drinks (20oz bottles). (Shift meal is free, drinks are not) The tip jar is split by the non-manager kitchen crew each night.

I am amazed you keep employees claiming the tips for yourself!

My suggestion: stop ripping off your employees… they will only rip you off back. Change to a model where they pay for drinks if you need to recover that money but leave the tips in the hands of the people that earned them!!

I never thought of it as taking from my employees. Maybe that’s how they felt. My one locations tip jar makes about 20 a week. It was a lot easier for me to take it and say it goes to drinks then have to get a dollar from whenever they took a soda
Having a tip jar in that location has been a nightmare. Its gotten stolen a few times and I left it on the counter one night and someone kicked in the door and stole it.
Now with my new location the tips have been a lot better and have been splitting it with the counter and kitchen help and have been thinking about including my daytime driver cause my lunch is so slow