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Customers Giving Over Generous Tips

December

December

New member
After yesterday I realize I need to do something about a wierd problem weve been having.

We have a few customers who all the drivers know give huge tips like $50+ on orders, the customers who do this are local buisness owners(other restaurants etc)

Here is the issue though, whatever driver gets to take that order is happy as a pig in mud and the other driver sulks and does less work, sometimes it feels like a fist fight could break out. I have to admitt I too get a little jealous that the kitchen staff did all the work making the order and the driver gets the huge tip for bringing it to them.

Should I just explain the situation to my select customers? I feel like if say all tips over say $25 get split Ill have the opposite situation where everyone would be mad if they had to deliver the order then split their tip.

Need some advice
 
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December said:
After yesterday I realize I need to do something about a wierd problem weve been having.

We have a few customers who all the drivers know give huge tips like $50+ on orders, the customers who do this are local buisness owners(other restaurants etc)

Here is the issue though, whatever driver gets to take that order is happy as a pig in mud and the other driver sulks and does less work, sometimes it feels like a fist fight could break out. I have to admitt I too get a little jealous that the kitchen staff did all the work making the order and the driver gets the huge tip for bringing it to them.

Should I just explain the situation to my select customers? I feel like if say all tips over say $25 get split Ill have the opposite situation where everyone would be mad if they had to deliver the order then split their tip.

Need some advice
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Doesn’t happen enough in my store to be a problem.

Your $25 cap idea is probably best & pool the rest. If they are paying cash, how do deal with that?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Normally we only see a tip like that on large orders, 20 pizzas or more. I try to deliver those myself and I drop the tip into the tip jar upon my return or split it evenly between those that put it together if it was done before the whole crew arrived. If a driver helped put the order together I get them a share too. About half of our drivers will contribute to the tip jar if they have a really good night, but not as often as I would like considering the cooks work twice as hard and have a much greater impact on customer satisfaction which is what leads to the good tip and repeat orders.
 
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RobT said:
Doesn’t happen enough in my store to be a problem.

Your $25 cap idea is probably best & pool the rest. If they are paying cash, how do deal with that?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Lol never crossed my mind. Id like to think the driver would keep their mouth shut so we’d be none the wiser. But drivers love to brag about doing nothing and getting a huge tip, then complain they drove 15 minutes and got $2.
Its just been big CC tips thats the issue usually once a week.
 
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Normally we only see a tip like that on large orders, 20 pizzas or more. I try to deliver those myself and I drop the tip into the tip jar upon my return or split it evenly between those that put it together if it was done before the whole crew arrived. If a driver helped put the order together I get them a share too. About half of our drivers will contribute to the tip jar if they have a really good night, but not as often as I would like considering the cooks work twice as hard and have a much greater impact on customer satisfaction which is what leads to the good tip and repeat orders.
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Thats a great idea… dont know if it would be practical though…
 
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Couple ideas come to mind… you could enforce a “no sharing tip amounts unless sharing those tips with others” policy, or since it’s just a few customers, deliver those orders yourself.
 
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stebby1 said:
Couple ideas come to mind… you could enforce a “no sharing tip amounts unless sharing those tips with others” policy, or since it’s just a few customers, deliver those orders yourself.
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This might work.

No disclosure of tip amounts to anyone.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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this is a sticky situation, there is federal law that prohibits tip pooling among non service employees (cooks, dishwasher, etc)
We went to a “No Tipping Allowed” rule, even for deliveries, My drivers are trustworthy though, so this may not work in all situations due to greed or dishonesty.

Now, we do have a non-disclosure agreement that all employees must sign, and it is very clear that discussing what you make hourly is an offense that will end in termination.
Tips & payrates have always been the cause of major animosity in every restaurant that I have been in,
 
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we also have a rule that there is to be no discussion between employees with regard to tipping…good or bad! I also apply this to bonuses and pay rates and it helps avoid many problems I had in the past
 
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GotRocks said:
this is a sticky situation, there is federal law that prohibits tip pooling among non service employees (cooks, dishwasher, etc)
We went to a “No Tipping Allowed” rule, even for deliveries, My drivers are trustworthy though, so this may not work in all situations due to greed or dishonesty.

Now, we do have a non-disclosure agreement that all employees must sign, and it is very clear that discussing what you make hourly is an offense that will end in termination.
Tips & payrates have always been the cause of major animosity in every restaurant that I have been in,
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There are a lot of states that have laws preventing the employee agreement you have. If anyone is thinking of this research it first.
https://www.dol.gov/wb/media/pay_secrecy.pdf
 
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CapeCodder said:
There are a lot of states that have laws preventing the employee agreement you have. If anyone is thinking of this research it first.
https://www.dol.gov/wb/media/pay_secrecy.pdf
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Interesting, did anyone else notice a common factor in the states listed in that fact sheet?

The reason I do not like employees discussing their pay is that there are very specific reason some may get higher pay than others, mostly how much they contribute to the workplace,
 
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In CO that clause is illegal (verified it on the link lol). I have in the past told employers to shove it when they say we couldn’t talk about pay because it was illegal for them to say that. Never once did i get fired for it. I always ended up leaving those jobs for better paying one’s anyways.

Honestly i don’t care if my employees talk about their pay. I have made it very clear from the start, you do your job, you show up on time, and you do not cause problems you will get pay raises and promotions.
 
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Huge tips always make me wonder what other services the driver provided… Did they stop and pick up beer?

On the other hand, we also see this from time to time, especially as you note, when delivering to other businesses. The person paying for the order is not spending their own money and often we see 15%-20% tips… so easily could run $50 on a 15 pie order. Restaurants or other businesses that also receive tips are particularly likely to do this.

A solution (as mentioned by another above) might be for the owner or manager to deliver all orders above a certain threshold and share the tip
 
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We have a strict first in first out policy and also they don’t get to chose what deliveries they take. They take the oldest delivery first and grab whatever else is going in that direction. It keeps the fighting and pettiness away there is no straying from this I also don’t allow dibs on certain deliveries. First driver in is the first driver that leaves back out first. My guys are real good at sticking to this policy it’s become an automatic habit.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
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Georgiascp said:
We have a strict first in first out policy and also they don’t get to chose what deliveries they take. They take the oldest delivery first and grab whatever else is going in that direction. It keeps the fighting and pettiness away there is no straying from this I also don’t allow dibs on certain deliveries. First driver in is the first driver that leaves back out first. My guys are real good at sticking to this policy it’s become an automatic habit.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
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We have the same policy. Even if the 2nd delivery is ready, the first driver has to wait for the 1st (oldest) delivery. The 2nd driver in line can then skip the first driver since their order is ready. Our bone-in wings pass through the oven 2x so orders with those take longer.
 
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First in first out policy isnt the issue. Who ever takes the big tip delivery is laughing having a great time while the other guy takes on an aire of 'Im going to have an attitude all day"

I think since I cant leave the store to take these deliveries, my best bet is to simply ask the few customers who give the guys extra big tips to bring it down to a more reasonable level
 
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