Restaurant Tip Pool Calculator
Set a percentage or fixed tip pool, then divide each group’s tips by hours and tip weight.
Start with one Tip Period. Add another when a shift or service needs its own pool. Servers and Tip Pool Recipients are calculated separately within every period.
This calculator performs tip-pool arithmetic only. Tip-pooling rules and employee eligibility vary by jurisdiction. Verify applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
Saving is optional and includes the names, roles and financial inputs you enter. It stays in this browser on this device and does not sync. Only save on a device you trust.
A worked example
Hypothetical inputs, not a recommended policy or an eligibility decision. The names below are generic example labels.
Total Tips of $500 with a 20% Tip Pool leaves $400 for Servers and $100 for Tip Pool Recipients.
| Name | Tip Weight | Hours | Portion | Final Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee A | 100% | 5 | 5 | $250.00 |
| Employee B | 50% | 6 | 3 | $150.00 |
Total server portion is 8. Employee A receives 5/8 of $400; Employee B receives 3/8.
| Name | Tip Weight | Hours | Portion | Final Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee C | 100% | 4 | 4 | $66.67 |
| Employee D | 50% | 4 | 2 | $33.33 |
Total recipient portion is 6. The remaining cent goes to Employee C’s larger fractional remainder. The two payouts sum to exactly $100.00.
How the calculation works
Tip Pool sets how much of Total Tips goes to Tip Pool Recipients. In Percentage mode, multiply Total Tips by the selected percentage and round that pool to the nearest cent, with half cents rounded up. In Fixed Amount mode, enter the pool directly in dollars and cents. The Server Pool is always Total Tips minus the Tip Pool. You never enter the Server Pool separately.
Employee Tip Weight % has a different job: it changes that employee’s share per hour inside their group. Portion = Hours × Tip Weight / 100. For example, 8.25 hours at 90% gives a portion of 7.425. Weights need not add up to 100%; each one must be between 0 and 100.
Each group uses only its own total portion. Before cent allocation, an employee’s tip is Group Pool × Employee Portion ÷ Group Total Portion. Role names and custom display labels do not change the arithmetic or determine eligibility.
With $426.78 in Total Tips and a 30% pool, the Tip Pool is $128.03 and the Server Pool is $298.75. With a fixed $120 pool instead, the Server Pool is $306.78. Displayed shares reflect the actual cent amounts, rounded to two percentage decimals. Shares are shown as a dash when Total Tips is zero.
Rounding and unallocated money
Portions and allocation ratios retain exact decimal precision. Each group’s payouts are first floored to whole cents; leftover cents go to the largest fractional remainders. Equal remainders are resolved by row order within that group and period. A $10 pool split between three equal portions therefore pays $3.34, $3.33 and $3.33.
If a positive pool has no positive portions, it remains unallocated. Enter the missing hours or weights, or review the pool amount. The calculator never distributes that money arbitrarily. Total Distributed plus Unallocated Amount always equals Total Tips.
Independent periods
Period names are your choice. Every period has its own tips, allocation method, employees, hours and weights. Combined Summary adds the completed period results; it never recalculates one larger pool. Matching trimmed employee names in the same group are combined, with case preserved. Use distinct labels for different people with the same name. Blank names remain separate.
Blank numeric fields count as zero. Money accepts up to two decimal places. Use nonnegative decimal hours and weights from 0 to 100. A fixed Tip Pool cannot exceed Total Tips. Changing the pool method clears its value so a percentage cannot accidentally become a dollar amount.
Related owner questions
Tip allocation and labor budgeting answer different questions. If you also need to compare forecast sales with planned labor costs, use the Weekly Labor Budget Planner or read Turn a sales forecast into department labor budgets. Return to all owner tools.
Eligibility and applicable rules
The calculator does not decide who may participate, whether a manager or supervisor is eligible, whether a tip credit or mandatory pool is lawful, or whether wages meet applicable requirements. It does not treat a role name as permission to receive tips. Review U.S. Department of Labor guidance on tipped employees and the requirements applicable to your location before using a distribution.
Data & privacy
Calculations run in your browser. This calculator does not send employee names, roles, hours, tips or any other entered values to a server, analytics service or AI model. It makes no requests when you edit or calculate. Optional Save stores only this calculator’s settings in this browser; Reset deletes those settings without clearing other calculators. No login, account or database is required. Read our Privacy page.