Restaurant guides

Tips, pooling & payroll, made clear

Plain-English guides for restaurant owners and managers — the law, the math, and the mechanics of splitting tips fairly.

Compliance Guide

Tip Pooling Laws: The Complete Guide

Who can legally share in a tip pool, the manager/owner rule, tip credits, and the FLSA basics every operator should know.

Read the guide →
State-by-State Index

Tip Pooling Laws by State

Every state's tip-credit status at a glance, with links to full guides for the states we cover in depth.

Read the guide →
State Guide · California

California Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit, tips belong to staff, and who's allowed in a pool — the California-specific rules that differ from federal law.

Read the guide →
State Guide · New York

New York Tip Pooling Laws

The Hospitality Wage Order, tip credits, eligible occupations, and who can share — New York's specific tip rules.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Texas

Texas Tip Pooling Laws

The $2.13 tipped wage, tip-credit pooling limits, credit-card fee rules, and who's excluded — Texas follows the federal baseline.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Florida

Florida Tip Pooling Laws

Florida's rising minimum wage, the fixed $3.02 tip credit, pooling eligibility, and card-fee rules for restaurant operators.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Illinois

Illinois Tip Pooling Laws

The 60% tipped wage, Chicago's tip-credit phase-out, the no-card-fee-deduction rule, and the 13-day payment deadline.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Washington

Washington Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit, tips on top of a high minimum wage, broad pool eligibility, and Washington's card-fee rule.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Nevada

Nevada Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit, employer-mandated pools upheld in court, and who can legally share — Nevada's tip rules for hospitality.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Tip Pooling Laws

The $2.83 cash wage, the $135 tipped threshold, the 80/20 rule, and Pennsylvania's ban on card-fee deductions.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Ohio

Ohio Tip Pooling Laws

The inflation-indexed half-minimum tipped wage, the small-employer carve-out, and who can share in an Ohio pool.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Georgia

Georgia Tip Pooling Laws

Federal rules govern in Georgia — the $2.13 cash wage, the full 80/20 framework, and who can legally share.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Arizona

Arizona Tip Pooling Laws

The flat $3.00 tip credit, an inflation-indexed state minimum, city overlays, and Arizona pool eligibility.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Colorado

Colorado Tip Pooling Laws

The $3.02 tip credit, the COMPS Order, Denver's higher wage, and Colorado's written-notice rule for pools.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Massachusetts

Massachusetts Tip Pooling Laws

The Tips Act's wait-staff-only pools, the $6.75 service rate, per-shift reconciliation, and the service-charge rule.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Oregon

Oregon Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit, three regional wage tiers that move every July, and Oregon's broad pool eligibility.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Minnesota

Minnesota Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit — and no employer-mandated pools. How Minnesota's voluntary-only tip sharing actually works.

Read the guide →
State Guide · New Jersey

New Jersey Tip Pooling Laws

A rising tipped cash wage, a CPI-adjusted state minimum, and how pool eligibility shifts with the tip credit.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Michigan

Michigan Tip Pooling Laws

The 2025 law that kept the tip credit, a cash wage stepping up every year to 2031, and who can share.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Virginia

Virginia Tip Pooling Laws

A $2.13 cash wage against a much higher state minimum — why Virginia's tip-credit gap is the biggest trap.

Read the guide →
State Guide · North Carolina

North Carolina Tip Pooling Laws

The $2.13 cash wage and North Carolina's unique rule: pooled employees must keep at least 85% of their tips.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Tennessee

Tennessee Tip Pooling Laws

A federal-rules state with one twist: Tennessee law says posted gratuities and tips belong to the staff.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Connecticut

Connecticut Tip Pooling Laws

Two different cash wages — one for wait staff, one for bartenders — and a strict duties-segregation rule.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Alaska

Alaska Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit, a minimum wage stepping up to $15 by 2027 — and the broader pools that come with it.

Read the guide →
State Guide · Montana

Montana Tip Pooling Laws

No tip credit and an inflation-indexed minimum wage — plus the broader pools that no-credit states allow.

Read the guide →
Toast POS Guide

Setting Up Tip-Outs with Toast

What Toast tracks, where the manual math creeps in, and how to turn Toast data into accurate, automatic tip-outs.

Read the guide →
Operations Guide

How Restaurant Tip-Outs Work

Percentage of sales vs. tips, typical rates by role, pooling methods, and how to keep the split fair and transparent.

Read the guide →
Operations Guide

How to Turn Slow Restaurant Nights Around

Find your slowest weekdays with data, source event ideas from your own staff, and run weeknight promotions that actually pay for themselves.

Read the guide →
Buyer's Guide

Restaurant Tip Management Software: How to Stop Paying for Two Apps

Why restaurants often pay for two separate tools, how to evaluate consolidation, and what to look for in tip management software.

Read the guide →
Guide

POS vs Cash Register: Which One Actually Makes Sense for Your Business in 2026?

POS vs Cash Register: Which One Actually Makes Sense for Your Business in 2026?

Read the guide →
Guide

What Is a POS Ticketing System? (And Do You Actually Need One?)

What Is a POS Ticketing System? (And Do You Actually Need One?)

Read the guide →
Guide

Restaurant Payroll Percentage: What's Normal, How to Calculate It, and When to Worry

Restaurant Payroll Percentage: What's Normal, How to Calculate It, and When to Worry

Read the guide →
Guide

What Is a Traditional POS System? (And Should You Still Buy One in 2026?)

What Is a Traditional POS System? (And Should You Still Buy One in 2026?)

Read the guide →
Guide

What Restaurant Owners Need to Know About TIPS Certification in 2026

What Restaurant Owners Need to Know About TIPS Certification in 2026

Read the guide →

How Divvy compares

See how Divvy stacks up against the other tip-management tools restaurants use.

Put fair tips on autopilot

Divvy connects to Toast, Square, and Clover and splits every dollar to the penny — with a transparent trail your whole team can trust.

14-day free trial · no credit card required