What is tip sharing?

Question

I want to get a job as a waitress and i hear about things like tip sharing. does this happen alot? what kinds of restraunts should i avoid with this?

Answer 1

Usually "tip sharing" or tip out is just at the end of the night a waitress tips the bar and busser (sometimes hosts, but rarely) depending on their sales for the night.  This is how the bartenders and bussers make their money.  This is very standard at most places.  There are few places that pool all the tips and split them evenly at the end of the night.  Those are the places you want to stay away from.

Answer 2

Most restaurants will have a tip out at the end of the night, where the servers will share their tips with the bussers, bartenders, food runners that helped that night.  Tip sharing is usually when the servers pool all the tips together and split them at the end of the shift.  I have worked in a few places where this worked out great.  It encourages the servers to help each other out, and, I think, provide better service.  There is no "that's not my table" attitude...there seems to be more team work.

Answer 3

Bailey is right on the money

Every restaurant I have worked at (chain or mom&pop) does this.  but some places let you choose how much and others tell you what percentage of your sales.

Answer 4

I have to agree with both of the previous posts - stay away from restaurants that tell you exactly how much you have to tip - Outback Steak House is a good example: they automatically take 10% of your total SALES (not how much you made) and put it into a pot which is shared between bar, busers and host.

Good rule of thumb is to tip your Bar 10% of your tip earnings and the buser 15%