Tip pool (tronc) calculator.
Split tips fairly between front-of-house and back-of-house by hours worked, with a custom percentage split. No more end-of-shift arguments.
For this shift / week
Defaults assume a busy weekend at a small café.
Per-hour share
How this calculator works (the same formula nouz uses)
Splitting tips evenly across everyone penalises part-timers and quietly rewards whoever left early. Splitting by sales punishes the person stuck on a slow shift. Splitting by hours worked is the standard most modern cafes and restaurants use, because it ties each person's share to the time they actually put in that day. This calculator takes the total tips, divides them between front-of-house and back-of-house by a percentage you choose, then converts each pool into a fair per-hour rate.
FOH pool = total tips × FOH share %
FOH per-hour = FOH pool ÷ total FOH hours
The same two lines apply to back-of-house with the remaining share. Each person's take is simply their hours multiplied by their role's per-hour rate.
A worked example
Defaults: €540 in total tips, 96 front-of-house hours, 48 back-of-house hours, and a 70% FOH share. The FOH pool is 540 × 70% = €378; the BOH pool is the remaining €162. Divide each by its hours: FOH earns 378 ÷ 96 = €3.94 per hour, and BOH earns 162 ÷ 48 = €3.38 per hour. A barista who worked 30 hours that week would take 30 × 3.94 = €118.20.
What a healthy split looks like
| Venue type | Typical FOH / BOH |
|---|---|
| Coffee bar, counter service | 80/20 to 100% FOH |
| Full-service restaurant | 60/40, sometimes 50/50 |
| Casual / bistro | 70/30 (the classic default) |
| Quick-service / self-service | Often pooled equally across roles |
There is no universally "correct" split — it depends on how much the kitchen contributes to the experience. The rule of thumb: the more the food and the kitchen drive why people come and tip, the more BOH deserves. Agree the percentage openly with the team before the shift, not after the tips are counted. A useful sanity check is the per-hour gap between roles: if FOH earns €3.94 an hour and BOH earns €3.38 an hour, as in the example above, most teams read that as fair; a gap of several euros an hour usually means the percentage is out of step with how the work is really shared.
Common mistakes
- Treating tips as shop revenue. Tips are the staff's money passing through your till, not your income. They are never part of your sales or profit — do not let them inflate a daily revenue figure.
- Splitting evenly regardless of hours. A flat per-head split rewards the person who worked two hours the same as the one who worked ten. Hours-worked keeps it fair.
- Changing the split after a good night. Deciding the percentages once the tips are on the table breeds resentment. Set the rule in advance and keep it stable.
- Ignoring tip tax rules. In Austria, Germany, and most of the EU tips have specific tax treatment, often exempt up to a threshold. This tool handles fairness, not tax — how you actually pay them out is a question for your accountant.
When to use it — and what's next
Run it at the end of a shift or a week to end the end-of-night arguments with a number everyone can check. Because tips are not shop revenue, keep them out of your profit tracking entirely — your real margin comes from sales, costs, and fixed overhead, which is what a proper daily P&L measures. See how nouz separates staff tips from actual profit in the interactive demo so the two never get tangled.
Common questions
How does the tip pool calculator split tips fairly?
It splits the total tips between front-of-house and back-of-house using a percentage you set, then divides each pool by the hours that role worked to get a per-hour rate. Each person takes their own hours multiplied by their role rate, so time worked, not headcount or sales, decides the share.
Are pooled tips part of my cafe revenue or profit?
No. Tips are the staff members money passing through your till on the way to them, not income for the business. They should never appear in your sales, revenue, or profit figures. Keeping tips separate from your daily P&L is what stops them from inflating a revenue number that was never really yours.
What FOH to BOH split should I use?
It depends on the venue. Counter-service coffee bars often run 80/20 or fully front-of-house, full-service restaurants with a strong kitchen contribution lean toward 60/40 or 50/50, and the classic casual default is 70/30. The more the kitchen drives why people come and tip, the larger the back-of-house share should be.
Why split by hours worked rather than evenly?
An even, per-head split pays someone who worked two hours the same as someone who worked ten, which rewards short shifts and no-shows. Splitting by hours ties each share to actual time contributed that day, which most staff accept as the fairest method and which ends most end-of-shift disputes.
Does this calculator handle tip taxes?
No. In Austria, Germany, and most EU countries tips have specific tax treatment, often exempt up to a per-shift threshold, and the rules vary by country. This is a fairness calculator, not a tax calculator. Use it to agree the split, then ask your accountant how to actually pay the tips out correctly.
Can I change the split from week to week?
You can adjust the percentage as your staffing model changes, but agree it before the shift, not after the tips are counted. Setting the split once tips are on the table breeds resentment. A stable, openly agreed rule is what keeps the pool feeling fair, even when one week is far busier than another.