Running a successful restaurant business involves more than just offering mouth-watering dishes and providing top-notch services. Managing your customers’ tips is critical to ensuring that your establishment runs smoothly. In this regard, automatic gratuity can be your savior, an easy-to-use feature that guarantees consistency in tipping for your staff. This blog post will dive deep into what automatic gratuity entails, how to set it up, and when to use it.
What is Automatic Gratuity?
Automatic gratuity is a programmed percentage automatically added to a customer’s bill, which goes directly to the server or staff who rendered the service. It is mainly used in large group settings where a party of five or more visits the restaurant. The automatic service charge is 15-20% of the total bill cost. This feature helps restaurant managers avoid discrepancies when dividing tips among their staff, minimizing disputes and conflict.
Setting Up Automatic Gratuity
Setting up automatic gratuity is a relatively straightforward process and depends on your point of sale (POS) system. When you select the percentage you would like to charge your customers. 15-20% is an industry-standard, but you can choose the percentage that best suits your restaurant’s needs. Finally, test the feature to ensure that it functions correctly and that it is included in your menu.
When to Use Automatic Gratuity
One of the instances where automatic gratuity comes in handy is when serving large groups; they can quickly become cumbersome and make it challenging to manage the division of tip money. Another occasion for automatic gratuity is special events, such as weddings, birthdays, and corporate events. Using automatic gratuity helps to ensure that all your staff is compensated equally and fairly.
Pros and Cons of Using Automatic Gratuity
Like any other feature, automatic gratuity has its pros and cons. One of the main advantages of using the automatic gratuity feature is that it ensures your staff gets compensated for their hard work. However, using automatic gratuity may not be well-received by your customers, especially if the percentage charged is relatively high. It may also make customers feel obligated to pay the extra charge regardless of the service they received. As a restaurant owner or manager, consider the needs of your establishment and evaluate the potential impacts of the automatic gratuity feature.
In conclusion, managing and dividing tips can be a challenging task. However, the automatic gratuity feature provides a solution. It helps you avoid potential disputes between staff and customers and enables you to provide consistent compensation to your employees. With its benefits, it’s no surprise that more and more restaurants are incorporating this feature into their services. However, it’s essential to consider the pros and cons before using automatic gratuity to ensure that it aligns with your establishment’s needs. Hopefully, this blog post provided a helpful guide to restaurant owners and managers on what automatic gratuity entails and how it can be used to streamline their operations.