Last updated: Dec 2, 2025, 6:00 PM
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The federal government outlines tip pooling regulations in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). State and local governments may have their own regulations too. Prior to setting up tip pools and/or shares for your restaurant within Toast Web, you should consult an HR professional and consider federal, state, and local laws when defining your restaurant's tip policy and distribution rules.
With Toast Online Ordering, guests have the option to leave a tip when checking out. By setting up a generic online ordering server (a non-human employee), tips and gratuities collected through online ordering sales can be pooled with Toast Tips Manager to distribute back to clocked-in employees.
If you have previously configured online ordering in Toast, it's still important to review these steps for best practices in setting up the product.
| To successfully pool and/or share tips from online orders using Toast Tips Manager, follow this article all the way through the end of the Assign the Employee to Online Orders section. Then choose to either set up the default or custom online ordering pool. |
To create a generic online ordering job, follow these steps:
Now that you have created your generic online ordering job let's create a generic employee for it. If you already have a generic online ordering employee, make sure it has the same online ordering job you just created before you continue.
To create a generic online ordering employee, follow these steps:
Now that you have a generic employee assigned to a generic job, it's time to add them to your online ordering settings.
Once you create both a job and an employee specific to online ordering, then we need to assign the employee to all online orders.
Our final step to setting up online ordering tip pooling will be to create the rule that distributes these tips.
Once you've set up your generic online ordering employee, job, and assignment, the last step is to create an online ordering pool. Navigate to Employees > Payroll management > Tip pooling policy. You have two options at this point:
Note: Service charges cannot be applied to online orders exclusively. Any service charge created can be applied to applicable online and POS-entered orders. Takeout service charges are also be applied to curbside pickup orders.
A takeout service charge will appear to guests at checkout within the Taxes & Fees line item.
If the guest selects the ? button next to Taxes & Fees in the image above, they will see a screen similar to this. If an online ordering service charge was assigned to the owner of a check, it will appear in the Gratuities tile. If it's assigned to the restaurant, it will appear in the Service Fee tile.
A delivery service charge will appear to guests at checkout as Delivery Cost, even if you named this service charge differently.
UberEats, Grubhub, and DoorDash delivery services cannot be built into Toast Tips Manager because third-party delivery service tips are paid to the drivers of those companies and not Toast restaurants. However, this is only for delivery orders placed through these services. Tips on takeout orders will be paid out to your restaurant and will be a part of your online ordering policy. Tips on orders placed through other third-party online ordering services (Chowly, ChowNow, etc.) can also be a part of your online ordering policy.
With this in mind, build your online ordering rules as you would any other Tip Manager rules. If an online ordering policy is not set up, takeout tips from UberEats, Grubhub, and DoorDash along with all tips from other third-party online ordering services will not be distributed to your staff.