Setting up venues FAQ

Quick answers about adding a venue, choosing its type and getting its settings right. Each answer links to the full guide.

What's the difference between a frontline and a dependent venue?

A frontline venue collects its own tips from customers; a dependent venue receives a share of one or more frontline venues' tips and never collects any itself. Most pubs, restaurants, cafés and bars are frontline. A dependent venue is for a team that supports several venues, a pool you want to set aside, or a group that needs different rules. See Frontline and dependent venues.

How do I add a new venue?

In the admin view, open Venues and choose Add Venue at the top right. One page opens: pick the kind of venue, fill in its details, then choose Create venue at the bottom. If the button isn't there, your role doesn't include Create and update venues; ask whoever manages users in your business. A dependent venue needs at least one frontline venue first. See Create a venue.

Where do I change a venue's settings?

In the admin view: open Venues, choose the venue, then the Tip Rules tab (departments, tip allocation, daily or weekly, staff settings) or the Venue Timings tab (service periods and Custom Hours). There's no settings page in the venue view. Each venue has its own settings, and changing one venue never changes another. Each section has its own Edit and Save; if Save is refused, a business admin can make the change. See Tip Rules and Venue Timings.

What happens to tips if I change a department's share mid-week?

The new percentages apply to the whole tip period that's still in progress, including the days already worked, because Tip Sheet recalculates it. Locked and paid periods keep the figures they were paid on. Any earlier week that isn't locked changes too, so lock it first if its figures are final. See Departments.

Why did a shift earn nothing after I changed the cut-off time?

Anyone whose shift starts at or after a service's cut-off earns nothing from that service. The new time applies to every day of the periods still in progress, not just from today. Move the cut-off later if that wasn't intended. For a single day, such as a public holiday, use Custom Hours instead. See Tip earning hours.

How do I share one kitchen team's tips across several venues?

Create a dependent venue for the kitchen team, and have each frontline venue they cook for give it a share. The team then splits that share by their own hours and tip points. Remove or zero the Kitchen department in each frontline venue, or the kitchen is paid twice. The same works for any team shared between venues. See Frontline and dependent venues.

How do I give head office or shared services staff a share of every venue's tips?

Create one dependent venue for them, such as an events or reservations team, and have every frontline venue give it a share. Each frontline venue can give a different figure. The team then splits what it receives among themselves under their own settings, with their own tip sheet and payout. See Frontline and dependent venues.

Can I set aside a share of tips in a house pool or slush fund?

There's no separate slush fund in Tip Sheet, but a dependent venue can do the job. Create a dependent venue with no timesheet system, add a single staff record by hand (named House, say), and it receives the whole share from each frontline venue. Then either give that record your business's own bank details, so the bank file pays the pool into your account, or answer No to Does this venue pay out tips to staff? in its Paying tips section, so the pool is held back and nobody is paid from it. The share shows as a deduction on each contributing venue's tip sheet. See Frontline and dependent venues and Add staff by hand.

What is a withholding venue?

A withholding venue is a dependent venue that doesn't pay out tips: it holds its share back from the frontline venues' payouts instead. You make one by answering No to Does this venue pay out tips to staff? in its Paying tips section, then choosing to leave the tips in each frontline venue's account or move them to another account. It shows Withholding venue beside its name, has no bank file of its own and can't be part of a pay run. A dependent venue that pays its staff through payroll isn't one: that's Yes, then Another way. See Tips held back, not paid out.

Can one team use a different tip split from the rest of the venue?

Yes, by moving that team into its own dependent venue. A venue has one set of rules, so a kitchen that should share equally by hours can't sit alongside a floor that uses tip points. As a dependent venue, the team receives its share and applies its own calculation and tip points to it. If you only want a bigger or smaller slice of the pool, a department does that with far less setup. See Frontline and dependent venues.

How much does a dependent venue take from a frontline venue?

Whatever you set: a percentage of each day's tips, or a fixed dollar amount per week. It comes off the frontline venue's whole pool, including cash and service charges, before anything is shared among that venue's staff. You set the figures when you create the dependent venue and can change them later, though switching between percentage and dollar amount clears them. See Dependent venue settings.

Can a dependent venue have its own POS?

No. A dependent venue can't connect a POS, because it never takes tips from customers; its tips arrive as a share from frontline venues. It can connect a timesheet system, but only if you said it has one when you created it. See Frontline and dependent venues.

Can I change a venue from frontline to dependent later?

No. A venue's type is chosen once, when it's created, and can't be changed. So are a dependent venue's timesheet choice and its daily or weekly calculation. To switch, create a new venue of the right type, then archive the old one from its profile's Danger zone once its last tip period is locked; archiving makes all its staff inactive. See Create a venue and Archive a venue.

How do I set different hours for a public holiday or event?

Use the Custom Hours calendar, on the venue's Venue Timings tab. An event replaces the service periods and tip earning hours for its dates only; every other day keeps the defaults. You can't add or change an event on a date in a locked or paid period. See Custom Hours.

How do I change what staff see in their payout email?

Open the venue in the admin view and choose the Customise Payout Email tab. Tick the figures you want on the report; Total Tips always shows. Emails sent from a pay run use a separate template, under Pay Runs. See Payout email and settings.