Tip pools and large-party gratuity
Tip pools your team can read, and a gratuity for large parties
A tip pool is only fair if everyone can see how it was worked out. Mosey splits a pool by a method you choose, locks the result and shows each person only their own share. For big tables, a gratuity can be added to the bill where the state allows it, and it goes to staff in full.
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Who gets what from the tip jar, and can they see why?
Few things sour a kitchen faster than a tip split nobody can explain. A manager works it out on a Sunday night, a cook thinks it is short, and there is no record to look at. A written method that everyone can see is the fix.
How a tip pool works in Mosey
You choose a pay period, and Mosey gathers the card tips for it. Cash tips are added by hand, with a note saying where the number came from. Delivery tips stay out of the pool because they belong to the driver.
Then you pick one of three ways to split it. By hours is the default. By role share gives each group of roles a percentage that has to add up to 100% and then shares inside the group by hours or equally. Manual lets you set every amount, and it must add up exactly to the pool, every cent given to someone.
The split is worked out once, by the server, to the cent, and the shares always add up to the pool. The browser never works out a share, and what you see in a preview is exactly what is saved.
A pool moves from draft to finalized to paid. Finalizing locks the shares and snapshots the hours, so a later change to a timesheet or a refund cannot move anyone's number. Reopening needs a reason. Only an owner or manager can finalize or reopen, and nobody can finalize or edit their own row.
What your staff see
Each person sees only their own finalized or paid share: the amount, the pool total, the method, the hours or the role they were counted under, the paid date and the written policy that applied. They do not see anyone else's share, and they never see a draft.
Mosey warns and does not block. If managers are sharing in the pool or no written policy is on file, you get a note that says "this may not be allowed" or "worth checking", not a verdict. A short neutral policy template is there to edit and save.
The shares go out with your hours file as a "tip share to pay" column. No money moves through Mosey and there is no fee for the pool; you pay tips through your own payroll.
A gratuity for large parties, and what it is
Some owners add a fixed gratuity for a big table. In Mosey it is a setting you turn on yourself: a party size you choose from 4 up to 40, and a percentage from 1% to 20%. It starts at a party of 6 and 18%. The bill reads "Gratuity 18% (party of 6 or more, paid to staff)", and the guest sees it with the prices before ordering.
It is called a gratuity because all of it goes to staff, through the tip pool as a mandatory amount. It is never your revenue, and Mosey takes no commission on it. A bill that carries it asks for no further tip.
A business does not run this and a service charge together. If a service charge is on, the gratuity setting refuses, and the other way round.
How the tax treatment differs by state
Mosey taxes the gratuity with the meal unless the state's own official text says a staff-paid gratuity is left out. Where it has not read an official source, it taxes the gratuity, because tax charged by mistake can be refunded and tax not collected cannot.
New York leaves a mandatory gratuity out when it is shown separately, labeled a gratuity and given in full to employees. Texas leaves out a reasonable mandatory gratuity of up to 20%. Pennsylvania excludes a separately stated gratuity. California taxes an amount that is added to the bill automatically. This is why the percentage never goes above 20%.
Check the treatment with your accountant before you rely on it. Mosey follows the table; it does not give tax advice.
Where the rules differ
A state or a city can change what is allowed. This is what Mosey does in the states that differ most.
- New York City
- The gratuity can only apply to a party of 8 or more. Mosey will not save a smaller party size, and a smaller one saved earlier is not applied until you change it. A New York business whose address cannot be placed is treated as being in the city.
- Massachusetts and Minnesota
- A service charge that the business keeps is off in both states, so the large-party gratuity paid to staff is the only added charge a business can use there.
- Colorado
- A business may show its own service charge, worded "This service charge is not a tip and is not paid to staff. The business keeps it". It is not the same thing as the gratuity, and the two do not run together.
- Illinois
- The gratuity needs the tip pool switched on, because the pool's payout records are the proof that it was paid to staff.
Rules change. Check any rule that matters to you with your accountant or adviser.
What Mosey is about
Affordable tools for food businesses
Tools priced for independents and small chains, not for the big groups.
A full suite, in one login
The tools a restaurant, café or bar needs sit together, so you are not paying for a stack of separate subscriptions.
You keep more of your revenue
Mosey is built so that more of every sale stays with the business that made it.
Free to list and claim
Your menu, your replies to guests and your photos cost nothing to put on Mosey.
No hidden fees
What Mosey charges is published, in full, so nothing arrives as a surprise on a statement.
Made for local food businesses
Mosey helps diners find independent food businesses by dish and mood, and lets people rate what they actually ate.
Questions owners ask
Can I run a tip pool in Mosey?
Yes. You pick a pay period and a split method, Mosey gathers the card tips, you add cash by hand, and the result is locked when you finalize it.
Which ways can I split a pool?
By hours, by role share with percentages that total 100%, or manually with amounts that add up exactly to the pool.
Do my staff see each other's tips?
No. Each person sees only their own finalized or paid share and the policy that applied.
Does Mosey pay the tips out?
No. Mosey records the shares and puts them in your hours file. You pay them through your own payroll.
Is a service charge the same as a tip?
No. A service charge is the business's own charge, shown as its own line on the bill, and it is not a tip. In Colorado the bill says plainly that it is not paid to staff and that the business keeps it. Mosey keeps service charges off in Massachusetts and Minnesota. A tip goes to staff in full, and so does a gratuity added for a large party, which is pooled as a mandatory amount.
Can I add a gratuity for a party in New York City?
Only for a party of 8 or more, and it has to be disclosed before anyone orders. Mosey will not save a smaller party size there, and a smaller one saved earlier is not applied until you change it.
Is the gratuity taxed?
It depends on the state. Mosey leaves it out of the taxable price only where the state's official text supports that, and taxes it otherwise.
Does Mosey take a commission on the gratuity?
No. It is staff money, not your revenue.
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