Tip-Out Percentage Calculator

Enter your sales and tip-out percentage to see what you owe.

Result

$72.00
$1,728.00
4.00%

How it is calculated

The tool takes your total sales for the shift and the tip-out percentage and computes tip-out = sales × percent ÷ 100. It also prints sales − tip-out under the label for what you keep, and echoes the percentage. Read that second figure carefully: it is the sales total minus the tip-out, not your tips, because the tool has no field for tips received. To see what you actually keep, take the tip-out result and subtract it from your own tips. Sales must be above zero and the percentage cannot be negative. If your house splits the tip-out between several roles, such as bussers and bartenders, add their percentages together first. Amounts are shown with a dollar sign.

Worked example

Your sales for the night were 1800 and the house asks for 4 percent. Tip-out: 1800 × 4 ÷ 100 = 72, shown as $72.00. The tool also shows 1800 − 72 = $1,728.00 as the remaining sales figure and 4.00% as the rate. If you were tipped $310 that night, you would keep 310 − 72 = $238 once the support staff are paid, which you work out yourself because the tool does not take tips as an input.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Applying the percentage to your tips instead of your sales. A tip-out based on sales stays the same on a night with poor tips, so a slow night can make it a large share of your tips.
  • Reading the second figure as your take-home tips. It is sales minus tip-out, so it is far bigger than what you earned in tips.
  • Entering sales that include tax or that exclude comps and discounts when your house defines the base differently. Use the same base your employer uses.
  • Forgetting that several roles each get a percentage. If bussers get 3 and bartenders get 2, enter 5 as one combined rate.
  • Typing the rate as a decimal such as 0.04. The field takes percent, so 4 means 4 percent.

About this calculator

In many restaurants, servers don't keep 100% of the tips they receive — they "tip out" a set percentage of their total sales (not just their tips) to support staff like bussers, bartenders, and food runners. A common structure might be 3% of sales to bussers and 2% to bartenders, taken off the top regardless of how much the server was actually tipped that shift.

This calculator multiplies your total sales by the tip-out percentage to find exactly how much you owe support staff, and also shows your sales figure after that tip-out is taken off. It does not ask for your tips, so to see what you actually keep, subtract the tip-out amount from the tips you received. Servers and bartenders use it to double-check tip-out math at the end of a shift, especially on busy nights when doing it by hand is error-prone.

Was this helpful?

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Some houses calculate the tip-out on net sales after comps and discounts, others on tips rather than sales. This tool only multiplies the sales figure you type, so if your restaurant uses tips as the base, apply the same percentage to your tip total by hand. Ask your manager which base is written into the policy before you rely on any end-of-shift number. Which base does your restaurant use: gross sales, net sales or tips?

Popular calculators

All Calculators