Tip pooling is the simplest way of collecting tips earned by a role and redistributing them within the same group or among additional employees. Tip pools are based on tips and/or gratuity and usually not on the percentage of a sales category.
In addition to federal regulations regarding tips, such as those found in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Fact Sheet #15, some state and local governments have implemented their own tip pooling regulations. We recommend you check federal, state, and local laws on tipping prior to creating a tip policy for your restaurant.
Note that according to the Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a valid tip pool may not include employees who do not customarily and regularly receive tips. In some states, restaurants can pay their tipped employees a reduced wage of a minimum of $2.13/hour, so long as the combination of the employees' wages and tips bring the employee's hourly wage up to the requisite minimum wage. This is known as a tip credit. It is important to check what additional tip credit regulations may be applicable to you when choosing whether to utilize a tip credit.