How (and Why) To Write a Restaurant Mission Statement

When you were first inspired to start your own restaurant, what was the spark that made you want to do it? With around 30% of restaurants failing the first year and 60% after three years, it’s important to have a very clear vision for your business. Aside from operational costs, good staff, and the proper location, one often overlooked aspect of success is a restaurant mission statement.

Like any business, your restaurant needs a way to communicate why you’re starting your business in the first place. What’s the need that will be fulfilled by your brand? What’s the purpose that will drive customer loyalty? Establishing your restaurant mission statement will communicate exactly why you’ve decided to open your business in the first place. But there’s more to it than that.

What is a mission statement?

Most businesses have a mission statement. Typically, it’s a sentence or a short paragraph about why the company exists. It’s the beating heart of the institution; not a business plan that explains how the company will make money, but a statement that clearly defines the motivation for why it exists.

Many people confuse a mission statement with a vision statement, and it’s important to establish the difference between the two. While a vision statement focuses on a company’s future, answering the question, “Where are we going?”, a mission statement answers the question, “Why are we here?”

Why every restaurant needs a mission statement

Writing your restaurant’s mission statement is an essential part of your brand’s identity. It’s how your investors, employees, customers, and the media identify what your business is all about.

Your restaurant mission statement may be the first impression new customers will have of your establishment. And it will serve as a constant reminder to your and your employees as to why you started your business. Consider it a rallying cry for your entire restaurant staff to get behind — a unifying factor that will help bring consistency to everyday operations and overall growth.

It’s also a starting point on which to base your vision statement for where you see your operations years down the road.

Examples of restaurant mission statements

We all have our own favorite places to eat. Whether it’s a local dive or an established chain, we have our reasons for loving these restaurants — the great food, the friendly and efficient service, the welcoming atmosphere. These eateries are our favorites because their owners have established their purpose, and they strive daily to reinforce it to their customers and staff.

It doesn’t matter what kind of dining establishment you’re operating—a fast-food chain, a family-owned sit-down restaurant, a deli or a pub or bar—a well-executed restaurant mission statement won’t ensure your business will succeed, but it will provide consistency and purpose that will help establish your brand for the long run.

There’s a reason these eateries have been around for as long as they have. For a little inspiration, peruse these famous restaurant mission statements:

Fast food restaurants

McDonald’s – “McDonald’s brand mission is to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat.”

Dunkin’ Donuts – “Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.”

Arby’s – “To provide an exceptional dining experience that satisfies our guests’ grown-up tastes by being a “Cut-Above” in everything we do.”

Bars, taverns and pubs

Iron Hill Brewery – “Inspire loyalty in both our guests and in our staff.”

Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub – “A passion to serve”

The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog – “To bring the Irish bar into the 21st century.”

Cafe and fast casual restaurants

Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”

Chipotle: “Ensuring that better food, prepared from whole, unprocessed ingredients is accessible to everyone.”

Panera – “Food as it should be. Food should taste good. It should feel good. It should do good things for you and the world around you.”

Family-style restaurants

Medieval Times – “Our valued team is fueled by the passion to provide our guests with genuine hospitality and exciting entertainment. It is our honor and privilege to care for our animals and to be good corporate citizens in our communities.”

Cheesecake Factory – “To create an environment where absolute guest satisfaction is our highest priority.”

P.F. Chang’s – “Celebrate Life. Family. Food.”

Writing your own mission statement

According to Dr. Chris Bart, FCPA, the CEO of Corporate Missions Inc, an international consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations excel in the execution of their strategies, a mission statement consists of three essential ingredients:

Key market: the target audience.
Contribution: the product or service.
Distinction: what makes the product unique or why the audience should buy it over another.

When writing your own restaurant mission statement, you want it to be short and memorable, with clear objectives. This is not something you want to take lightly. Do some soul searching. Spend time thinking about your core values and why you want to open your restaurant. Here are some questions to think about as you write your restaurant mission statement:

Why does my restaurant exist?
What does my restaurant do?
Who do we serve?
What are my restaurant’s goals?
What do we believe in? How do we strive to bring those values to life?
What makes us different than our competitors?

A strong mission statement is memorable and inspiring. It’s a way for customers to trust in your brand and to create loyal, trusting employees. Here are six attributes you should keep in mind as you write:

Accurate – Be concise in what your restaurant will do. If your mission statement doesn’t accurately reflect your restaurant, it might be time to revise some of your operational policies.
Attainable – Having high expectations is great. But make sure your goals are realistic, measurable, and achievable. Simply stating to be the best at something is generic and tough to measure. Be as specific as you can in the goals you set for your restaurant.
Actionable – Not only should your goals be specific, but you should mention how you plan to achieve them.
Concise – Nobody is going to remember a mission statement that’s a page long. It needs to be easily digestible and understood. Try to keep it under five sentences.
Honest – Avoid business jargon as it comes across as insincere. Be simple and honest about what you want your restaurant to be.
Unique – Your mission statement should not sound like your competitors. Millions of restaurants exist already. How is yours different than all of the rest? If your mission statement doesn’t reflect the difference your restaurant is going to make, then it’s not doing its job.

Now that you’re prepared to write your restaurant mission statement, get to writing!

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Industry Trends, Restaurant Management

FAQ: What the “No Tax on Tips” Act Means for Restaurant Operators and Your Restaurant Team

We’ve been talking about “No Tax on Tips” for months, and now it’s a reality. But what exactly does that mean for restaurant operators and their tipped employees?

Signed into law on July 4, 2025, as part of the broader “One Big Beautiful Bill” tax package, the new policy eliminates federal income tax on tipped earnings (up to a cap…along with some other caveats…) for qualifying workers.

While No Tax on Tips garnered widespread support from hospitality employees and employers alike, there’s still a lot of confusion about how it works, who qualifies, and what it means for your restaurant team.

Our FAQ breaks it all down: the fine print, the benefits, the limits—and how you can make sure your team is positioned to take full advantage.

What does “No Tax on Tips” actually mean for my team?

The No Tax on Tips Act has created a new federal income tax deduction — up to $25,000 of “qualified tips” per year for employees in traditionally tipped occupations.

Tipped employees can deduct up to $25,000 in tips from their federal taxable income. (For added context, based on Kickfin customer data, the average tipped employee earns $125 per shift and works 15 shifts per month. That totals $22,500 in annual tip earnings.)
The deduction starts to phase out at $150,000 in annual income.
The deduction is currently restricted to those who earn $160,000 or less in 2025, but that’s expected to change in coming years to account for inflation.
These earnings are assessed based on employees’ income as of December 31, 2024.

Two other important items to note:

Deduction, not exclusion: This is a deduction, not an exclusion. That means all tips still need to be reported; the deduction will be claimed when your employees file their taxes. The deduction is on top of the standard deduction ($16,000 for individuals, $32,000 for married couples filing jointly).
Other taxes still apply: This bill is all about federal income taxes, so Social Security and Medicare taxes still apply. Also, keep in mind that this is a federal tax deduction. States will individually decide whether or not to align with the change.

Which types of tips are eligible?

The bill applies to cash tips—but it’s technically a little broader than that. According to the Senate Finance Committee, “cash tips” includes:

Physical cash tips
Credit card tips
Tips shared through pooled or tip-sharing arrangements

Other types of charges and fees that restaurant customers pay are not eligible for the dedication.

Mandatory service charges
Surcharges
Automatic gratuities

Essentially, any earnings from compulsory charges are not considered tips. Even if a restaurant passes those funds on to employees, they’re not eligible for the deduction. Do employees have to report their tips to get the deduction?

Short answer: Yes. And aside from being legally required to fully report their tip earnings, it actually behooves them to do so.

It’s no secret that many tipped employees don’t fully report their tip earnings. There are a variety of reasons for this: general confusion about tip reporting, poor tracking, and of course, a desire to avoid taxes.

Credit card tips are automatically tracked in most POS systems, so those are typically accounted for. Cash tips, on the other hand, are often underreported.

Again, because this new bill is a deduction, not an exclusion, employees must report their tip earnings to qualify.

Not only will this (legally) allow employees to reduce their tax burden; reporting their full income can really come in handy with things like loan applications, unemployment benefits, and Social Security earnings.

Is this all good news for employees?

Again, for the most part in the hospitality and service industry, there’s a lot of support for this legislation.

It will put money back in the pockets of many tipped employees—which can make a meaningful difference, especially for those who live paycheck to paycheck.

But some in the industry have voiced concerns:

Lowest-earning tipped workers won’t see much benefit. Many of the lowest-earning tipped workers wouldn’t benefit much, or at all.because they’re not paying a significant amount in federal taxes to begin with.
Some workers excluded: Not all hospitality employees are tipped employees – if you’re not operating a tip pool for example, a lot of your BOH employees aren’t going to see any benefit here.
Service/surcharges/auto-gratuity: Compulsory charges are not considered tips, so even if all of those funds are going to the employees, they will still be taxed. Again, that means BOH workers who aren’t tipped but who benefit from service charges won’t get a tax break.

What do restaurant operators need to do?

While there’s no major compliance burden on employers (yet), the smartest operators are thinking ahead—especially when it comes to digitizing tip management.

Here’s why that matters:

Accurate reporting: Employees need clear, auditable records to claim the deduction
Transparency: With platforms like Kickfin, employees can log in to view their full payment history—no guesswork required
Tip pooling: If you want your BOH team to benefit, you’ll need to operate a formal, compliant tip pool.
Efficiency: Automating tip pools (and ensuring accuracy), managing payouts, and syncing with payroll is easier than ever.

Is it time to hit the reset button?

If you’re already using a digital tip management platform like Kickfin, you’re a step ahead—your team will be well positioned to take full advantage if and when the law goes into effect.

If not: This new policy is a great reason to refresh your tip management approach, including digitizing your distribution process, re-evaluating your tip pool policy, and improving payment tracking for your team. And good news—Kickfin can help with all of that. Let’s talk.

Restaurant Management

Tales from Reddit: (Brutally) Honest Opinions on Tip Pooling

Have you ever wondered how your employees really feel about your tip pool?

While you can (and should!) source feedback from your own team, Reddit is always a great place to get brutally honest opinions on…well, just about anything.

So we did some digging in a few lively Subreddits (r/TalesFromYourServer and r/KitchenConfidential, among others) to understand how real workers feel about their own restaurant’s tip pooling policy.

Of course, no two tip policies are alike, but these Reddit tales may offer some helpful useful insights as you evaluate your own tip policy — and help you avoid common pitfalls.

Tip Pooling Tales from Reddit

Not surprisingly, there are strong feelings about tip pooling from servers and other restaurant employees on Reddit. The conversations often centered around these high-level themes:

Does tip pooling really foster teamwork?
Do top performers take the biggest hit?
Can tip pooling help with income consistency?
Is it fair to include back-of-house?

Read on for a deeper dive!

1. Tip pooling and teamwork

Many Redditors noted that tip pooling can help to create a collaborative, team-first culture where everyone wins.

Of course, that comes with some caveats from the Reddit crowd:

“I own a fine dining restaurant with tip pooling. … servers help each other out and care what’s going on in others sections … the servers REALLY care about training their coworkers right.”

“It’s the best system in the world if you work with a team where everybody is competent and pulls their weight.”

“We do tip pool… Less drama, more teamwork… efficient when you work with people that are hardworking and pull their own weight.”

“It forces a stronger team mentality…No system is perfect and the strongest servers definitely take a hit most days, but it’s the positive environment that makes up for it usually.”

“I think it helps encourage the senior staff to invest in the newbies. Obviously, if the newbies efforts or attitude aren’t cutting it, time to go.”

The takeaway: If you have the right people, then your tip pool becomes a motivator for your employees to have each other’s backs, to participate in training the newbies, and to be accountable to each other. As the last Redditor here noted, it also means you have to be willing to weed out your weakest links.

2. Does tip pooling penalize top performers?

On the flipside, some commenters highlight how employees — particularly top performers — feel the system redistributes their hard-earned earnings to less productive coworkers, which can erode motivation to upsell, promptly turn tables, or cultivate regulars.

“You lose the need to hustle…tip‑pools have taken away my ability to control how much money I walk with … which made me less willing to hustle.”

“‘Lazy people…hold up the tables so they work less than others but make the same money.’”

“I was pulling $400‑$600 by myself and then … only saw $150‑200 of it which really sucks.”

“Personally not a fan of tip pooling. I typically have the highest tip percentage and I’d rather keep that for me.”

The takeaway: When the link between effort and reward is weakened, the drive to earn more through performance can dwindle. Again, as always, the goal is to have a team of top performers across the board — but in reality, you’ll always have a range of talent.

If you’re using a tip management system like Kickfin, you can track your employees’ tip payouts over time and see how payouts actually stack up across your team. You can always tweak your tip pooling policy to ensure your performers are getting rewarded for their extra-hard work. Or consider offering shift-based performance bonuses outside of the pool, based on things like guest feedback or upselling performance. This keeps the pool intact but allows standout employees to earn more.

3. The case for income consistency

When tips make up the majority of your take-home pay — as is the case for many restaurant workers — you may not know what to expect from one shift to the next. That can make managing finances hard, especially for workers who are living paycheck to paycheck.

Tipping is supposed to reward high quality service, so theoretically, tipped employees wield a fair amount of control over what they earn. And tip-pool detractors argue that tip pooling takes away that control.

But in reality, it’s not so black and white. For example, some sections are busier than others; the employee working the patio on a warm summer evening might be set up to earn more than the server working the back corner next to the restroom. The bartender working the night shift is going to earn more than his coworker who’s there for lunch.

And unfortunately, research shows that customer bias and discrimination can impact tip earnings.

As some Redditors pointed out, tip pooling can help reduce this income variability.

“Pooling tips offsets any issues with tables that don’t leave a tip…Overall, this system has increased the quality of service…”

The income might decrease a little bit on busier days but it does usually increase on slower days. And the income is more consistent.”

The takeaway: Of course, it’s not fair to always work the busiest section of the bar, only to split tips evenly with bartenders who work in a much more laid-back section. If you’re pooling tips to help with income variability, it’s wise to find additional ways to control for other variables. For example:

Strategically rotate busy and slow sections among your different servers.
When scheduling, make sure the same people aren’t always opening and closing — and as much as possible, rotate your employees through high- and low-volume shifts.
Offer easy section or shift trades for employees.

4. Should Back-of-House Be Included in Tip Pools?

In addition to the general pooling benefits (collaboration, culture) — there are some valid reasons to include BOH in your tip pool:

Guest experience: When tipping, guests take into consideration things like quality of food and speed of service — which BOH staff heavily contribute to.
Guest expectations: Guests may assume that their tips are getting distributed to everyone — not just servers. (And taking it a step further: clearly communicating that to your guests could generate higher tip volumes.)
Retention: With rising labor shortages, offering tip sharing can help attract and retain skilled BOH workers who might otherwise leave for better-paying jobs.

(Keep in mind: There are some legal restrictions when it comes to including BOH in your pool — e.g., if you’re taking the tip credit, you generally can’t include BOH. Find more details on tip pooling laws and compliance here.)

So what do real-life servers say about including BOH?

“Many places in new orleans had made the switch after quarantine. It’s a God send to the back of house, for most cooks it can be life changing. The FOH is a revolving door now though, why split tips with the kitchen when you can make 600 a night at the bar down the street.”

“I am not upset, I’m getting paid decent and I know how hard it is to smile and be nice all the time and interact with the dreaded public. They are welcome to the extra money and the headache.”

The takeaway: First and foremost, ensure you can legally include back-of-house workers in your tip pool. If you feel it’s right for your restaurant, a few ways to make it work well for everyone:

Get buy-in from FOH and BOH: Clearly communicate how and why the structure works. Share real numbers and example breakdowns, and emphasize shared success — tips reflect everyone’s effort (not just what happens tableside).
Start small: If FOH is resistant, make the tip-out percentage minimal and see how it goes before increasing
Use a weighted distribution model: To fairly divide the tip pool, assign different weights or percentages to each role based on their contribution.

📝 Final Thoughts

Reddit feedback makes it clear…that there’s a lot of gray area when it comes to employee perspectives on tip pooling.

Ultimately, restaurant workers seem to agree that well-executed, shift-based pools under strong management can foster unity and a dependable livelihood.

But in mixed teams or mismanaged setups, performers lose motivation, and the culture quickly deteriorates — which ultimately affects morale and retention. And unfortunately, all of that can spill over into the guest experience.

If you’re pooling tips, one of the most important things you should do (aside from ensuring your tip pool is compliant!) is track everything. Having a digital paper trail not only ensures accuracy and prevents tip disputes — but it also gives you the hard data you need to truly evaluate your tip policy.

Has Reddit swayed your opinion on tip pools? Or made you rethink your current tip policy? With Kickfin’s tip pooling software, you can easily customize and automate your tip pooling policy — then track every payment, all in one place. Schedule a demo today!

Restaurant Management

Tip Pooling: Pros and Cons

For restaurant owners looking to boost teamwork and make sure every employee gets their fair share, a tip pool or tip share seems like a natural solution. But like there are pros and cons to tip pooling that every operator should be aware of.

Of course, it doesn’t always make sense to pool tips. (And when it does make sense, tip pooling policies are definitely not one-size-fits-all!)

If you’re on the fence, check out our tip pooling pro-con list below and consider how they would affect your restaurant’s unique dynamics.

What are the pros of tip pooling?

It takes a lot of hard work and collaboration to deliver an excellent guest experience. For most restaurants, the primary goal of tip pooling is to ensure all employees are fairly rewarded for their contributions.

Here are a few of the benefits that tip pooling offers restaurant teams.

1. Improved performance

When executed strategically, tip pooling can bring your team together around a shared goal — delivering a top-notch guest experience — and reward them for doing so.

And when employees are all working toward a common goal, they’re much more likely to work together and go out of their way to lend a helping hand or fill in gaps. This can be particularly true for tip pools that include employees who generally aren’t directly tipped, like bussers, hosts, and back-of-house employees.

2. Reduced competition among servers

Does one section get all of the large parties (aka all the large tips)? Or does your patio section get too hot for most guests during the summer? When employees aren’t sharing tips, your workplace culture might start to feel (overly) competitive and even lead to tension or disputes. When servers start feeling slighted or get hung up on who-got-which-table, not only does that affect morale — it slows everyone down.

An equitable tip pool can keep servers from feeling like they need to keep score, so they can focus on providing top-notch service to all of the guests in the restaurant.

3. Increased focus on training

When you bring on new staff, you typically have them train with your best veteran servers. And when those vets know that their trainee will be part of their future tip pool, they’ll be more invested in the training, making sure to give them a master class in upselling and customer service.

4. More equitable distribution

Unfortunately, customer biases — conscious or not — can impact tip amounts. Whether based on race, gender, or other factors, this kind of discrimination can affect your employees’ livelihoods.

While restaurant operators can’t control if some employees receive preferential treatment, they can help to compensate for those injustices by pooling and fairly distributing tips.

Cons of Tip Pooling

While most restaurants these days run some form of tip pool or tip share, there are some common drawback and pitfalls to tip pooling, which are worth considering before you implement a new policy

1. Top performers may feel negatively impacted

If your best servers are consistently bringing in far more than the standard 18-20% in tips, they might not be so pleased to share with employees who may not have the same experience, talent or work ethic.

Couple that with the fact that some servers can turn tables much quicker than others, resulting in a higher volume of sales and a whole lot more tip income — well, your top earners could start feeling cheated by the tip pool.

And in a tough labor market, if a hardworking employee isn’t happy with their earnings, they likely have other options.

2. Under-performers can slip through the cracks

On the flip side of that: a tip pool could allow lower-performing employees to slip through the cracks. If you’re not closely evaluating the average tip amount (and average check size!), you may miss that one of your employees is struggling with their customer service.

3. Compliance is an added consideration

Tip pooling is regulated at the federal and (usually) state level. Some municipalities also have their own rules around how to legally pool tips. These laws can get pretty complicated, making it all too easy to fall out of compliance without even knowing it. For example: managers can’t participate in a tip pool; but what happens if a manager is also performing server duties? Can you include back-of-house in your tip pool? Does your eligibility for the tip credit change if you operate a tip pool? It’s important to know the answers to all of these questions and fully understand the laws that apply to each of your locations. (Especially if you have locations in multiple states!)

Tip Pooling Pros and Cons at a Glance

That’s a lot of information to take in, so here it is a handy-dandy pro-con chart.

To Pool or Not to Pool?

The majority of restaurants in the U.S. operate some form of tip pool. At Kickfin, we’ve worked with thousands of restaurant teams who participate in tip pooling or tip sharing. We’ve found that often, the positives outweigh the negatives.

But that comes with a major caveat: the best tip pooling teams have been strategic and intentional with their policies — and as a result, no two tip pooling policies look exactly the same.

If you want to set yourself up for tip pooling success, here are a few general rules of thumb.

Evaluate your requirements: Ask yourself why you’re running a tip pool. What needs are you trying to address or problems are you trying to fix? Specifically consider your restaurant type, team size, org chart, and local market to find the best policy for you.
Don’t overcomplicate: It shouldn’t require a degree in calculus to calculate your tip pool. If you feel like it’s getting unwieldy, it’s possible you’re setting your team up for mistakes and tracking issues.
Get feedback for better buy-in: This shouldn’t be a decision-by-committee scenario, but it’s worth checking with management and even some of your team’s unofficial leaders to get their input before running with a new policy. This can help get the rest of your employees on board.
Write it down and run it by your counsel: Your tip pooling policy should be on paper, in black and white. You should also have your legal counsel review it to make sure you’re not inadvertently out of compliance with tip pooling regulations.
Communicate everything: Once you’re feeling good about your policy, share it. Make sure every tip-eligible employee understands how it works and has the opportunity to ask questions.
Ensure transparency by tracking everything: It’s not enough to share your policy. It’s important that every payout is tracked, including how those payouts were calculated. Not only does that streamline accounting and reporting; it also creates a culture of trust with your employees. If there is ever any question around a payout, having a digital paper trail is invaluable.

The best tip pools are automated

Tip pool calculations often happen in a spreadsheet, which is less than ideal. Kickfin integrates with your POS, so you can eliminate spreadsheet math, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring every payout is accurately calculated and tracked. Plus: Kickfin customers can send instant, cashless payouts directly to their employees’ bank of choice.

The result: All the benefits of tip pooling, without the hassles, risk, and time required. (In fact, many of our users can calculate and pay out tips at the end of each shift in under 60 seconds!)

Want to learn more? Request a demo today.

Product and Company News

Kickfin Recognized on the 2025 Inc. Regionals List

Kickfin has earned a top spot on the 2025 Inc. Regionals list in the Southwest region! This recognition places us among the fastest-growing privately held companies in America—and we couldn’t be prouder of what this means for our team, our customers, and the restaurant industry at large.

A Milestone Achievement

As the #1 tip distribution platform, Kickfin is trusted by thousands of restaurant teams to automate tip pooling and payouts. Since 2017, our technology has given managers hours back in their week while improving accuracy, visibility, and reporting for operators.

Only 951 companies made the cut across all regions, and in the Southwest alone, the businesses on this list contributed 13,809 jobs to the U.S. economy while achieving a median growth rate of approximately 106 percent from 2021 to 2023.

Powering the Future of Tip Management

In the past year, Kickfin has taken automated tip management to a whole new level. In addition to exciting new features that make our platform more robust than ever, we continue to add to the list of our direct integrations with the leading POS brands—which currently includes Toast, SkyTab, Square, Heartland, RPOWER, PAR POS, Oracle MICROS, NCR Aloha, and more.

→ See how the Kickfin-Toast integration “changed everything” for HOBNOB restaurants

Kickfin’s POS integrations give our customers the ability to auto-calculate even the most complex tip pools in just a few clicks, which eliminates unwieldy tip spreadsheets, saves managers even more time, and gives operators unprecedented visibility into payout calculations and history.

A Heartfelt Thank You

This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the trust of our customers and the dedication of our team.

As Justin Roberts, co-CEO of Kickfin, puts it: “We’re incredibly grateful to our customers who have made this growth possible by trusting Kickfin with their tip management needs. This recognition is a testament to the value that automated tip management brings to restaurant teams—helping them save time, reduce risk, and take care of their people.”

We’re honored to be included in the 2025 Inc. Regionals list, and we’re excited to see what the rest of 2025 has in store!