Southern Proper Hospitality Eliminates 4 Bank Runs A Week With Kickfin
About the company
Southern Proper operates 23 restaurants. Concepts range from elegant southern gastropub, to Spanish tapas restaurant, to coastal seafood.
Location
Southeastern U.S. (Gyspy Kitchen located in Washington D.C.)
Number of locations
23
Service type
Full service
“We used to go to the bank 3-4 times a week, and we’d walk out with $10,000-$15,000 in cash. Now that we’re using Kickfin, I think I’ve been to the bank once in the past month. As an operator, there’s a sense of security that we no longer need to have that much cash on site.”
Managing Partner,
Southern Proper Hospitality
Key Results
- Eliminated 3-4 bank trips a week
- Saved managers 20-30 minutes per shift distributing tips
- Mitigated risk by reducing volume of cash on premises
- Strongly preferred by employees over cash/paycard tip payments
Southern Proper hits their tipping point
Southern Proper Hospitality operates 20+ restaurants across the Southeast. Each concept has been wildly successful — but operationally, cash tip payouts were slowing them down. The costs of managing cash management were piling up: frequent bank runs, tedious tip distribution process, lack of visibility accounting issues — just to name a few.
The team knew cash wasn’t going to cut it — so they signed up for Kickfin shortly after Gypsy Kitchen opened its doors in Washington D.C.
“The thing about restaurants is that a lot of the workforce is made up of younger generations. They’ve grown up with technology that provides instant experiences and a high level of convenience — it’s really all they know. Kickfin is a service that’s in-line with what they need and expect: convenience, speed, safety,”
“So, so easy.”
The SPH team doesn’t shy away from technology. They have software and systems for every aspect of their operations — from POS to invoicing to accounting to payroll.
“Kickfin stands out from the rest of the tech we’re using. This, by far, has been the easiest program to stand up and use.”
SPH explored other digital tip payment options, but none compared to the functionality and ease of use of Kickfin: no hardware, no integrations required, no predatory fees, and as they put it: “You really only need two fingers to make it work.”
Employees are (big) fans.
Cash management isn’t just an issue for managers and operators. It’s a problem for employees too — because really, no one uses cash any more.
“They’re not paying with cash — they’re doing everything digitally. So when we pay out tips with cash, they have to make their own bank runs, too. In the city, they have to take an Uber or walk to the bank and deposit their money before they can use it. It just makes so much more sense to put it in their account where it ultimately ends up anyway.”
The bottom line
By bringing Kickfin to Gyspy Kitchen, SPH transformed its old-school method of tip distribution into an efficient, automated process. They’ve eliminated their need for an every-other-day bank run, and the amount of cash on premises (and on his people) is dramatically reduced.
And — perhaps most importantly — it’s a huge value add to SPH employees.
“We’re always looking to make our workers’ jobs easier and more convenient. We’ve incorporated Kickfin into our recruiting spiel. New hires are like: Great. That’s a benefit to me.”
“We were excited to jump on Kickfin, and it’s been a great solution for us. The technology aligns with the way things are done today, especially when you think about the younger generations who make up a lot of our workforce. It’s quicker, it’s safer, it’s user friendly.”
Managing Partner,
Southern Proper Hospitality
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>> Learn about scheduling software that helps you manage labor and engage with employees
2. Assess and address productivity
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People make mistakes, and tired servers often leave their long double shift without clocking out for the night. Usually, they’ll realize their mistake and call the store to have someone clock them out (still adding extra time to their shift).
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Try using technology that puts guardrails in place to prevent any clock-out mistakes before they happen. Kickfin doesn’t allow you to process and pay out tips until an employee is clocked out, so managers can make sure everyone is clocked out at the proper time.
(We also have some other exciting new features that can make your life easier!)
Not only can Kickfin help you reduce labor costs, but we’re ready to simplify your entire tip management process. Reach out to us to learn more about our instant tip calculations, integrations, and smarter tipping solutions.
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- Peacock
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Want to see our instant digital tip outs in action? Get a demo of Kickfin today.
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You want to make more profit. Your servers want to make more tips. A crash course on upselling is a win-win for everyone.
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Customers often ask for something similar to pinot grigio, cabernet sauvignon, or a pinot noir, and if their server can give a detailed description that makes a wine sound irresistible, they’re probably going to splurge for the higher-end wine. Bonus points for servers who can successfully suggest splitting a bottle (because once they taste it, they’ll want more than one glass!).
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Don’t skip over the apps
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Taking the order
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Higher-end restaurants should follow the same formula, subbing in an option for steak oscar rather than a bacon cheeseburger. The goal is for servers to provide options for guests who may not realize that their favorite accoutrement is on the menu — and will gladly pay for the upgrade.
The grand finale
“Did you save room for dessert?”
Servers often bring out this line while pre-bussing tables, usually expecting guests to say that they’re far too full to even think about dessert. If you want to convince more guests to stick around for a final course, ask your staff to remove that phrase from their vocabulary.
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Even if guests seem like they’re truly full, your team can still offer them a slice to-go, since they’ll surely be wishing for something sweet in about an hour anyway.
Reap the rewards
After putting on their best smiles, connecting with guests, and using these upselling tricks, your servers should ring in above-average size checks — and an above-average amount of tips.
Once your servers see their huge tip out for the night, they’ll want access to those funds ASAP. At Kickfin, we provide instant digital tip payouts, so managers don’t have to waste time counting cash and servers can clock out of their shifts sooner.
Check out a demo of Kickfin today.
- Product and Company News
Kickfin ranked in the top 3% of Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing companies — and we’re leading the charge for tip management software.
Every year, Inc. identifies 5,000 U.S.-based companies that have seen the highest rate of growth over the past three years based on revenue — and this year, Kickfin was at the top of the top.
A few stats we’re pretty proud of:
🏆 Kickfin ranked 189th overall.
🏆 We’re the fastest-growing restaurant tech company on the list.
🏆 We’re in the 💥 top 3%💥 of all 5000 companies.
🏆 We ranked 24th in the Software category.
Since 2020 — in spite of a pandemic, supply chain disruptions, The Great Resignation, and record-setting inflation — we’ve grown by 2,066%.
Our Keys to Success
We’ll cut right to the chase: We owe our success to our customers. (It’s not cliche if it’s true, right?)
The bottom is that we know the way you pay your staff matters, a lot. Thousands of restaurants are trusting us to handle that for them, and we don’t take that trust lightly.
And of course, we might be biased, but we think we’ve got the best team and partners in the biz. Thanks to everyone who has helped build, support and evangelize Kickfin. This has been a big year for our small but mighty company — and there’s a whole lot more to come.
This kind of growth doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve been putting in the work to make Kickfin even better for the thousands of restaurants we serve. Here are just a few ways we’ve expanded to better serve Kickfin customers.
Integrations
We’re making it easier to access and use Kickfin by integrating with dozens of leading POS systems, including Toast and SkyTab. Using our integration, managers can pull tip data directly from their POS and Kickfin will handle even the most complex tip calculations in a matter of minutes.
Thanks to our POS partnerships, we’re able to bring a further simplified version of Kickfin to new and existing customers so they can kick cash to the curb. As an early adopter of our Toast integration, Bar Louie has already saved around 15,000 hours in labor annually by cutting their tip calculation time from hours to minutes.
>> See more customer success stories
Find out if your POS integrates with Kickin, and reach out to our support team to learn how you can activate the integration.
New Features
Kickfin is no longer just an alternative to cash tip-outs — we’re a holistic solution to your entire tip management system.
In case you missed it, 2024 has been a big year for our product. In addition to our new integrations, we’ve rolled out some exciting new tip management features, including:
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>> Learn more about Kickfin’s newest features
Each of these new updates is inspired by requests from operators, managers and restaurant employees who use our product daily — and that’s something that will never change. As we continue to innovate our best-in-class tip management solution, we’ll always be listening to and learning from our customers so we can ensure every need is met and every expectation is exceeded.
What’s next for Kickfin?
We’re not stopping anytime soon. Expect to see more POS integrations, more user-friendly features, and more guidance from our amazing customer support team.
Not a Kickfin user yet? Now’s the time to rise with us! Get a demo of our restaurant-revolutionizing product today.
We’ll see you next year on the Inc. 5000!
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