About
LuLu’s is a coastal restaurant chain owned by Lucy Buffett, the sister of famed singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.
Location
Alabama and Florida
Restaurant type
Casual dining
Service type
FSR
“[Kickfin] has worked perfectly…Our employees get a notification that they’ve been paid before they even leave the restaurant, whether it’s 10 at night or Labor Day.”
Gerald Tipton
President and Partner
Meet Gerald.
Gerald Tipton is the president and partner of LuLu’s, a three-unit restaurant chain featuring coastal cuisine. Located around the Florida Panhandle, LuLu’s is a favorite for beach-going families.
Gerald said that like many full-service restaurants, LuLu’s team struggled with the frustrations and headaches that come with cash management. At the end of every shift, managers had to manually calculate and distribute cash tips — which added up to hours of their time on a weekly basis.
In addition to time costs, LuLu’s frequently had to pay for cash deliveries to ensure there was enough cash on hand to pay out tips, as more and more guests were paying with credit cards.
The situation wasn’t ideal for employees, either: “We’d give servers whatever cash we owed them and then kept the rest for a deposit, but that wasn’t safe, because servers had to walk out into the parking lot with cash on them,” Tipton said.
Employees then had to make trips to the bank on their own time to deposit cash into their accounts.
The process was becoming so burdensome that LuLu’s was considering rolling tips into the paycheck cycle — which would simplify the process but force employees to wait days or weeks to access their earnings when they were used to getting paid daily.
Kickfin changes everything
Just before they resorted to payroll tips, LuLu’s discovered Kickfin.
By using an instant employee payment platform like Kickfin, LuLu’s managers could send tips digitally to their servers’ bank accounts at the end of every shift. That meant:
- No more bank runs: It doesn’t matter if there isn’t enough cash on hand to pay out tips because the process is completely digitized.
- Instant tips, any time: Tipton said that before trying Kickfin, he was worried that employees wouldn’t be able to access their tips outside of bank hours — or on weekends and holidays. But with Kickfin, the money is in his employees’ accounts before they walk out the door.
- Safer employees: LuLu’s management cares deeply about their employees; now, they don’t have to choose between giving them instant access to their earnings and keeping them safe from theft. With Kickfin, LuLu’s can do both.
“Our managers used to spend 15–30 minutes per shift counting out drawers and paying out tips,” Tipton says. “And now, our cash and our employees are safe, and that’s the most important thing.”
Gerald Tipton
President and Partner
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- 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:
- Splitting large party tips
- Increased security
- Reallocating manager tips
- Preventing labor cost mistakes
>> 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!
- Product and Company News
Exciting news: Kickfin has a new integration with SkyTab!
When SkyTab users activate the Kickfin integration in the Shift4 Marketplace, they’ll have the power to build custom tip pooling or sharing policies, calculate tip amounts, and send tip payouts directly to their employees’ bank of choice! Forget about hours of calculations and counting cash: your entire tip out process can be run in a matter of minutes.
“As an all-in-one restaurant platform, SkyTab has helped tens of thousands of restaurants modernize and optimize their operations,” said Jay Shavitz, Shift4’s SVP of SkyTab Product. “Kickfin is a valuable addition to our marketplace, helping SkyTab customers realize significant time and cost savings by simplifying and improving the tip payout process.”
What does this mean for SkyTab customers?
If your restaurant is going to take advantage of the new Kickfin integration, here’s what to expect:
- For employees: You’ll be able to leave your shift as soon as you finish your side work — no need to wait around for your manager to count out your tips in cash. All of your tips will instantly hit your bank account, saving you the trip to the ATM and empowering your financial decision-making.
- Managers: Put away the calculators and spreadsheets. Using Kickfin through your POS will automate all of your complex calculations, allowing you to send tips with just the click of a button. Your late nights in the back office are over!
If you’re already a Kickfin customer, don’t hesitate to contact our support team for help setting up the integration.
When will Kickfin integrate with my POS?
We’re ready when you are! Check out our list of current integrations to see if yours is on there. If not, reach out to us! We’ll let you know if your integration is on our roadmap.
And hey, even if your POS doesn’t support a Kickfin integration (yet), we have simple solutions to your tip management headaches that don’t require an integration. We’d love to tell you more — so drop us a line today.
For more details about the SkyTab integration, check out the full press release here!
- Product and Company News, Technology and Software
We know how important same-day payments are for veterans of the service industry who are accustomed to quick cash — and we’re now seeing that same demand expand into other industries as well.
Kickfin co-founder Justin Roberts joined MasterCard’s InConversation Webinar series to discuss why immediate payment disbursal is key for the restaurant industry and the gig economy as a whole.
Watch the webinar here or read our recap for the highlights:
People live paycheck-to-paycheck
Not just some people are living paycheck to paycheck. Most people are.
That’s right: around 64% of U.S. consumers are just getting by. Even more shocking, 51% of consumers who earn over six figures are still living paycheck to paycheck, despite their higher tax bracket.
It’s a major reason why employees need access to their earnings sooner rather than later. The pressure of watching your bank account slowly drain in the two weeks between payday is putting a lot of pressure on people, leading to a much greater demand for instant payments than ever before.
Instant payouts are now table stakes
A PYMNTS study found that people of all ages prefer to be paid out immediately, as well as some other interesting statistics:
- When given the choice, 68% of respondents said they would opt for an instant pay out
- 40% of gig workers surveyed were willing to pay a fee for an instant disbursement
- 81% of respondents were willing to switch jobs to an employer that offers instant access to earned wages and tips
It’s safe to say instant payouts are becoming the expectation for today’s modern workforce. But not all instant payouts are created equal.
Consumers are much more likely to engage with an instant payout system if they aren’t required to share their bank account and routing numbers and can access funds with just their debit card credentials. Why? It’s faster, more convenient, and feels more secure.
Instant payouts and tip management: a perfect use case.
Instant payout innovation has come at the perfect time for the restaurant industry, which is struggling more than ever with the hassles and cost of cash.
If you’re in the restaurant biz, then you know: Most consumers pay with credit cards these days, not cash. That means there’s rarely enough cash on hand to pay out tips at the end of a shift. But employees still want and need instant access to their tip earnings.
Enter: instant payouts. Offering employees the option to receive their tip earnings directly to their bank of choice, the second their shift ends, can go a long way in improving employee satisfaction and ensuring their financial security.
But instant payouts are more than a work perk for employees. The operational benefits for employers range from reduced administrative burden and significant time savings to stronger compliance and streamlined reporting.
Modernizing your tip management strategy: 5 best practices
There are three key components to your tip management strategy:
- Tip pool policy: How are you divvying up tips among your staff?
- The payout method: How are you distributing those payments?
- The systems and tech: What are you using to facilitate those payments?
Under the current circumstances, restaurant operators are under immense pressure to bring their tip management into the future.
5 best practices for tip management
Based on our experience working with restaurant operators across the country, we’ve found that these five practices are the perfect recipe for building a successful tip management system.
- Determine the right model and method for your restaurant, based on your location and tech stack
- Get a written tip policy (and get it legally approved)
- Solicit employee feedback in a structured way
- Leverage technology for efficiency, accuracy, and compliance
- Don’t over-complicate (but do over-communicate!)
Tip management solution must-haves
When seeking a new tip management solution, make sure you carefully vet each system to see if it really meets your needs, or if it’ll be just as frustrating as cash. Here are a few suggestions for what should be on your checklist:
- Instant payouts
- Direct to bank of choice
- Availability of employee funds
- Payroll option
- Integrations
- Simple implementation + onboarding process
- Around-the-clock customer service
Big emphasis on strong customer support teams. Restaurants and bars don’t have “typical” business hours, so neither should your tech support.
Bar Louie automates payouts with Kickfin
In a recent case study, we took a deep dive into our partnership with Bar Louie, a chain with over 60 locations that took advantage of our new integration with Toast. They made the switch from cash payouts to Kickfin’s instant, direct-to-bank payouts and haven’t looked back.
Two-minute tip-outs
Before Kickfin, managers spent an average of 45 minutes per shift working through Bar Louie’s complex tip out policy and counting cash. The tip pooling rules were important to them — it’s what makes the entire staff feel like they’re getting their fair share.
Using the Kickfin Toast integration, Bar Louie was able to automate the tip pool calculation process and send tips straight to employees in under two minutes – a potential annual savings of 15,000 labor hours across all locations.
>> See more customer success stories
Do you want to see these kinds of cost-saving results at your business? Let’s talk. Get a demo of Kickfin and see why restaurant owners and employees alike trust us to manage their tips.
- Product and Company News
Big news: Kickfin’s best-in-class tip calculation tool has some exciting new bells and whistles.
If you’re already using Kickfin’s tip pool calculator, then you know how much time and hassle you’re saving by automating everything. (And if you’re not? Head over to our tip pooling software page to see how it works!)
As we partner with more restaurants to bring their tip management into the future, we’re continuing to innovate our product so we can address their biggest pain points.
In this case, that means enhancing our tip pooling features so you can auto-calculate tip amounts even for the most complex tip pool or share policies.
Check out a few of our latest features that will make tip calculations easier than ever.
🕺 Splitting large party tips
If your restaurant often hosts large parties, you know that the tip share can get confusing. Say one server is taking care of a party of 40 with a bartender assigned to only make drinks for that party. Meanwhile, the server has a few other two-top tables that are getting drinks from the main service bar. At the end of the night, how do you ensure that the large-party bartender gets their fair share of the tip out (without spending an hour on your phone calculator)?
Kickfin can now automate that process for you, alleviating questions from your event bartender and saving time and effort on the part of your managers.
📲 Seamless POS integrations
Kickfin is partnering with the top POS systems to integrate seamlessly with your existing restaurant tech — including Toast, Heartland, Shift4 and more.
DID YOU KNOW? Kickfin integration users get access to new product features first, like our new tip-out transparency tool — which allows your staff to log into their Kickfin accounts and see exactly how their tips have been split between team members. An added layer of visibility can go a long way in cultivating trust (and eliminating those pesky tip disputes).
💸 (Re)Allocation of manager tips
We’re always listening to feedback to improve the Kickfin experience, and this one goes out to all of our restaurant partners who asked us to streamline the manager tip reallocation process.
>>Learn more about managers and tipping laws
In most cases, managers are not allowed to earn tips since they are salaried employees. But we all know that managers often step in and take care of tables to help servers get out of the weeds. Well-meaning guests will most likely leave a tip, not knowing that the manager technically can’t accept them — so where does that money go?
Kickfin now features a default pool, where tips “paid” to a manager are automatically redistributed to tipped staff based on your restaurant’s tip policy.
🤓 Improved labor data accuracy
We all know how easy it is for an employee to forget to clock out after a long shift. And sure, they aren’t going to get paid for a 16-hour overnight shift, but when payday comes around, those extra hours create a nightmare for your payroll team.
With Kickfin, all employees are required to be clocked out in order to finalize payments — so you’ll catch the labor data mistake long before your payroll team has to sort it out.
🔑 Even better security
We’re committed to protecting your business (and your employees’ hard-earned money), so we’re adding an extra layer of security for certain transactions.
You can now enable double approval of payments that meet certain conditions:
- First payment for new employees
- Employees getting their first payout in X number of days
- Employees receiving more than X payouts in a 24-hour period.
With these extra guardrails in place, you can always be sure that the right money is going to the right person. Reach out to our support team to configure your custom security measures.
Using Kickfin is a win-win for operators, managers, and employees alike. Restaurateurs save on cash delivery and labor costs, managers shave hours off their workload, and servers have the same instant payment that they’re used to — without the hassle and uncertainty of cash.
Want to learn more about Kickfin? Let us show you the ropes with a 10-minute demo!
See Kickfin in action!
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