Marco’s Pizza Chooses Kickfin Over Pay Cards to Simplify Tip Outs

Meet Nick.

Nick Morris is the Director of Operations for TEB Management, which operates 10 Marco’s locations across Alabama and Tennessee.

Since they opened their first franchise in 2008, TEB has achieved consistent, impressive growth — especially considering that they launched the business during the Great Recession and are now navigating a global pandemic.

While Nick’s team has day-to-day operations down to a science, there was one kink that needed to be ironed out: tip payments.

Bank runs on the daily

Like most restaurants across the country, Nick’s stores have seen an increase in credit card transactions over the years — with a sharp tick upward when Covid hit.

About 50 percent of Nick’s employees are delivery drivers, all of whom were accustomed to receiving cash tips at the end of every shift. But that was getting harder: With most customers using credit cards, there was never enough cash on hand to pay out tips.

“We paid out cash nightly, but we got to the point where we were paying out more cash than we were getting in,” Nick said. “We were running out of cash almost every day, so we constantly had to go to the bank to replenish. It was a huge hassle.”

Exploring the options

Nick and his team were more than ready to say good-bye to cash, so they started exploring their options. He said they kept their employees’ best interests front and center: They wanted and needed to get tipped out instantly, at the end of every shift.

“We thought we might have to switch to paying out credit card tips on our employees’ pay checks every two weeks,” Nick said. “We knew that would not be good because they’re used to getting paid every day. We couldn’t turn around and tell them they now have to wait two weeks.”

Nick said they also looked at pay card solutions — but he quickly ruled those out.

“They say pay cards are free, but they’re not. There are ATM withdrawal fees, there are transfer fees,” Nick said. “For the employee, it’s not free. And I think it would have really hurt our retention.”

From less cash to cashless

Nick said when he came across Kickfin, he knew it was the right move.

• No predatory fees: “I chose Kickfin because I didn’t have to pass any cost on to the employees,” Nick said. “They use their own debit cards and their own bank accounts.”
• Truly instant: “They get their money in their accounts right away. They don’t have to carry cash or worry about going to the bank to deposit anything.”
• Fewer bank runs: Nick’s partners and managers no longer have to take time out of their days to pick up cash for tip outs.
• Better retention: Nick said that hiring is a huge challenge right now, and other tip-out options would have made it even harder. “If we were using a different service that was free to us but charged ATM or transfer fees to our employees, that would hurt us.”