Overview
DishInk captures tips through three distinct flows and routes them according to your Tip Policy (Settings → Payments → Tips). Every kwacha of tip is logged against a staff member or the pool, and appears on the Batch Invoice Cash Out — no shoebox accounting.The Three Tip Flows
1. Explicit Tip (before charge)
On the Charge Modal, expand the Tip section:- % chips — 5% · 10% · 15% · 20%
- Fixed K chips — K10 · K20 · K30 · K50
- Custom field
2. Overpayment → Tip (during cash payment)
When a cash payment exceeds the total, DishInk shows the overage in green and offers:- Give Change — hand it back.
- Tip · K__ — book the overage as a tip.
3. Post-Charge Tip Adjustment (card-based tips)
When a customer tips on the card terminal itself (they add K20 to the K180 slip), the cashier records it after the fact:- Open the transaction in Shift
- Tap Adjust Tip
- Enter the tip amount
- Confirm — the transaction total updates and the tip is attributed.
Card-terminal tips need this manual sync because DishInk’s charge locks in before the card slip is signed. The Adjust Tip step captures what actually landed on the merchant statement.
Routing: Pool vs Waiter
Every tip routes according to the Tip Policy set in Settings:
Hybrid is the most common in mid-size restaurants: rewards the waiter for good service while still sharing with support staff (kitchen, bar, runners).
Multi-Waiter Sessions
When multiple waiters worked one table:- Waiter-Attributed — tip goes to the primary waiter (the one who opened the session).
- Shared contributions (see Batch Cash-Out — Shared vs Handoff) split the tip proportionally by dollar contribution.
- Handoff — if the cashier who closed the bill never punched an item on that table, the tip still goes to the waiter(s), not the cashier.
Tips on the Batch Invoice
- Summary card: Tips — total for the period.
- By Staff — tips per staff member.
- Staff Performance Breakdown — tips broken out by Waiter-Attributed vs Pool Share vs Handoff.
- Manager Overrides — any manual tip adjustments (added, removed, reassigned) with reason.
Cashing Out Tips
At end-of-shift, each staff member’s Batch Invoice Cash Out shows their Tips Owed (waiter-attributed + pool share). The manager pays out cash tips against this figure, or the payroll system syncs them into the next pay run — see Payroll.Step by Step (Adding a Tip at Charge)
1
Open the Charge Modal
Tap Charge on any session or Quick Sale ticket.
2
Expand Tip
The Tip section is collapsed by default — tap the header to open.
3
Pick a chip or type
% 5/10/15/20, or Fixed K10/20/30/50, or Custom.
4
Confirm charge
The confirmation shows Charge K180.00 · Tip K20.00 clearly. The customer pays the combined amount.
Charge Modal with the Tip section expanded showing quick chips.
Tips & Best Practices
- Post your tip policy in the staff room. Ambiguity around pool vs waiter is the fastest way to lose trust.
- Encourage explicit tips over overpayment-to-tip — cleaner for the customer, easier for the cashier.
- Reconcile card-terminal tips daily using Adjust Tip. Do not leave a backlog — matching statements a week later is painful.
- For hybrid policy, review the split quarterly. Growing kitchens deserve a bigger pool share; a stagnant policy demotivates back-of-house.
Common Mistakes
- Charging without expanding Tip when the customer said “add 10%”. The chip is one tap — don’t forget it.
- Booking a tip as Cash when the customer paid card. The tip method mirrors the charge method — override only when the tip is physically in cash despite a card sale.
- Assuming card-terminal tips auto-sync. They don’t. Adjust Tip in Shift is required.
- Distributing pool tips manually. The Batch Invoice already calculates each waiter’s share by shift hours. Use the number it gives you.