--- title: "Who Gets the Tips on To-Go Orders?" description: "Not the owner. Under federal law, to-go tips go to the employee who got them or to a tip pool of eligible staff. Managers and owners can’t take a share." url: https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/who-gets-to-go-tips language: en publisher: TipMax (Entermaurs Incorporated) date_published: 2026-09-23 last_verified: 2026-09-23 --- # Who gets the tips on to-go and takeout orders? Can the owner keep them? **Short answer:** **The employees, never the owner or a manager.** Under federal law your employer can’t keep any part of a tip, including tips on to-go and online orders. It can give the tip to the employee who received it, or put it in a tip pool, but only with employees who are eligible. If you’re paid $2.13, that means other tipped staff, like servers, bussers, and counter staff. A tip jar at the takeout counter counts as a tip pool too. ## Example A takeout order comes in online with a **$6** tip. A counter employee bags it and hands it over (illustrative). Here’s where federal law lets that $6 go. | Where the $6 goes | Allowed under federal law? | | --- | --- | | To the counter employee who handled the order | **Yes** | | Into a tip pool with servers, bussers, and counter staff | **Yes** | | Into a pool with cooks, when the employer pays everyone in the pool at least $7.25 an hour in cash wages | **Yes** | | Into a pool with cooks, when servers in it are paid $2.13 | **No** | | To a manager or supervisor, or kept by the owner | **No** | | To pay for to-go containers or the delivery app’s fees | **No.** That’s using tips for a business expense. | - **Card fees:** your employer can take out the card company’s actual fee on a card tip, and nothing more. - **Timing:** tips your employer collects have to be paid out no later than the regular payday for that workweek. **Not tax or legal advice.** The order and amount are made up. Your state may have stricter tip-pool rules. ## Plain English ### To-go tips are still tips Federal regulations define a tip as money a customer chooses to give in recognition of service. They don’t make an exception for takeout, pickup, or online orders. The Fair Labor Standards Act says an employer “may not keep tips received by its employees for any purposes,” whether or not it pays $2.13. DOL’s investigator handbook says using tips to pay business expenses is keeping them. ### What your employer can do with them Federal rules allow exactly three things. Your employer can give the tip to the employee who received it. It can require employees to share tips in a pool with other eligible employees. Or it can collect the tips and pay them out to a pool of eligible employees. Anything else counts as keeping them. ### Who can be in the pool If your employer pays you $2.13 and counts your tips toward the minimum wage, the pool can include only employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, such as servers, bussers, counter staff who serve customers, and service bartenders. If it pays everyone the full $7.25 in cash wages and takes no tip credit, the pool can also include cooks and dishwashers. Either way, managers, supervisors, and owners can’t receive anything from it. DOL also says a tip jar is a form of tip pool. ### When a manager or owner handles the order A manager or supervisor may keep tips they get directly from customers for service they “directly and solely” provide. DOL’s example is a manager who is the only person working the last hour before a coffee shop closes. If others helped with the order, or the tip went into the pool, the manager can’t take a share. ### If to-go tips are disappearing Ask your manager in writing how to-go and online-order tips are paid out. If you don’t get a straight answer, see [How do I report my restaurant for taking tips?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/how-to-report-my-restaurant-to-the-dol) Your state may have stricter rules; DOL keeps a [list of state labor offices](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/contacts). ## Common mistakes - Assuming online-order tips belong to the restaurant because no server took the order. - Letting a manager take a cut of the takeout tip jar. - Not asking how to-go tips are split, then having no way to check your share. ## Official sources - [29 CFR 531.52, General restrictions on an employer’s use of its employees’ tips](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-531.52) - [29 CFR 531.54, Tip pooling](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-531.54) - [U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the FLSA](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa) - [U.S. Department of Labor, Field Operations Handbook Chapter 30 (30d02, 30d07, 30d11, 30d12, 30d13)](https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/FOH_Ch30.pdf) - [U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: State Labor Offices](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/contacts) ## Last verified September 23, 2026. Checked 29 CFR 531.52 and 531.54, DOL Fact Sheet #15, and DOL’s Field Operations Handbook Chapter 30 (30d02, 30d07, 30d11, 30d12, and 30d13, marked 03/03/2023). **Still open:** Federal rules don’t say which employee “received” a tip on an online or phone order that no one person served. A tip pool that follows the rules above is one way employers handle it. ## Related - [What can I do if my employer keeps part of our tips?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/employer-keeping-tips) - [How does splitting the café tip jar work?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/barista-tip-jar-split) - [Can my manager or the owner take money from the tip pool?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/can-managers-take-from-tip-pool) - [Busser and host tip-outs](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/busser-and-host-tip-outs) - [Can cooks and dishwashers be in the tip pool?](https://www.tipmaxapp.com/us/answers/can-cooks-and-dishwashers-be-in-tip-pool) ## How TipMax helps with this To-go tips often arrive as a pooled lump on a paycheck, so logging your share each shift is how you’d notice if it shrinks or disappears. TipMax is an iPhone app for servers and bartenders that tracks tips and tip-outs and turns a restaurant menu into study flashcards. - Log cash and card tips per shift in seconds. - Record tip-outs every shift, with tip-out rules for each job. - Weekly, monthly, and pay-period totals. Download TipMax free: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tipmax-study-track-earn/id6744850146 --- TipMax Answers explains public government guidance on pay and workplace rules in plain English for tipped workers. It is **not legal, tax, or accounting advice**. Rules change and local rules can add to them. Confirm with the agency linked on this page or a qualified professional. TipMax the app helps you track tips and pay; it doesn’t enforce wage law or decide disputes.