It's 11:45pm. Your maître d' is still at the desk because someone has to do the points. Captain on 10, Server on 8, Sommelier on 6 (or 7 if she sold the Lafite tonight?), Back Waiter on 5, Busser on 3, Expo on 4. Multiplied across the hours each role worked. Adjusted for the captain who came in late and the sommelier who left early to make her train. Plus the auto-grat from the private dining room, which is calculated separately. Your maître d' is doing this from memory, with a calculator, after a 12-hour shift.
This is fine dining tip-out. Ferry handles all of it.
fine dining
Points. Pooled.
Paid.
Fine dining doesn't tip out the way casual does. Servers don't keep their tips – the whole house does, distributed by role and rank through a point system. Ferry handles every pool, every position, every shift. Without a spreadsheet.
200+
BJ's locations on platform
66%
Cash-carrying cost reduction
30
States
Same day
Fastest go-live
WHO IT'S FOR
Fine dining operators of any size
Single-restaurant fine dining concepts looking to professionalize tip-out
Groups operating multiple fine dining brands under one parent
Concepts running tasting menu service alongside à la carte
Restaurants with separate banquet, private dining, or events programs
The Point system
Point pools are more accurate. Also more complex.
Point or Percentage-based pools work because they're simple. Server tips out 5% to the bar, 3% to bussers, done. Fine dining doesn't do simple. Your point system reflects rank, role, and contribution – and it has to, because that's the culture of the floor. A captain shouldn't earn the same as a back waiter, but both deserve a share of the night.
A point pool has more moving parts than a percentage split — rank, role, hours, and service type all change the math. Ferry handles every one of them natively.
Ferry handles point based pooling natively:
Point allocations by role and rank
Hours-worked weighting (so a partial shift doesn't get a full share)
Different point structures for different services (lunch vs dinner, à la carte vs tasting menu)
Auto-grat handling for private dining, banquets, and large parties
You set the points. Ferry runs the pool.
role classification compliance
Where fine dining gets DOL attention.
Fine dining has more borderline roles than any other format. Is the sommelier tipped or non-tipped? The captain? The expo? Most operators make the call once and hope it holds up.
Ferry tracks tipped vs non-tipped classifications at the role level, applies them at the calculation layer, and produces an audit-ready record of every shift. If your CPA, your DOL inspector, or your insurance auditor wants to see how you've classified your floor, it's not a question – it's a report.
Role-level tipped vs non-tipped classification
Tracked against state-specific rules where they vary
Audit-ready records per shift, per role, per employee
No Tax on Tips reporting documentation built in
HOW FERRY HANDLES IT
Built for the full house.
POS integrations
Toast, Micros, Aloha, Clover, Square. Tip data, transactions, and shift records flow in automatically.
Point based pooling
Native support, not a workaround. Configure once, apply across every service.
Service level differentiation
Lunch and dinner can run different point structures. Tasting menu nights can run their own pool.
Auto-grat handling
Private dining and banquet auto-grats handled separately from main floor pools.
Reporting per shift
Audit-ready records on demand, not at the end of the year when something's already gone wrong.
fine dining
At one restaurant? Ferry still works for you
Fine dining is often a single-restaurant operation. Ferry handles single-location point pools with the same calculation engine and compliance tracking – just with less to configure on day one.
Talk to sales
See Ferry in action for fine dining restaurants.
Live same day. No HRIS integration required. Start with Ferry Tip Manager and grow from there. See how BJ's Restaurants runs Ferry across 200+ locations, or explore the full tip management software guide.
Talk to Sales