Onbe and TimeForge Team to Speed Restaurant Tip Payouts

Corporate payouts platform Onbe has teamed with TimeForge to help restaurant workers get tipped faster.

The partnership will see Onbe combine its digital payout offering with TimeForge’s tip tracking solution to turn the “cash-heavy” tip payout process into a digital experience, the companies announced in a news release Thursday (Jan. 11).

The release cites research from PYMNTS Intelligence showing that just 16% of diners use cash to pay for restaurant meals, with the rest using digital and electronic methods.

“As a result, restaurants often don’t have enough cash on hand to tip out staff at the end of a shift, and tip distribution creates additional work and complexity for busy managers,” the release said. “TimeForge’s software solution eliminates the hassle of calculating tip pools and reconciling credit card tips by making it simple to sync data between POS and payroll platforms, ensuring that restaurant employees receive accurate payouts.”

By integrating the solution with Onbe’s payouts gateway, restaurants can replace cash tips with more secure and convenient options that let workers get paid digitally and instantly.

And instant tip payouts are something workers in the hospitality sector want, even if it means paying extra to get them, according to additional PYMNTS Intelligence research.

The report “Measuring Consumer Satisfaction With Instant Payouts,” done in collaboration with Ingo Money, found that 32% of hospitality workers who receive tip payouts would be willing to pay a fee to get the payments instantly.

Industry players say workers who want instant payouts are getting their wish. Brian Hassan, co-CEO of instant cashless tip payouts platform Kickfin, told PYMNTS last year that he sees instant digital tip access and payouts having the same transformative impact that early wage access had when it arrived on the scene several years ago.

“That’s where I think the market’s going to be going in the next few years is how can we acquire more tip transactions and pay them out in real time,” Hassan said.

And getting tip payments instantly could become more important as tipping becomes more scarce, a phenomenon noted in the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Tipping Over: Consumers Reducing Spending and Avoiding Tips.”

That study found that 15% of consumers were leaving smaller tips in 2023, tipping around $19 less each month compared to 2022. Nearly 60% of these consumers said this was due to increased prices making it tougher to afford larger tips.