> The needs of the business do not warrent having 3 staff members.
>
> For a little background, in the past, we had a bartender and a "DJ"
> which played the music and acted as barback, and bouncer and a
> cocktail on busy nights. The owener decided to cut the pay of the
> DJ and call them a 2nd bartender. The bartenders now split tips
> 50/50 instead of the DJ getting a 20% tip out. The owner also
> decided to put a waitress on every night even though it is slow.
> Because of the size and business of the bar it is unnecessary to have
> two bartenders and a cocktail waitress.
>
> There is a LOT of competition for tips due to the overstaffing. This
> does cause some resentment in the bartenders on "why do we have a
> waitress". The cocktail tips the barstaff out 10% of her tips. We
> are trying to find a way to make sure everyone is happy and there is
> no bickering over who served what and who gets the tips. Right now
> we write tab sheets and all drinks are marked as either bar or wait
> drinks.
Been there. Owners are a funny bunch with their ideas that sometimes do not
work!
So, in short, yes the same tab can be accessed by all working and split off as
to what who pours or serves. The downside is: that guest will have 1, 2 or
possibly 3 different checks to pay out and then figure what they wish to tip
on each. (read: therefore the possibility of jeopardising the tip earning
potential by aggravating/inconveniencing the guest and may end up leaving a
lump sum only to be divided by whatever rules you wish to implore)
A possibility to solve that is make sure all on duty are aware of their own
split of the tab and recombine all split checks back to the original single
check. This equals more time and additional steps. Then you still have the
issue of dividing that tip up accordingly, at the moment the transaction is
completed. Again, more time and steps. At this point I'd stay on a Tec
register and forget the expense of Aloha POS and back to the old system of a
hash mark, hand written on a piece of paper tab system delineating who served
what and the old portioning division of the whole tip with the total cocktails
served. (very wordy I'm afraid but there simply isn't any other way to be
thorough in what I'm explaining)
Consider this to simplify: the cocktailer is a cash and carry buisness. No
tabs. The only tabs are at the bar. The only guests the cocktailer serves
are at tables. (If a guest moves from the bar, they pay up and start a new
tab at their table with the cocktailer -- a la Saturday night wait for a table
at a resto).
Lastly, again reconsider splitting equally for the couple of hours a
cocktailer is on duty. Who is really going to quibble over a few bucks of tip
money? Now this is my sole opinion, so please don't take offense: If I need
to scrap over a difference of $20 at a tip out, then I need to find a new gig.
;0)
My apologies if this is a non-answer sort of answer. Good luck.
--------------------------
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them ...
well, I have others." -Groucho Marx