Restaurant Payroll Software for Tip Reporting and FLSA Compliance
Patriot Software’s payroll software helps restaurants record tips, apply multiple pay rates, and pay seasonal staff. For restaurants comparing the best payroll for restaurants with tips, Patriot Software starts at $17 per month plus $4 per worker.
Restaurant Payroll Software
Simple and stress-free payroll
Patriot Software supports small businesses across many industries, including restaurants.
Manage Hourly Employees
Handle Reported Tips
Run Payroll in 3 Steps
Payroll Features for Restaurants With Tipped and Hourly Workers
Record Employee Tips Add reported cash and credit card tips to each employee’s payroll record. Patriot includes reported tips in taxable wages for calculating federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes correctly. Restaurant owners can use employee tip reports when entering payroll.
File Payroll Taxes with Full Service Payroll Patriot’s Full Service Payroll plan calculates, files, and deposits federal, state, and local payroll taxes. It also handles year-end payroll tax filings, including Forms W-2 and W-3. Reported tip income remains subject to payroll taxes even when customers pay those tips directly to employees.
Use Custom Pay Schedules Pay employees according to the schedule that fits your restaurant. Set weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly payroll frequencies for hourly or salaried workers. Custom schedules help restaurants manage staffing changes during holidays, patio season, catering events, and other high-volume periods.
Assign Multiple Pay Rates Pay one employee different rates for serving, hosting, bartending, training, or kitchen work. Patriot Software lets you include multiple rates for the same employee in one payroll run.
Separate rates make it easier to calculate regular wages and overtime when employees work more than one position.
Restaurant-Friendly Pricing
Patriot Payroll starts at $17/month + $4 per worker paid. Compare Patriot Software’s pricing against other leading payroll providers below.
| Payroll Provider | Starting Price (Current as of July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Patriot Payroll | $17/mo + $4/worker paid |
| Gusto | $49/mo + $6/worker |
| OnPay | $49/mo + $6/worker |
Patriot Software’s starting price is for Basic Payroll. Full Service Payroll, time and attendance, and other optional products have separate published prices. Review current plan details before purchasing because provider pricing can change. Compare Patriot Software and other payroll providers here.
Restaurant Payroll Built Around Tip Income
For Kelsey Daniels of Flights Wine Bar, recording tip income is an important part of payroll. Patriot provides a clear place to enter employee tips alongside wages, hours, and taxes.
...[Patriot is] Simple, easy, and user-friendly. It’s intuitive and really doesn’t take me long. I was worried about all the tip income we deal with and all we had to do with it, but it’s very easy.”
-Kelsey Daniels, Owner,
Flights Wine Bar
(Read the Customer Spotlight)
Restaurant Payroll and Tip Reporting Resources
Ready to Simplify Your Restaurant's Payroll?
Restaurant Payroll Software FAQs
Yes, you can easily track already paid tips and tips you owe employees. You can read our help article to learn more about using these money types in Patriot Payroll®.
Yes! Add up to five pay rates for each hourly employee and differentiate pay rates by adding a description to each rate. This is perfect for payroll for restaurants if you have staff members with different positions.
Yes. Patriot Payroll supports all standard pay frequencies, accommodates less common schedules (e.g., quarterly), and lets you run one-off payrolls.
Restaurants enjoy Patriot’s standard low pricing. You can view pricing here.
Restaurant payroll software calculates employee wages, deductions, payroll taxes, and net pay. It should also support reported tips, multiple pay rates, hourly workers, and payroll tax records.
Restaurants track each employee’s hours, job rates, reported tips, and deductions before running payroll. The employer must also verify minimum wage compliance, collect payroll taxes, pay workers, deposit taxes, and file required federal and state forms.
The best payroll software for a restaurant supports tip reporting, multiple pay rates, custom pay schedules, and payroll tax filing. Patriot Software is designed for small businesses that want these basic restaurant payroll functions with pricing that starts at $17 per month plus $4 per worker.
Patriot’s Basic Payroll starts at $17 per month + $4 per worker paid. Gusto starts at $49 per month + $6 per worker, while OnPay has one plan at $49 per month + $6 per worker.
Tip pooling combines eligible employees’ tips and redistributes them according to the restaurant’s written policy and applicable federal and state rules. Calculate each employee’s share using your POS or tip-pool records, then enter the distributed tip amount in Patriot Software for payroll and tax reporting. Managers and supervisors generally cannot keep employee tips or participate in a mandatory tip pool under federal law.
Seasonal employees go through the same payroll setup as other employees, including Forms W-4 and I-9, wage tracking, tax withholding, and year-end Form W-2 reporting. Track each employee’s start date, hours, tips, pay rate, and final paycheck requirements. Seasonal status does not remove minimum wage or overtime obligations.
Here’s a bonus for businesses with seasonal restaurant staff: Unlike other payroll providers, Patriot Software only charges per worker paid. That means you will not pay the per worker fee if you do not run payroll for seasonal team members in a given month.
Yes. Patriot Software lets you assign multiple pay rates to an employee and include those rates in the same payroll run. Track the hours worked at each rate so regular pay and overtime can be calculated from the employee’s actual work record.