Over the past few years, the shift towards digital payments has accelerated as consumers realized that cash is inconvenient, inefficient, and less-than-hygienic. Since more people have stopped using cash, it’s become increasingly difficult to tip out employees in cash, too. Managers have had trouble making change from the till and have spent countless hours making trips to the bank or monitoring their cash flow. All of this has amounted to increasing frustration from managers and their employees alike, as tipped service professionals are demanding faster access to their earnings.

Luckily, there's a better way. Here's how three businesses have transitioned to cashless tips by using Branch—and how the switch has been a win-win for everyone involved.

Hot Pizzas Pizza Hut Franchise

What should be a positive for any business—a surge in online ordering during the pandemic—had downsides for some. Just ask Adam Johnson, area coach for Hot Pizzas, a franchise of Pizza Hut restaurants in Arizona. As people became accustomed to the convenience of paying on their phones or with a card, this presented an unexpected challenge: the locations Johnson oversaw were soon taking in 95% digital payments. 

Because of this, Johnson found himself with six stores that ran out of cash on a near-weekly basis. He ended up making long drives to the bank multiple times a week. Every morning he’d pull each store’s reports to see how much cash they had left and try to guess when they’d run out. 

Switching to Branch, Johnson and his team of managers were able to instantly tip out and reimburse drivers for mileage at the end of every shift, taking the administrative burden off their plate and leading to happier employees in the process. 

Read the full case study here. 

“I feel like [since using Branch] I’ve gained 10 hours a week back into my life,” Johnson says. “I’m now able to spend more of my time with the team and focus on coaching them to take care of customers.”

HRAH Salons

The Hampton Roads Acquisitions Holding company (HRAH) includes 25 locations in the Supercuts and Cost Cutters salon families. For Jerica Smalls, Corporate Director of HR, Finance, and Operations, getting tips to stylists in a timely, error-proof way was top of mind in order to retain talent.

Before switching to Branch, they were using a standard paycard to get employees their tips. While they were happy to be using a digital payment method, they found that their paycard not only required additional management from the team but tips also took a long time to post to employee accounts. 

When they started using Branch, they were amazed at the lack of management needed and how quickly stylists were able to get their tips. Using Branch, Smalls could see a breakdown of every single tip someone received, so she no longer had to reconcile the data herself. Her stylists now enjoy automated tip payouts multiple times a day.

Read the full case study here.

“Now they get their tips at least three or four times a day—almost as soon as they’re issued,” Smalls says. “Having our stylists happy and knowing they’re receiving their money throughout the day has been great.”

New River Valley Domino’s Franchise

Keith Mungo, Director of Operations for the New River Valley Domino’s franchises, had several issues with using cash for tips. For one, he was always slightly uneasy about having so much cash in the till every night. Overseeing 15 stores, he didn’t want each of them to have a $1,000 till that would be required in order to tip out his employees in cash. 

“I didn’t want a supervisor doing that for multiple stores and carrying around $8,000 in cash,” Mungo says. “If something were to happen, who’s liable? Where does that money go?”

Plus, supervisors had to spend countless hours running to the bank to get change, writing company checks, and monitoring cash flow. 

When Mungo turned to Branch, he was able to implement cashless tips right away, and realized that making the switch to digital payments took those worries off his to-do list. Not only that, but he’s seen happier employees from the near-instant payments they now receive when getting tipped out after each shift. 

Read the full case study here.

“We gained operational efficiency from happier team members,” Mungo says. 

Switching to cashless tips

Consumers simply aren’t paying (or tipping) in cash anymore. And workers are sick of the sluggish, inconvenient process of waiting to be tipped out in cash, too. Ditch the hassle of trips to the bank and constant cash flow monitoring by switching to fast and easy cashless tips with Branch. 

With Branch, you can tip out your employees instantly after each shift with no additional hassle.

Ready to learn more?