Maru Sushi

Maru Sushi Switches to Branch for Seamless Same-Day Tip Payouts

Background

Maru Hospitality Group is a Michigan-based restaurant group specializing in chef-driven cuisine; they operate five Maru Sushi locations. Aimee Byars has been the Director of Finance for Maru for 12 years, and recently spoke with us about how switching to Branch for digital tip payouts has benefited both the business and their staff.  

The Quest to Replace Paper Checks

Previously, Maru used paper checks for employee tip payouts. But they weren’t just putting employee tips onto bi-weekly paychecks; they were actually writing out a new check at the end of each shift for each tipped employee. 

Understandably, this took a lot of time and caused a lot of headaches for their payroll team. It wasn’t just issuing all of those checks, but reconciling and verifying that they had been deposited—and ensuring that check fraud wasn’t taking place—which required constant diligence.  

Byars describes how issuing such a large number of checks was becoming an incredible nuisance. 

“With five restaurant locations, the number of checks we were writing out on a daily basis was astronomical. Plus, reconciling those checks, finding checks that weren’t deposited or dealing with check fraud which was happening more and more, it all became too much. People are very creative in how they were able to print multiple of the same checks or deposit them twice by accident” says Byars. 

There had to be a better way to pay employees their tips each night without taking up so much time and resources for check issuing and verification.

Shopping Around for a Convenient, Fee-Free Option 

It wasn’t until Byars received a cold call from Branch that she thought there might be a way to simplify and streamline the tip payout process. While they did look at some competitor solutions throughout the decision-making process, they were less than pleased with the fees that other companies came with.

“In this day and age, every single platform seems to cost money. These other solutions [that we looked at] weren’t convenient for Maru, and they weren’t convenient for employees,” says Byars. 

Byars found that Branch, on the other hand, provided plenty of fee-free options and a convenient way to send digital tip payouts to workers after each shift.

“There were so many fee-free options for the employee, and it was still free to us. Plus, it was easy to use. Every time I looked at any other options, I kept coming back to Branch.”

Byars and her team also noticed that many competing solutions were all-or-nothing, requiring employees to put all wages and tips onto one paycard. With Branch, however, she could choose to keep Maru’s existing direct deposit provider and specifically use Branch for tip payouts, which is what she wanted. 

Saving Money and Streamlining Tip Payouts with Branch

By implementing Branch, Maru can now tip out servers immediately —and digitally—after each shift, eliminating the need for paper checks. Not only did switching to Branch make the tip payout process simpler, but it has saved Maru time and money, too. While they were previously writing anywhere from five to fifteen checks per day, per location, they now can send all of those tip payouts via Branch. 

Since checks cost on average $2 per check, and Byars estimates they were issuing at least 15 checks at each of their 6 locations each day. Making the switch to Branch has saved Maru Sushi about $180 per day in paper check costs and the finance team about 2-3 hours per week on paycheck reconciliation alone. 

“It’s such a relief not having to track down and reconcile all of these checks,” Byars says. “I would find double cashed checks and the banks would let them go through. I used to have to contact the bank and then contact the employee to try and recover those funds. Those were never fun conversations to have. So thanks to Branch, there’s also been a huge reduction in check fraud.”

An Extra Bonus: Supporting Underbanked Employees

Another unexpected benefit of Branch was that they were able to provide a full digital banking experience for employees who otherwise may not have had a banking history. 

“There’s a real benefit to giving someone a routing and account number; some of our employees did not have bank accounts, and were taking checks to check cashing locations, which charged them huge fees. Or they maybe needed a little help in financial literacy and understanding all the important reasons to have a bank account. With Branch, it actually provides you with a bank account and banking history, which is so important for so many things, whether it’s renting an apartment, getting a car loan,” says Byars.

This proved to be an unexpected benefit to offering this flexible solution: employees could use Branch only for tip payouts, or they could also use it for a full digital bank account—whichever fit best into their life.

“For some of our employees who weren’t banked before, it was great to see how much they grew by having this new [financial] access,” says Byars. 

A Smooth Transition for Payroll + Employees Alike

Byars notes that the simplicity of Branch has been beneficial for both payroll and her tipped employees. She appreciates the easy-to-use interface of Pay Admin, the portal admins use to pay out employees. 

“It’s so easy to fill someone’s tip card,” she says. “And I like that you can put limits within Pay Admin for that extra peace of mind.”

Byars and her team know that implementing new tools or solutions can sometimes be tricky, but she was also relieved to find that with Branch, implementation and rollout were smooth processes.

“It was such a seamless rollout,” she says. “And customer support has been great, they’re always quick to respond. We’ve had nothing but good experiences.”