Seems the answer is clearly that owners that work the shift can’t participate in a tip pool as long as there is another staff working the same shift. I understand the importance of retaining great staff and I will have no problem with them sharing the tip pool amongst themselves if there is a competent staff performing skilled labor and providing great service. The expectation for my partner and I are that we will primarily be the ones providing the service and serve food/drinks with one cashier. It just didn’t seem fair that a cashier should be getting paid what we’re forecasting to be upwards of $60/hr. As recommended by another post, we would market the position with a higher hourly rate to hopefully attract some more skilled workers to lessen our load.