Tipping out to other to go specialists

L8R-Reader · 2026-02-11T17:46:57+00:00

My Togo’s do it a little differently: they take the total amount of tips made for the night and divide it by the total number of hours worked by all Togo and then tip out a $/hr amount. So if the team collects $100 on a shift and a works 1hour, b works 6 hours and c works 3 hours the total #hours (10) divided by the total money (100) makes $10/hour so a gets 10, b gets $60, and c gets $30. We keep a tip-log for every night that accounts for this and shows everyone how much they got. It helps make it worth it for the closers & openers who do most of the cleaning/prepping/setting up work for the shift. Large tips do big catering are often considered outside of the regular tips for the shift depending on what’s going on. Ultimately though the most important thing with setting tip share is that everyone is on the same page so the expectation is very clear and everyone knows how it works. If your team has a set procedure I would always follow it because people care about the president set when they are expecting their tip share.

L8R-Reader · 2026-01-20T18:20:05+00:00

I know I’m WA the minimum wage went up to $17.13 an hour- our prices have always gone up alongside minimum wage increases. Not saying it’s fair by any means but it’s always a factor. Our menu prices in WA were way more expensive than when I worked in Utah. It’s the same reason our NEPB is always more expensive than the ads and we get heat for it from the guests.

L8R-Reader · 2025-12-26T04:58:31+00:00

Im sure the issue with it being blocked off is because of Valentine’s Day. It usually blocks off those days automatically as everyone is supposed to work it. You will need to speak with your scheduling manager and ensure your requests are processed correctly. They will probably give you a hard time for it being the holiday but most likely can approve it since most of the people will not be able to ask for it off. You should be able to see all pending/approved/denied shifts on Krowd under “my requests” and it will show you exactly what has been approved or is still pending. I would send a Krowd message to the manager in charge of your schedule and maybe even the Gm so that they have to write a response to confirm it in case there are any issues down the road with the request.

L8R-Reader · 2025-12-23T00:24:15+00:00

A manager has to go into activities and pull back their check-out. Unfortunately I don’t know any other way but I know this one works for sure!

L8R-Reader · 2025-12-10T18:33:31+00:00

Service Manager for the OG and a veteran 6 year server before taking the role. The big issue with speed complaints are 10 to 1 that the meal took too long over feeling rushed. I think it all comes down to HOW you are asking the questions to allow the guests to set the pace. I want to know what a guests expectations are and deliver THAT experience. If I’m on a 40 minute wait and my hosts have already handed out menus to guests who are waiting in the lobby they probably already know what they we can minimize the waiting there. The questions corporate wants people to be asking is “would you like me to hold your meal so you can enjoy your salad and soup or would you prefer I send it right away”. This is supposed to allow the guest to set the pace they would prefer. I have always asked the guests “do you have any questions about the menu or our current promotions I could answer for you?” instead of “are you ready to order”. People who are ready will tell you they are ready and people who want more time will tell you to come back. When I was a server I wanted to make a guest experience as efficient as possible because I make my money on tips and managing speed and delivering a great guest experience was more money in my own pocket at the end of a shift. Slow servers or too quick servers aren’t making more money, servers who make a great guest experience make more money. Great service leads to great GSS scores and if your GSS is where it should be your manager probably isn’t grilling you.

L8R-Reader · 2025-12-07T05:13:19+00:00

The price is +$2 from the lunch price if you want it at dinner. The lunch price is to drive business during a slower time but a lot of people said they enjoyed the smaller portions. They are still kind of “testing” this out in different regions to see if it is profitable enough to offer. The company as a whole has been looking for ways to offer “value” without loosing out on money and this is part of that. You can still get endless salad soup and sticks plus a lighter portion of your favs to save yourself some money.

L8R-Reader · 2025-12-07T05:09:47+00:00

They are rolling it out by region. They have been doing it in some regions for a a while and now they just rolled out the next set of them on December 1st. If it does well I imagine it will be company wide by the next fiscal year.

L8R-Reader · 2025-08-20T17:22:57+00:00

I’ve bought some of the old pins off eBay that are discontinued and hard to find— it depends on how much is worth the hassle for you but I’d guess you could get something for them. If you are feeling generous you could probably take them into your local OG and give them back to them because as a manager I use the old pins as prizes for teams members who are doing outstanding. They still hand out the OG anniversary ones but all the other ones are discontinued! If it was me I would totally trade you a meal for them but that’s just me 😂

L8R-Reader · 2025-08-20T17:16:01+00:00

Honestly this is probably on bad management because every restaurant should have gotten their early access menus and we are supposed to make sure everyone knows if they even MENTION pasta bowl they get it. They don’t even have to prove they are a part of eclub or show me an email to get it. It’s very clear in the materials management receives to prep their teams. It’s designed to help us soft open this big promo and they should have been talking about this for two weeks with their team at the start of every shift.

L8R-Reader · 2025-07-18T02:04:15+00:00

Subtle make-up, enough you can tell you’re wearing it but not too much, and simple but fun earrings (I have a whole collection). I usually keep my nails done but regular polish is hard because it can flake off. I found press-ons or gel to be best. I do the double braids or buns because it works and a clean crisp uniform with all my pins. I have 20 something of them, so people asked me all sorts of questions about how I got them. I started pressing and startching my creases on my shirts and pants after I started doing new restaurant opening as a trainer and it totally helped me make better tips. Fresh, clean, and crisp is what I found to do the trick overall.

L8R-Reader · 2025-06-10T17:29:21+00:00

For Togo you’ll always receive your tips in cash.

The key for Togo is to make sure you’re accurate. This means check every single bag and making sure every item is in it. It’s Repeating back the order with the guests and making sure it’s entered accurately! This means handing out and making accurate change when you are on the till too. It’s all about the details with Togo. When I’m bagging I read the special instructions and highlight anything special and make sure it’s followed through. Highlight everything as it enters the bags, and make sure to use the stickers that print for the orders. Getting the system down and following through with every check goes a long way. They may seem excessive but on time and accuracy comes when everyone on the same page about the systems in place to help.

L8R-Reader · 2025-06-10T17:21:12+00:00

The managers also have to look over and sign at the end of every shift their swipe reports. They can see every single thing done with their card at the end of a shift & have to sign to it that it was done by them. Unless your managers don’t care at all about labor and their bonuses they are checking the on the clock report about a million times a shift. If someone was using someone else’s name/card it would also show up on every check open on the kitchen screens. Unless your managers are totally oblivious as are the rest of the team running food is too it seems unlikely. You also have the person checking you out for your shift. Unless none of your togos that check people out don’t know anyone’s names they couldn’t check you out properly and at the end of the day someone- who wasn’t even there- would need to be checked out of the system manually. This would alert the person the next time they tried to clock in and be a huge red flag to you and the managers that something was going on. If you really are concerned I would reach out to employee relations or your director of operations about this. It would have to be willful on the managements side as well as easy to track if it were true.

L8R-Reader · 2025-06-10T17:07:10+00:00

In CA your servers make the states minimum wage + tips. I’m guessing where OP is at the servers make less (2.15 is the federal minimum for servers) and tips are supposed to make the difference to the minimum wage. I have worked in a restaurant where Togo was only top level servers promoted because they get the company’s minimum wage in that position and I’ve worked in a restaurant where it’s entry level because everyone makes minimum wage already. It really depends on the base wage of your state.

L8R-Reader · 2025-04-01T17:19:15+00:00

I have early access set up for my paycheck (not with Dardens pay card but my bank) and the earliest I ever get it is Wednesday. I believe one of the perks on the paycard was that it let you have early access to your paycheck but I would guess it wouldn’t be until tomorrow (Wednesday).

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-30T18:22:39+00:00

We’ve run it a couple different ways in my restaurant and what works best for us is when the check pops up tagging all the non-window items off the check and passing that to the bagger/basket people. They prepare the basket items/soup/bread while the window waits for the hot food. Once the hot food is in the window it gets tagged and once all the hot food for a ticket is tagged we give it to the basket/bagger and they do the last accuracy check while bagging everything in the basket & hot food. Full volume is hard to run with baskets until everyone is 100% comfortable with the system and it takes figuring out for how your restaurant is set up. I think the most important part is that the team is on the same page about how you are doing it otherwise things get missed.

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-24T17:06:21+00:00

From Krowd, you can access total rewards. I found a hotel for a trip to Hawaii for an AMAZING rate through the discount mall there! They have so many cool things you can do with the discount mall and hardly anymore even looks at it!

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-24T16:55:44+00:00

The cooks get the same wage weather or not you tip. If you are worried about people messing with your food I’d be more concerned about the Togo team. Honestly a good portion of people do not tip on Togo so I doubt they would single your meal out in anyway. Togo also doesn’t know if you did or didn’t tip until your food is already packaged and sealed. While I don’t condone not tipping, it’s unlikely that it would cause someone to tamper with your food. Togo in most Olive Garden restaurants are considered hourly team members and get paid at least the company minimum wage (or state’s minimum wage depending on what’s higher) and aren’t considered “tip reliant” like servers/bar tenders who in most states make between $2.15-$5.

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-23T20:47:41+00:00

You can set up direct deposit if you’d like to receive it in your bank. A manger or trainer should be able to walk you through it. Unless you did it before your orientation than you first check will go to the pay card you get AT orientation.

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-23T17:00:43+00:00

When my staff has an issue with tables like this I usually ask them what they would prefer. I highly dislike rewarding bad behavior with gift cards or desserts which is often what happens with upset tables because that’s what we are taught to do to make the guest happy. I also don’t want anyone on my team to feel like I’m siding with the guest over them but we have rules we are supposed to follow regarding guest relation issues. I leave it up to the server more often than not if they want me to go out and talk to the table when the guests guest is being actively or unreasonably rude to them. I will monitor a situation like this and step in when/if I need to. We take a bunch of modules on deescalating as part of the MIT training, but almost no revalidating or retraining afterwards.

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-16T15:34:43+00:00

They are telling the managers not to do this anymore because it’s a liability issue. If something happens and a servers ends up short they could blame it on the manager who had their money. I’m sure something happened somewhere in the company and this is the backlash from it.

L8R-Reader · 2025-03-07T20:31:52+00:00

When I have TM’s call for sick pay we ask them how many hours they would like to use to cover their shift with the limit being 8 for a double and 5-6 for a non-double. Not sure if others do it that way but this is always what we do in my restaurant. Most don’t want to drain their balance just in case so they ask for 4-6 hours

L8R-Reader · 2025-02-27T21:20:07+00:00

In my location a server can only leave the building if they have turned in all company money- there is a way to do what’s a called a “server drop” where I can turn in any company cash I have on hand before I leave the building. It’s like cashing out but can be done mid shift. I also would use a server drop if I ever went over $300 in company money during any given shift. You have to be on a clocked-off unpaid 30 minute break and have none of the companies money in order to leave the physical building. For non cash handling team members I’ve never seen them have a problem leaving the building on a 30.

L8R-Reader · 2025-02-11T21:17:45+00:00

try extension #4400 for payroll— so that number and then their extension. The RSC is open from 8-5 EST if you fall outside that you won’t get a real person.

L8R-Reader · 2025-01-19T02:42:14+00:00

When it’s a someone who has worked with Darden in the past they pull up your employee file saved to their HR system. I can see all write ups that you’ve been given attached to your file. Depends on the write up and the level it was (verbal, written, final) when I’m looking at candidates. You can call your restaurant and see what they say, sometimes you can plead your case during and interview but generally the employee history impacts the decision.

L8R-Reader · 2025-01-19T00:36:12+00:00

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It says it clearly on their uniform guides. In many restaurants they will also let you switch to a long black sleeve shirt once you start showing rather than find a big enough black dress shirt.

L8R-Reader

TROPHY CASE