Restaurant HCM that handles tipped pay without compromise.

UKG and ADP are our primary partners for restaurant operations. We deliver implementations and managed services across the UKG product family (Pro, Pro WFM, Workforce Central, Ready) and ADP's enterprise product set (Workforce Now, WFM, Lyric). Restaurant buyers tend to evaluate platforms against tip-handling capability, multi-location compliance, and POS integration depth, plus operational cadence: how cleanly weekly payroll runs with tip reconciliation, how reporting rolls up across locations and brands. The 100+ HCM implementations behind the practice include single-brand QSR operators, multi-brand portfolios running quick-service and full-service under one HCM, and franchise groups operating across multi-state jurisdictions. Workday engagements happen on engagement basis when restaurant operators make strategic platform decisions to migrate there. We lead those transitions but don't position ourselves as a Workday partner. Paylocity shows up in smaller operations where the workforce model is simpler. Our advisory work stays platform-agnostic across whichever HCM the operation runs. Our implementation and managed-services work goes platform-deep at the configuration layer where tip-credit math, multi-location compliance, and POS integration actually live.

Restaurant engagements start by mapping the operational landscape, not by activating modules. Discovery covers the location portfolio, brand structure (single brand, multi-brand, hybrid franchise/corporate), POS landscape per location (Toast, NCR Aloha, Square for Restaurants, others), state-by-state compliance footprint with attention to tip-pooling rules and predictive scheduling laws, and a process audit of how tip reconciliation runs today. Configuration then layers pay rules, classifications, and POS integrations against that landscape. We sequence implementation against operational rhythm: go-live timing avoids high-volume seasonal periods where possible. Rollout phases by location or brand when client portfolios span multiple operational rhythms, so each unit stabilizes before the next one cuts over.

Yes. Tip-credit math, tip allocation across qualifying employees, blended-rate overtime on tipped hours, and IRS Form 8027 reporting are all configuration patterns we've delivered. State-specific variations layer at the configuration level: states that prohibit certain tip-pooling configurations, states with tipped minimum wages above the federal floor, and states with mandatory service-charge-vs-tip reporting distinctions. The work lives in the earning code structure, pay rule logic, and reporting hooks. Tip-credit calculations resolve against the controlling minimum wage at each location. Blended-rate overtime applies the FLSA-weighted-average across tipped and non-tipped hours within the same week. Tip pooling allocates only to qualifying employees per the contract or policy. Once it's right at the system level, payroll teams stop reconciling against POS schedules every week.

Yes. The pay rule shapes differ across the spectrum: quick-service is mostly hourly with simpler tip handling, fast-casual sits between with limited tip exposure, and full-service carries complex tip-credit math with FOH/BOH split. The architectural approach is the same regardless. We design the earning code structure to handle every model natively, then configure the rules per brand within the same HCM. Reporting aggregates by brand for executive visibility while operational reports stay brand-specific where operating teams need them. Cross-brand worker transfers flow through configuration without manual reconciliation. We've delivered for QSR-only operators, full-service-only, fast-casual, and clients running multiple brands under one HCM.

POS systems own the operational data the HCM doesn't natively see: tip declarations per shift per employee, transaction volume that drives labor-budget reconciliation, schedule-actual variance for shift-by-shift profitability tracking. Toast, NCR Aloha, Square for Restaurants, Lightspeed, Touchbistro, and other POS platforms expose this data through APIs, file feeds, or third-party middleware. We design integration layers bidirectional from day one. Tip declarations flow from POS into the HCM's earning code structure for tip-credit calculations, blended-rate overtime, and Form 8027 reporting. Schedule actuals feed labor-cost reporting that compares forecasted versus actual at shift granularity. The integration stays stable through POS upgrades, location-by-location adoption of new POS systems during portfolio expansion, and brand-level POS standardization decisions.

Yes. Restaurant vendor selection is a standard advisory engagement. The output is a defended recommendation through gap-analysis methodology: requirements anchored to actual restaurant operations (tip handling, multi-location compliance, franchise vs. corporate operating model, POS integration depth across the existing tool stack), trade-offs spelled out for each platform's gap profile against those requirements, total-cost-of-ownership modeled across implementation, ongoing license, and managed-services horizon, and a decision defensible to the executive team. We don't run vendor-paid placements. Our advisory work stays platform-agnostic. The recommendation tracks operational fit, not commercial relationships. When clients pick a platform we've also implemented, the same team carries forward into implementation if the engagement structure calls for it.

Engagement scales from focused administrative coverage to fractional HCM management for restaurant operations. New-location rollouts, brand expansions, franchise-model adjustments, and state-by-state regulatory changes (minimum wage updates, tip-pooling rule changes, predictive scheduling laws taking effect in additional jurisdictions) all generate regular configuration work. Multi-year managed services for restaurants covers weekly payroll cycle support with tip reconciliation, exception handling for the cases that always come up, location-rollout templating, POS integration monitoring, and the operational discipline that keeps cost-per-shift reporting reliable. Stabilization fits the same engagement shape when a prior implementation didn't engineer tip-credit or multi-location compliance cleanly. We stay engaged through change requests and periodic re-architecture work that keeps payroll clean as operations grow.

Success means the configurations produce correct outputs across every restaurant operational rhythm the business runs on, without parallel reconciliation systems eating the back end of the week. Weekly payroll closes on schedule with tip-credit math, blended-rate overtime, and tip-pool allocation resolving cleanly from POS data flowed in during the week. Multi-state compliance lands per location, with tipped minimum wage floors, predictive scheduling rules, and state-specific payroll requirements applying automatically rather than per-location manual handling. POS integrations stay stable through location-by-location upgrades and brand-level POS standardization decisions. Multi-brand operations close together in the same HCM, with executive reporting rolling up across brands while operational reports stay brand-specific. New-location rollouts spin up on franchise standards, with payroll, scheduling, and reporting flowing from go-live forward rather than after-the-fact reconstruction. The harder-to-quantify signal is operational: weekly payroll closes on schedule with tip reconciliation complete, leaving HCM team time for next-week's rollouts rather than chasing last-week's corrections.