The Bunker, a fast-growing golf entertainment venue with 7 locations, needed a better way to manage complex tip pooling, especially during their 120+ monthly events. After implementing TipHaus, The Bunker eliminated spreadsheet errors, ensured fair and transparent tip distribution for event staff, and saved over 34 hours of manager time each month. Discover how TipHaus delivered the accuracy, transparency, and efficiency their growing team needed to scale.
Executive Summary
Region:
New York State
Business Type:
Golf entertainment venue with full-service food & beverage
# of Locations:
7
Interviewee:
Emily Bini, Director of Marketing and Events
Problem:
As The Bunker expanded, managing tip distribution, especially for large group events, became increasingly time-consuming and error-prone. With an average of 120 events each month, the reliance on spreadsheets led to a lack of transparency and consumed over 30 hours of manager time monthly.
Solution:
By implementing TipHaus, The Bunker automated tip calculations across both daily operations and events, saving valuable time for their payroll manager. The platform enabled customized tip logic for each event, eliminated manual work, and introduced time-of-sale-based tip pooling, calculating tips down to the exact second worked. It also removed the burden from staff who previously had to manually calculate their tips at the end of each shift.
Background
Founded in 2019 in a converted office space by two passionate golfers, The Bunker has grown into a regional hospitality success story. Each location offers a unique combination of virtual golf, a full bar, quality food, and private event hosting. With seven locations and a consistent calendar of corporate outings, birthday celebrations, bachelor parties, and more, The Bunker hosts at least 20 large-scale events each month across its venues. These events, often involving long service hours and multiple team members, made tip management increasingly complex.
TipHaus’s time-of-sale functionality allows us to execute detailed tip pooling and fairly split tips for large groups, especially when employees work long shifts across multiple golf bays and events. We host around 120 events a month across our 7 locations, and with plans to expand, that number is only going to grow. The ability to easily customize tip rules for each event has been a game-changer for The Bunker’s management team!
Emily Bini
Director of Marketing and Events
Problem
Initially relying on spreadsheets, The Bunker’s team struggled to fairly and accurately distribute tips, particularly during events where multiple employees worked different shifts and varying amounts of time within the same pool. Hosting an average of 120 events each month across 7 locations made the process even more complex. The lack of visibility frustrated employees, who often tried to manually calculate their expected tips after each shift. With no real-time transparency and a payroll process that consumed an entire day each week, managers were stretched thin. The biggest challenge was managing custom event-specific tip rules, which were nearly impossible to track and apply consistently using spreadsheets alone.
Solution
To solve these challenges, The Bunker implemented TipHaus, integrating it with their Clover POS and Homebase for time tracking. TipHaus’s time-of-sale functionality enabled precise tip calculations based on when and where each staff member worked, accurate down to the second. This was especially valuable for long, staggered shifts during complex events with unique tip rules. With custom rules now applied effortlessly and consistently, the margin for human error was eliminated. The payroll process, which previously consumed over 30 hours of manager time each month (totaling more than 360 hours a year), now takes only minutes per week across all locations. Staff no longer play a guessing game to figure out their tips—TipHaus provides full transparency and accuracy with every shift.
GMs no longer have to field questions about tips, everything is automated and fully visible to the team. It’s made a huge difference in both trust and time savings. And our staff no longer have to guess what they’re getting, everything is clear and visible in the TipHaus employee app!
Emily Bini
Director of Marketing and Events
Results
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With TipHaus, The Bunker turned a once time-consuming and error-prone process into a fully automated, scalable system. Managers regained over 30 hours each month, and employees gained full transparency into their earnings. As The Bunker continues to grow, TipHaus ensures its operations and team stay aligned and efficient.
