Restaurants run on rules that most owners never write down — who is in the tip pool, what counts as calling out, whether a sick cook can work. HandbookHQ turns a five-minute form about your restaurant into a complete, plain-English handbook with a signature page, so every server, cook and dishwasher starts from the same book.
A generic handbook fails a restaurant exactly where restaurants get into trouble: tips, breaks, minors and cash. Wage-and-hour claims in food service usually start with something small — a manager taking a cut of the tip pool, a server clocked out but still rolling silverware, a seventeen-year-old closing alone. A handbook won't run your restaurant for you, but it puts the rules where everyone can see them and gives you a signed page proving each employee was told.
If anyone in the building earns tips, this is the section your staff will actually read. It should say plainly that tips belong to employees, describe how your tip pool or tip-out works and where the specific percentages are posted, state that owners and managers do not take from the pool, explain how credit-card tips reach paychecks, distinguish service charges from tips, and remind everyone that tips are taxable income they must report. Tip-credit rules vary by state, so the handbook should describe the practice and point to your state labor department for current figures rather than printing numbers that go stale.
A double on Saturday is normal in this business, and so is the argument about who got a break. Your handbook should explain how breaks are scheduled during service, that non-exempt staff are fully relieved of duty during an unpaid meal period — no answering the expo window with a sandwich in hand — and how to flag a missed break so it can be paid or fixed. Because break requirements differ by state, the policy should commit to the practice and tell managers where to confirm the current rule.
High-school staff are a gift to a restaurant and a compliance trap. The handbook needs a minors section covering work permits and age documentation, hour and school-night limits described generally, and the tasks minors may not do — serving alcohol, operating slicers and certain equipment, and other hazardous duties — with the specifics confirmed against your state's youth-employment rules. It should also set expectations for supervision and for talking with parents.
Registers, tip jars, comps and voids are where small losses become firing decisions. Write down register assignment and accountability, opening and closing counts, drops and safe procedure, who can approve voids, refunds and discounts, and how shortages are handled — noting that deductions from pay follow state law. A clear policy protects honest employees as much as it protects the till.
Your handbook should require staff to report symptoms that keep food workers off the line, cover handwashing, gloves, hair restraints and allergen communication, and — if you pour — set expectations for checking ID and refusing service, including any server-training certification your state expects. This section is also where "come in sick or lose the shift" culture officially dies: an ill cook costs less than an outbreak.
One no-show at Friday open changes everyone's night. Spell out exactly how to call out (who, how, how far ahead), how shift swaps get approved, what no-call/no-show means, and how schedules are posted. When the rule is written and signed, "I texted the other line cook" stops being a defense.
The Complete Handbook section list HandbookHQ actually generates for a restaurant — every section 400–900 words, written around your answers, with a cover page and table of contents.
Yes. Tell the form you have tipped employees and the handbook adds a dedicated Tipped Employees, Tip Pooling & Tip Reporting section: how the pool works, that managers stay out of it, credit-card tips, service charges versus tips, and each employee's duty to report tips. State-specific tip-credit figures are described generally, with a pointer to your state labor department.
Check the minors box and the handbook adds an Employment of Minors section — work permits, general hour and school-night limits, prohibited tasks like alcohol service and hazardous equipment, and supervision expectations — always deferring to your state's current youth-employment rules for exact numbers.
It describes the practice — unpaid, duty-free meal periods on longer shifts, how to report a missed break — and tells you to confirm current minute requirements with your state labor department, because those numbers vary by state and change. That keeps the handbook accurate everywhere and durable over time.
Yes. The handbook is written for the whole team: attendance and scheduling, dress and hygiene, food safety, cash handling at the register, tips for service staff, kitchen safety and injury reporting, and conduct standards that apply from dish pit to host stand.
No. It is a professionally structured draft written around your answers. Have an employment attorney or HR professional review it before you hand it out — the handbook itself says the same thing on its cover.
Five minutes of questions about your restaurant, one payment, a handbook written for your business — with the signature page ready to print. Not legal advice; have it reviewed before use.
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