The math at a 6-top dinner is harder than it should be: who had wine, who skipped dessert, who's putting it all on one card. This calculator handles tip, tax, and proper splitting — including by shares (when one person had two glasses and one had none). Useful at the table. Useful as a branded tool a restaurant embeds in their take-home receipt. Useful for tour operators, event planners, and group-trip leaders.
Restaurants, bars, tour operators, event venues, and personal use at any group dinner. Particularly useful for businesses that want to make their customer's bill experience friction-free — drop a QR code on the check that opens a calculator branded with the restaurant's name.
1. Enter the pre-tax bill. The subtotal before tax and tip. If you only have the total, the calculator can back out tax for you.
2. Set the tax rate. Most US cities range 6-10%. Some states (Oregon, New Hampshire, Montana, Delaware) have no state sales tax. Adjust for your locale.
3. Pick a tip preset. 15%, 18%, 20%, 22%, 25% — one tap. Or enter a custom percentage. Pro tip: tip on pre-tax in tipping states; tip on post-tax if you're feeling generous.
4. Set the number of people. Defaults to splitting the total evenly.
5. Use "split by shares" for uneven splits. Person A had 2 drinks. Person B had 1. Person C drank water. Set their shares as 2, 1, 0. The calculator distributes the bill proportionally.
6. See per-person totals. Each person sees their exact contribution including their proportional tax and tip.
Put a QR code on every check. Scanned 20% of the time. The customers who use it spend less time arguing at the table, leaving sooner = table turn happens faster = more revenue.
Brand the calculator with your restaurant's name, logo, and signature dish photo. It becomes a tiny piece of marketing every customer touches.
Include your social media handles at the bottom. The customer who just used the tip calculator is in a high-attention moment.
Pre-fill the suggested tip range. Most US restaurants now suggest 18% / 20% / 22% — pre-fill yours to match what the rest of the menu has been signaling.
Tip on pre-tax to be standard. Tip on post-tax to be generous. Either is fine. Tip 10% or less is rude in the US food service industry — service workers depend on tips because their base wage is often $2.13/hour.
For takeout, 10-15% is standard. For delivery, 15-20%. Round up for cash tips; bigger psychological win for the server, lower friction at checkout.
Group dinners: agree on the tip percentage BEFORE the bill arrives. Half of all bill-split arguments are about tipping disagreement, not the math.
The sample is generic. Your restaurant or business version is branded with your name, your logo, your tip preset percentages, your tax rate, and your social links. $19 personalization, $49 fully custom at yoursaas.diy. Embed via QR on every receipt. Yours forever, no SaaS subscription.