HR for cafes, restaurants, pubs and hotels

For hospitality businesses with 1 to 49 staff. On top of the HR every employer needs, you have rules on tips, young workers and night work, and a duty to protect staff from harassment by customers. We build each one into your contracts, policies and records, and we run the tips consultation for you.

Extra rules we handle: Tips, young workers, night work, harassment by customers
Health and safety add-on: Follows later
Who it’s for: 1 to 49 staff in England, Scotland and Wales

The health and safety add-on starts in summer 2027 with offices, shops, salons and clinics, and hospitality follows later. When you reserve, you can ask to be told when it’s ready for your business, and you won’t be charged.

The extra rules in your industry

Each one switches on from what you tell us when you join, and goes into the same contracts, policies and records as the rest of your HR.

The rule
A written tips policy

What it means for you
If customers tip more than occasionally, you need a written policy saying how tips and service charges are shared among your staff.

What we do
We write the policy from the way you share tips, and your staff read a plain-English version in the app.
The rule
Tips passed on in full, by the end of the following month

What it means for you
Every tip and service charge goes to staff in full, apart from tax, by the end of the month after the customer paid it. A tip left on 23 June reaches staff by 31 July at the latest.

What we do
Your policy sets out how and when tips reach staff, and we keep the record of tips received and paid out.
The rule
Tip records kept for 3 years

What it means for you
You keep a record of tips for 3 years from the day each one was paid. Each member of staff can ask to see it once every 3 months, going back up to 3 years.

What we do
We keep the records for the 3 years, and staff can ask to see them in the app.
The rule
Staff consulted on the tips policy, expected by the end of 2026

What it means for you
Once this starts (expected by the end of 2026, but the date isn’t set yet), you must consult staff before you write or review the policy, share an anonymised summary of their views, and review the policy at least every 3 years.

What we do
We run the consultation: the staff survey in the app, the anonymised summary, and a reminder when the next review is due.
The rule
Young workers have tighter limits

What it means for you
Staff under 18 can work no more than 8 hours a day or 40 a week, need a 30-minute break once the day is longer than 4.5 hours, and can’t work between 10pm and 6am, or 11pm and 7am if their contract allows work after 10pm. Hospitality can use them until midnight or from 4am when needed, but only if no adult is available and it won’t harm their education or training. No one under 18 can work between midnight and 4am.

What we do
We check their limits against the hours you enter, never offer them the 48-hour opt-out, and draft their risk assessment for your HR expert to sign off.
The rule
Night workers get a free health assessment

What it means for you
Night workers, meaning staff who regularly work at least 3 hours between 11pm and 6am, must be offered a free health assessment before they start night work, and regularly after that.

What we do
We write the offer for each night worker and record the date of their assessment.
The rule
Harassment by customers

What it means for you
From 30 October 2026, you’re liable when customers harass your staff over age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, unless you took all reasonable steps to prevent it.

What we do
We write a notice for your premises, website or booking terms telling customers how staff must be treated, and a risk assessment that covers late shifts and lone working. Staff do the training, and can report harassment in the app, anonymously if they need to.

What we ask when you join

A short form about your business and your staff picks your contracts, your policies and the hospitality sections. Founding members fill it in during December, and you can type your staff in or upload a spreadsheet.

Roles and contracts: each person’s job, and whether they’re full-time, part-time, zero-hours or casual.
Shifts: your patterns, including nights and weekends, so the night work rules reach the right people.
Pay: hourly or salary, overtime, and how you share tips and service charges.
Ages: a date of birth for everyone, so the limits for under-18s apply.
Cards and training: food hygiene training and first aid certificates go in your certificates register, with reminders before they expire.

Food handlers must be trained or supervised in food hygiene, but the law doesn’t require a certificate. First aid certificates last 3 years.

Your first pack

Compliant in a day

Templates pickedEngland, hospitality, 5 roles
Legal checks passedMinimum wage, 5.6 weeks’ holiday, notice
Checked by Rachel, your HR expertMon 11 Jan, 16:20
4Sent for e-signature5 of 6 staff signed

In your pack

Contracts and written statements6
Disciplinary and grievance2
Trade union statement1

All names are made up for the demo.

The rest of your HR

Everything else works the way it does for any other business.

Questions

Do service charges count as tips?

Yes. The rules cover tips, gratuities and service charges, whether a service charge is added to the bill automatically or left by choice.

Do you write zero-hours contracts?

Yes. Zero-hours and casual staff get the same holiday and minimum wage rights as other staff, with holiday built up at 12.07% of the hours they work, and their contract can’t stop them working elsewhere.

During 2027, on a date not yet set, qualifying staff are due to get the right to be offered guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts, and pay for shifts cancelled at short notice. We update the contracts and write the guaranteed-hours offers when that starts.

Can staff opt out of the 48-hour week?

Yes, if they’re 18 or over and choose to, by signing an opt-out in writing, which we store with their records. They can cancel it at any time with at least 7 days’ notice, or up to 3 months if their opt-out says so.

Do you do rotas?

No. Keep using the rota or clocking-in app you have. We keep the working time records the law needs, for 2 years, from the hours you enter.

Your HR team, from January 2027.

Start with the free checklist. Reserve your founding price, and we set you up in January. It’s refundable until launch.

Reserve your founding price Book a 15-minute call

Not ready yet? Get the free 1 January 2027 checklist.