Grateful

Grateful is an automated tip pooling and tronc platform founded in 2022 by Mason Potter (CEO), Jarrod Potter (Chair), and Damian Guy (CPTO). The trio started Grateful after Mason and Jarrod’s experience in the United States, where they saw first hand how well-managed tipping could profoundly boost team motivation and performance.

After initial testing with pilot clients, the trio then set out to solve the growing problem that operators faced by drowning in admin, operating on huge, complex Excel sheets for tip pooling and rising National Insurance costs for employer received tips whilst service workers were being hit with shift latency, a lack of transparency and a growing lack of trust in tip pooling arrangements due to outdated and manual processes.

Rationale

The service industry has long struggled with unfair and opaque tipping practices, employers often distributed tips inconsistently, or used them to subsidise wages. As cashless payments replaced cash, businesses gained control over digital tips, leading to delays and a lack of understanding of the distribution policy among staff. Many companies also mishandled ‘tronc’ systems, causing tax and compliance issues. These problems damaged employee morale and public trust, prompting new UK legislation in 2024 that requires all tips to go directly and transparently to workers, driving demand for automated, compliant solutions like Grateful.

Grateful is reinventing how businesses reward and retain frontline workers, and its platform tackles these challenges head on, combining digital tipping, modern tronc management, and worker financial tools into one solution that helps employers stay compliant while giving teams more transparency and ownership than ever before on their gratuities This approach has fuelled impressive growth of more than 400% year-on-year, as major hospitality groups turn to Grateful to meet regulatory demands and boost retention. 

Over 50,000 people are on the platform currently, and Grateful are already working and integrating with other technology partners – including the likes of Toast, EposNow, Deputy, PayCaptain, and many more.