CashoutGlossary / Runner
Runner
A front of house worker who carries food from the kitchen to tables. Runners are usually paid through tip-outs or a tip pool, not by guests.
A food runner takes finished plates from the kitchen window to the right table so servers can stay with their guests. Some houses also have runners check plates at the pass or help with drinks and clearing.
Runners rarely get tips straight from guests. Their tip money usually comes from servers' tip-outs or a tip pool, and the tip rules follow from that:
- Pools. Like bussers, runners who customarily and regularly receive tips can be in a tip pool even when the employer takes a tip credit. Managers and supervisors can't share in it.
- Taxes. Tips a runner gets from servers are the runner's income. Once they reach $20 in a month from that job, the runner reports them to the employer, by the 10th of the next month.
- Tip allocation. A runner who doesn't receive tips directly from customers is an indirectly tipped employee for Form 8027, so no allocated tips land on the runner's W-2.
A common mistake is not tracking tip-outs you receive. If servers hand you cash at the end of the night, write it down that night. It's your tip income, and your own log is often the only record of it.
Related terms
Tip-out · Tip pool · Front of house (FOH) · Reported tips · Tipped employee
