The Challenge: Keeping Great People in a Tough Market
Hospitality has a people problem. High turnover, intense working conditions, and a competitive labour market make retention one of the hardest and most costly challenges for any restaurant group. For Gusto Italian, a brand built on delivering exceptional guest experiences — getting this right isn’t optional. It’s fundamental to the business.
Kyle Basnett, Talent Manager at Gusto Italian, is clear on the philosophy: “When our teams thrive, so does the business.” That belief shapes every decision Gusto makes around how they recruit, develop, and reward their people.
But belief alone doesn’t retain staff. The tools and processes behind it have to back it up — and that’s where tipping and tronc came in.
“Since its launch, Grateful has played a key role in keeping our teams happy. Everyone knows exactly how tips are shared, so there’s no confusion or frustration.”
The Problem With Tronc Before Grateful
Tips are one of the most significant components of a hospitality worker’s earnings. Done well, a tronc system motivates teams and rewards great service. Done poorly, or without transparency, it becomes a source of confusion, frustration, and distrust.
Before Grateful, tronc management in many hospitality businesses operated as a black box. Staff earned tips but had limited visibility into how they were calculated, allocated, or paid. That opacity erodes trust, and trust, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.
Gusto Italian knew this. They needed a solution that didn’t just process tips, but made the entire system legible and fair for every team member.
“A well-managed tronc platform means employees earn more, which makes a big difference in retention. Great service is rewarded directly, which keeps teams motivated and engaged.”
The Solution: Grateful’s Transparent Tronc Platform
Since implementing Grateful, Gusto Italian has fundamentally changed how their teams experience tipping and tronc, and the results speak for themselves.
Full transparency, zero confusion.
Kyle explains: “Everyone knows exactly how tips are shared, so there’s no confusion or frustration.” That clarity matters. When staff can see exactly what they’ve earned and why, the tronc system becomes a motivator rather than a source of anxiety.
Direct reward for great service.
The link between performance and pay is now explicit. Great service leads to great tips, and staff can see that connection in real time. This creates a powerful feedback loop — one that drives engagement and elevates the guest experience at the same time.
A more attractive employer proposition.
In a market where candidates have options, fairness and transparency in pay aren’t just nice to have — they’re a competitive differentiator. As Kyle puts it: “A fair and transparent tipping model makes us a more attractive employer in a competitive job market.”
“A fair and transparent tipping model makes us a more attractive employer in a competitive job market.”
Seamless Integration Across the Business
Beyond transparency, Grateful’s value at Gusto Italian extends to how cleanly it connects with the rest of their operational stack. Scott Grimbleby, who served as COO during the implementation, highlighted this as a key advantage:
“Working with Grateful has been a gamechanger. A big push for us this year was to give our team members more transparency on their tronc to better motivate and engage them, and with Grateful it has done exactly that. The platform also seamlessly integrates with our EPOS, rota and payroll platforms which has really streamlined the whole process.”
That seamless integration — across EPOS, scheduling, and payroll — means tronc is no longer an administrative burden sitting outside the business’s core systems. It’s woven into how Gusto Italian runs day-to-day.
The Results: Retention That Outperforms the Industry
The numbers are striking.
Gusto Italian’s overall staff turnover for FY25 is running at 55% — 4 percentage points better than the industry average. For new hires in their critical first 90 days, that figure drops to just 24% — 5.5 percentage points better than the industry average.
These aren’t abstract metrics. Every percentage point of reduced turnover represents real savings in recruitment costs, training time, and lost productivity — and a real improvement in team cohesion, guest experience, and brand reputation.
While Gusto’s retention success is the result of a holistic approach — encompassing leadership development, internal promotion, flexible scheduling, wellbeing support, and open communication — transparent, fairly managed tronc through Grateful is a meaningful pillar of that strategy.
Kyle is unambiguous about it: “A well-managed tronc platform means employees earn more, which makes a big difference in retention.”
What This Means for Hospitality Operators
Gusto Italian’s experience is a blueprint for what happens when tipping and tronc are treated as a strategic tool rather than an administrative necessity.
Transparency builds trust. Staff who understand and trust how their tips are allocated are more engaged, more motivated, and more likely to stay.
Integration reduces friction. When tronc connects seamlessly with EPOS, rota, and payroll, the operational burden disappears — and accuracy improves.
Fair reward drives performance. A direct, visible link between service quality and take-home pay creates a culture of excellence.
Retention becomes a competitive advantage. Employers who get tronc right attract better candidates and keep them longer.
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has made transparent, fair tipping a legal requirement. Gusto Italian got ahead of it — and they’re reaping the rewards.
