How managed payroll works.
Every pay period our team runs payroll inside your platform, reviews it before it is submitted, and picks up the phone when something is wrong. Your managers approve hours and send us employee changes. We handle processing and the checks we agree on.
What happens each pay period.
Tuesday 9:00 am
Your managers approve hours and send any new hires, terminations, and pay changes.
Your part
Tuesday 2:00 pm
We review hours, rates, tips, and deductions. For example, tipped overtime that came in short at one store gets corrected before submission.
Wednesday 10:00 am
We submit payroll and check garnishments, child support orders, and new hires against what went in.
Thursday 11:00 am
We check that the tax deposits your platform made match the payroll.
Friday 6:00 am
Employees receive their scheduled pay.
Illustrative. Days follow your pay schedule, and the review example shows the kind of issue we look for.
A dedicated payroll person, and a team behind them.
Every group gets one person who runs its payroll and knows its stores, its managers, and its rules. That is who your team calls.
Several other people at Runway know your account too. Payroll runs every period whether or not one person is out, and nothing about your group lives in one head.
The full scope.
We handle
- Running payroll in your platform every period, with a review of hours, rates, tips, and deductions before it is submitted
- Tip credit, tip pools, dual jobs, and overtime on tipped wages
- Garnishments, child support orders, and levies
- Entering the new hires, rate changes, and terminations you send us
- Checking the tax deposits and filings your platform makes
- Answering agency notices and working through penalties
- Responding to unemployment claims, and contesting them when the facts support it
- W-2 review, corrections, and year end
You keep
- Approving hours each period
- Sending new hires, terminations, and pay changes on time
- Pay rates and raises
- Hiring and firing
- Benefits and carriers
- Your platform, your contract with it, and your data
Platforms we work in include Toast Payroll, ADP, Paycom, Paylocity, Paycor, Dayforce, UKG, Rippling, isolved, Alliance HCM, Push, Homebase, and Harri. If yours is not listed, ask.
The parts of restaurant payroll that go wrong most.
Tip credit and tip pools
Tipped minimum wage, tip pool math, and overtime on tipped wages, done the way each state you operate in requires.
Dual jobs
A server who also hosts has two rates on one check. We track both and figure overtime correctly across them.
Turnover and unemployment
High turnover means a lot of claims. We answer every one and contest the ones worth contesting, which protects your rate.
Minors and multiple states
Hour limits, scheduling rules, and new hire rules change at every state line. We keep track so your managers do not have to.
How a group gets started.
Six steps, in this order. How long it takes depends mostly on how many payrolls you want to run together before we take over.
1
Meet your payroll person
You are introduced to the person who will run your payroll, and they learn how your group is set up.
2
Checklist and payroll review
We work through an implementation checklist and review your recent payrolls, setup, and rules in your platform.
3
A startup plan
We agree on dates and on who does what. We work remotely, or on site if you want us there.
4
Put the split in writing
Before any live payroll, you get a plan that spells out what Runway does and what your team does, so nobody guesses later.
5
Run one or two payrolls together
With responsibilities agreed, your team and ours run live payrolls side by side until both sides are comfortable.
6
Go live on the Runway Standard
From here your managers approve hours and send changes, and we run the rest every period.
Questions groups ask on the first call.
Do we have to change payroll platforms?
No. We work inside the system you run today, in your account. If you want to switch at some point we can help, but it is not a condition of working with us.
Does Runway file our payroll taxes?
No. Your payroll platform files and pays the taxes, the same as today. We run payroll inside it, check the deposits and filings it makes, and answer the agencies when a notice comes back.
What happens to the person who does payroll now?
That is your call. Some groups move that person into HR or operations work that was not getting done. Some were about to hire for the role and stop. We will tell you what we have seen work.
Who do we call when a check is wrong?
Your dedicated payroll person. Several people at Runway know your account, so when that person is out, someone who already knows your stores picks it up. You will not be sent to a queue.
How do you handle tip credit and dual jobs?
We review both before each payroll is submitted: tipped minimum wage, tip pool math, overtime on tipped wages, and employees working at two rates. This is where restaurant payroll goes wrong most often.
What does SUTA management mean?
We respond to the unemployment claims your group receives, contest them when the facts support it, and watch your experience rating in each state so the rate does not drift up unnoticed.
We are not big enough for a full time payroll person. Is this for us?
Usually, yes. In a smaller group payroll is costing an owner or a GM hours every week. We take that time back and push the day you need to hire out.
What does it cost?
A flat monthly fee per location, quoted after a first call once we understand your group. It is not priced per employee. Your quote spells out exactly what the monthly fee includes.
Tell us how many locations and hourly employees you have.
Book twenty minutes. We will walk through how your payroll runs today and what it would look like with us. No demo unless you want one.