Payroll

Introduction

Payroll software works out what each person is owed from their hours, rates, tips and deductions, produces payslips and pays them. In a food business the hard part is the input: hours change by the week, staff work several roles and tips have to be counted. Some products are full payroll services that calculate and file taxes. Others are rota and time tools that prepare hours and export them to a separate payroll provider, and a few offer a managed payroll service on top. Rules on tax, pension and pay differ a great deal from one country to the next, so check what a product handles where you operate.

Who needs it

Any employer with staff on the books. It becomes a live question when payroll is done by hand from timesheets, when tips complicate every pay run, or when your scheduling or till software could send hours across automatically. Very small teams sometimes use an accountant instead; larger ones tend to want hours flowing in without retyping.

Written 30 September 2026