Tipping and tech at Brekkie
While in the Lyrath Estate for the Amplify 2026 conference in mid-June, I enjoyed a lovely five star breakfast in the Eden Bistro and then saw how a hospitality worker could earn a tip without actually working a table. That’s because a QR code near my table opened a page on StrikeTip that showed first names and faces of employees. I didn’t have to download an app. StrikeTip let me give a fiver to a Lyrath staff member who cheerfully spent an inordinate amount of time cleaning up a toddler’s breakfast from the floor.
StrikeTip showed me the smiling face of the waitress when I used the QR code. And then I used Google Play to send five euro directly to the staff member. I saw tasteful QR plaques while at breakfast in Lyrath. I thought this was a frictionless way to thank staff for their excellent service.
My daughter worked in the hospitality sector for more than a year and I learned a lot about the tipping culture in Ireland by hearing her talk about the Tip Jar. Service staff put the cash they earned during the night into the Tip Jar. Then the Tip Jar is divided up at the end of the week and disbursed according to the hours worked. In some cases, my daughter waited for a few weeks to get proceeds.
StrikeTip pays out directly to people immediately.
Mia’s grandparents don’t like the Tip Jar system so they try to put cash directly in the hands of the staff who take our orders and deliver plates to the table. Mia explained how upset her fellow workers would be if she took cash directly from a customer. Restaurants depend on a team of people with each person doing a specific job. On some nights, Mia would be at tables where she took orders. On other nights she would pass plates to tables in other sections. Sometimes she would simply clean up and reset tables. She would earn tips even though she didn’t work directly with customers.
If I had kept the Eden Bistro’s QR code after leaving Lyrath, I keeping dropping tips directly to service staff long after I visited. I imagine StrikeTip could be used for any business or sole trader. An account for a worker on StrikePay could be connected by QR code or NFC tag. That’s what I gathered after scrolling through the StrikePay website during the IRDG Amplify conference that I attended in Kilkenny.
