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New app aims to make tipping more transparent
Currently only available to use via your smartphone at the Watershed cafe and bar, a new app developed in Bristol could one day be the new way to tip across the world.
Tip Tap has been developed by Rebeca Esteves, who had the idea for the app when in a cafe on Gloucester Road, where she wanted to leave a tip but did not have any cash on her.
The app enables customers to give money directly to an individual member of staff, with the money going straight to their own bank account; although the team at the Watershed have decided to split all tips evenly.
Tip Tap is currently on trial for a month at the Watershed bar
Rebeca hopes that Tip Tap will help the tipping process as society moves towards being more cashless, and at the same time help service staff top up their basic salaries and lead to more transparency.
The 39-year-old from Westbury-on-Trym was born in Portugal, grew up in South Africa and has lived in the UK since 2001.
She currently works out of the Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio (“Everyone there has been fantastic; it’s a great community”), and said that the team at the nearby bar did not take much persuading to trial Tip Tap, with signs on the bar and at tables encouraging customers to sign up.
“The question now is that are people willing to use the app,” Rebeca said sitting on a table near the bar on a recent morning, only a few days after the month-long trial had begun.
“We have had tips already, which is great. And the process of dividing the tips is working.”
In the future, Rebeca can see Tip Tap working not just in food and drink businesses, but also in places like hairdressers and beauticians where tipping is also commonplace.
The development of the app has also come at a time when the Government is looking at tipping, and Bristol North West MP Darren Jones has raised the issue in Parliament.
“It should always be up to the customer to tip who they want, that’s my belief because it’s their money,” Rebeca said.
“Tip Tap is about the customer and about the employees, making sure there is a transparent path between them.
“This is still very much a trial at the moment. When we come out properly, I want the app to be amazing. I want to simplify something that is really complex.”
Read more: Bristol North West MP to launch campaign clamping down on unfair tipping policies
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