Ferry Reimagines Restaurant Payroll Payouts with Highnote

How Ferry used Highnote’s platform to reinvent restaurant payroll, modernizing its payments infrastructure to deliver same-day pay and expand financial access for thousands of workers nationwide.

The Vision: Immediate Pay, Better Workplaces

Ferry didn’t start as a fintech company. It started with a simple request from a large publicly-traded casual dining restaurant company:

They needed a better way to pay their employees, one that didn’t involve biweekly cycles, tip-out delays, or stacks of cash in the back office.

“We were asked to turn a working solution into a real business,” said Miranda Graeme, Director of Operations at Ferry. “It started with a tip-out portal. But it became so much more.”

Ferry’s mission became clear: empower hourly workers with real-time pay and financial tools, while giving restaurant operators a more efficient, compliant, and scalable system.

But to do that, Ferry needed more than just a card. They needed a true product-platform partner. One flexible enough to support both complex operations and worker trust.

The Challenge: Scaling Pay Without the Banking Burden

Most payroll cards come with one big catch: onboarding friction.

Traditional debit cards require KYC, long approval cycles, and multiple days to go live, which just doesn’t work for restaurant workers who need to get paid today. And many of these workers don’t have traditional bank accounts or are new to the U.S.

Ferry tried working with other processors, but kept running into the same roadblocks. Too rigid. Too slow. Not built for scale, or for restaurants.

This large national restaurant chain needed a solution that could work on Day One, across hundreds of locations. So did Ferry.

The Solution: Seamless Card Platform with Highnote

Ferry turned to Highnote, and found the partner they needed.

“With Highnote, we could ship cards directly to restaurant locations, and employees could start getting paid the same day they got hired.” Miranda Graeme, Director of Operations at Ferry

Highnote’s platform delivered:

• White-labeled payroll cards with minimal lift
• Instant transfers and internal balance movement
• No-friction onboarding via pre-KYC’d employer data
• Compliant templates and policy support for fast, secure launch

“Highnote’s compliance team and tooling made it possible for us to get up and running quickly, and safely.”

In 2025, Ferry expanded its partnership further by becoming the first company to launch Highnote’s Instant Payments capability. This enhanced their offering by enabling automated, same-day payouts of tips and wages directly into employee bank accounts or debit cards — not just onto payroll cards, giving workers even more control and flexibility.

By embedding Instant Payments directly into restaurant workflows, Ferry now automates complex tip-out calculations, supports IRS reporting compliance, and delivers real-time earnings across multiple payout rails, while maintaining visibility and orchestration through Highnote’s unified ledger and money movement engine.

Results: Faster Pay, Stronger Retention, Lower Costs

Ferry launched across 200+ restaurant locations, and the impact has been immediate:

• Same-Day Pay: Workers get tips and wages instantly after every shift
• Earned Wage Access: No more payday loans and employees access their earnings as they earn them
• Reduced Cash Handling: Restaurants save time, cost, and risk with digital payouts
• Stronger Retention: Real-time pay has become a hiring differentiator

With Instant Payments now live, Ferry can also send funds from Highnote-issued cards to eligible external bank accounts or debit cards, delivering near-instant payouts across all wage and tip flows, whether on-card or off-card.

“Where would you rather work — a place where you get paid that night, or one that makes you wait two weeks?” — Miranda Graeme

A New Standard for Restaurant Payroll

Ferry goes beyond payroll payouts, making wage and tip disbursement effortless, and earning trust along the way.

With Highnote as their product partner, Ferry is delivering a magical experience for restaurants and workers alike: one where pay is instant, access is universal, and scale is seamless.

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