That's a payment to the restaurant, and is counted with the employee's normal pay. Or if you personally hand cash to people it becomes a personal gift.

The situation is more analogous to patreon: a centralized service which you make bulk payments to, and they divvy the payment to your selected set of people who are not employees of patreon.

Brave is starting a centralized service where you make bulk payments to them, and they divvy up the payment to your selected set of sites who are not employed by brave