Joe’s Crab Shack has become the latest and first major restaurant chain to try the no-tipping model trend.
CNN Money reported that the seafood eatery has already tested out the no-tipping policy in several of its restaurants and may soon drop gratuities altogether at every one of its locations.
Ray Blanchette, who is the CEO of Joe’s parent company Ignite Restaurant Group, told investors recently that 18 of its 131 restaurants have been testing the system since last August.
"We picked a broad range of locations with different nuances to see how it responds in each different area," Blanchette said. "We wanted a random sampling that would be indicative of how a national rollout would be."
If all the units decide to adopt the model then employee pay will go up to between $12 and $14 an hour to make up for the lost tip money.
As we reported last month, New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer has eliminated tipping at his eateries and noted that with that menu prices will increase substantially.
Of course if the no-tipping policy goes into place at Joe’s the menu prices there will also increase by as much as 12 to 15 percent.