Well, it was nice while it lasted. In November, the seafood-based chain restaurant Joe's Crab Shack decided to experiment with scrapping tips at 18 of its 130 restaurants, and now it is cutting that back to just four locations. The decision was announced last week during an earnings call by Bob Merritt, the new chief executive of Joe's parent company, Ignite Restaurant Group. Former Ignite CEO Ray Blanchette had called tipping "an antiquated model" when announcing the experiment, and Merritt agreed that "the system has to change at some point," but added that "our customers and staff spoke very loudly.... And a lot of them voted with their feet."
Some 60 percent of Joe's Crab Shack customers indicated they didn't like the no-tipping model, according to company research, because they wanted to feel control over the quality of service or they did not trust the restaurant management to pass on the extra money from higher prices to the service staff. Joe's Crab Shack isn't the only restaurant dropping its no-tip experiment — Fedora, in New York City's Greenwich Village, said Monday it is ending its four-month-old trial — but other restaurants, most notably Danny Meyers' Union Square Hospitality Group, have called ditching tips for higher wages a great success.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Gaza is running out of cashUnder The Radar Palestinians pay the price as black market springs up around banknotes and coins
-
Law firms: Caving to White House pressureFeature Trump targets major law firms tied to his past investigations
-
Venezuelan deportees: Locked up for tattoos?Feature A former pro soccer player was deported after U.S. authorities claimed his tattoo proved he belonged to a Venezuelan gang
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of businessSpeed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocksSpeed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor dealSpeed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine
-
Biden expected to block Japanese bid for US SteelSpeed Read The president is blocking the $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
