After 6-month trial, Joe's Crab Shack is mostly giving up on tip-free dining

Joe&#039;s Crab Shack ends its no-tipping experiment

(Image credit: CC by: IM_1251/Flickr)

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.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.