Joe's Crab Shack tests "no tip" policy

[Takket]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/joes-crab-shack-tests-tipping-policy-18-locations/story?id=35134532

The no-tipping movement has a new supporter.

The Joe’s Crab Shack chain started testing a no-tipping policy at 18 locations across the country, Ray Blanchette, CEO of Ignite Restaurants, told analysts last week.

Servers at these restaurants will be paid a higher, fixed hourly rate and credit card receipts will no longer include a tip line, according to the company. Servers typically earn $2.13 an hour, the federal rate for tipped workers since 1991, plus tips.

The company did not specify the increased hourly wage.

Menu prices at the testing locations have increased "slightly" to account for the added labor costs, Blanchette said. The higher prices are "typically less than the average 20 percent service tip," he added.


The chain’s 13 Florida locations are not included in the tests and Blanchette would not give a timeline as to when the policy would be implemented across all of the 130 locations.
"We believe that consistently great service should always be included in the menu price, so we are taking the responsibility for paying the service staff,” Blanchette said in a statement. “I personally believe tipping is an antiquated model and you have seen most businesses in America migrate away from it over the last 50 to 100 years.”

[Travis_0004]

1. I typically tip more than 20%, so I'm fine with this

I wonder if overall this will represent a pay cut or pay raise. Probably a bit of both. The good servers might make less, the bad might make more under this new system.

[Kilgore]

2. Daughter thinks its a dumb idea

My daughter has been a full time waitress at a popular steakhouse for the past five years. She regularly makes between $150 - $200 per night in tips. That's between $18.75 and $25 dollars an hour just in tips. Our state has the same $9.32 minimum wage tips or not, so she ends up making around $30 an hour average.

Unless Joe's is paying at least the same, what incentive is there for someone to stay?