Joe’s Crab Shack Just Became The First MAJOR Restaurant Chain To Ban Tipping

Last month, restauranteur Danny Meyer implemented a much talked-about “No Tipping” rule at his restaurants. Rather than leaving money for their servers, patrons would see a slight price increase in their meals and servers would be paid a higher hourly wage.

Now, in a major move, Joe’s Crab Shack has become the first major chain to implement that No Tipping policy at 18 of their major units. Restaurant Business reports that servers will see a starting pay bump of $14 an hour. While $14 is the base, servers actual wages will vary depending on their past performance.

Joe’s parent company, Ignite Restaurant Group, says that the pay increases will come from the 12 to 15 percent price elevation for menu items. According to Ignite CEO Ray Blanchette, the test began in August and have been implemented in more Joe’s Crab Shacks as recently as last Tuesday.

Blanchette says that the new wage model also fixes some wage problems at the restaurant locations. Waiters and waitresses at Joe’s are usually against having help when it comes to a large table because it means splitting tips. Now, no matter how large the party, tip sharing will not be an issue at the 18 test cities.

Joe’s will continue testing this new model through the end of the year.