Joe's Crab Shack, picking up on the example set by Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, is eliminating tipping from its restaurants in order to promote a fair tradeoff for employees.
The national seafood chain had already eliminated the practice at 18 of its restaurants since August and is looking to expand the policy nationwide in the future, according to CNN.
"We picked a broad range of locations with different nuances to see how it responds in each different area," said Raymond Blanchette, president and CEO of Ignite Restaurant Group, which owns Joe's Crab Shack. "We wanted a random sampling that would be indicative of how a national rollout would be."
Blanchette recently told investors that the move should reduce turnover, improve service quality and actually lower prices for customers who are typically more generous with their tipping, according to Eater.
Based on what the company is doing at the restaurants affected by policy, these expectations may actually come to pass.
Front-house workers at the selected restaurants will now earn hourly wages of about $12-14 an hour and credit card receipts will no longer include a tip line, the company claims, according to ABC News.
Menu prices at the testing locations have increased "slightly" to account for the added labor costs and are "typically less than the average 20 percent service tip," Blanchette stated.
Joe's Crab Shack was founded in 1991, and with more than 130 locations nationwide, it has become the first major restaurant chain to put a no-tipping system to the test.
