texas

Texas-Based Restaurant Group Tests No-Tipping Program

How much do you tip when you go out to eat? Soon, you may not have to tip anything at all.

Houston-based Joe's Crab Shack is the first major restaurant group to drop tipping altogether, at 18 locations outside Texas.

Instead of allowing tips, the casual dining seafood chain is paying its servers, hosts and bartenders at least $12 per hour instead of the current $2 as part of a "No Tipping Test" program.

"I personally believe tipping is an antiquated model," said Ray Blanchette, CEO off Ignite Restaurants, the parent company of Joe's Crab Shack.

To make up for the lost tips, menu prices in the test locations are higher, typically less than the average 20-percent tip, according to Joe's Crab Shack.

"We have a responsibility to give our employees the best possible future while providing the best service to our guests," said Blanchette.

"I think it's definitely something we're going to watch," said Heather Stevens, executive director of the Greater Dallas Restaurant Association. "It's an innovative approach and it's going to be interesting to see how it works out."

But many other restaurants are unlikely to follow along.

"I think that we would lose a good portion of our great service staff by going to an hourly rate," said Monte Morris, manager of Bob's Steak and Chop House in Grapevine.

"Every single person that I deal with I give the best possible service that I can for tips, and that's why I do it," said Keith Watson, a server at Bob's Steak and Chop House.

Diners have their own reservations.

"I would give it a shot, and if service was excellent and as long as long as it was consistently excellent, I would have no problem with that," said Jeri Mach, of Allen. "But the minute the service wasn't and the food wasn't, I probably wouldn't go back."

Joe's Crab Shack says there is no time line yet to roll out the program nationally.

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