The parent company of Joe’s Crab Shack is taking the controversy over federal minimum wage polices to a new level by testing a no-tipping policy at 18 of its 131 locations. 
 
 The test by Houston-based Ignite Restaurant Group scraps tips in exchange for raising wages for its restaurant workers. 
 
 “I personally believe tipping is an antiquated model,” Chief Executive Ray Blanchette told investors in a conference call last week. “We believe that the no-tipping service model gets us above the fray with regards to the increased minimum wage conversations that seem to be happening all over the country.” 
 
 Joe’s operates two restaurants in Orange County – one in Newport Beach and the other in Garden Grove near Disneyland. Those restaurants are not part of the pilot. 
 
 Test restaurants have raised the fixed hourly rate of workers based on factors that include employees’ historical compensation and their importance to the business, Blanchette said. Joe’s declined to discuss salary specifics. 
 
 Restaurants testing the policy are in Utah, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Kansas. At these restaurants, Joe’s is not adding service charges to checks, though there have been small increases for menu items, the company said. 
 
 Last week, Blanchette said he expects less employee turnover by eliminating tips because workers will enjoy a fixed rate, of “say, $14 an hour” compared with $2.25 an hour – a model seen in some states where employers are allowed to pay tipped workers below the federal minimum wage as long as their tips make up the difference. 
 
 Joe’s test comes a month after famed New York restaurateur Danny Meyer announced plans to eliminate tipping at all of his New York City restaurants. The no-tipping policy will be phased in starting later this month at The Modern, he said. Diners will face menu price hikes to ensure all workers are paid fairly, he said. 
 
 Meyer operates Union Square Hospitality Group, whose other restaurants include, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and Blue Smoke. ||||| Joe's Crab Shack, the first national chain to test a no-tipping policy, is sharply curtailing the experiment, saying it cost them customers at a majority of the locations where it was tried. 
 
 "We are reducing the no tipping units to four restaurants from the 18 we had previously had done," Robert Merritt, chief executive officer and director of Ignite Restaurants (IRG) told analysts in a call last week. "Our customers and staff spoke very loudly and a lot of them voted with their feet." 
 
 On average, foot traffic at the no-tipping restaurants fell 8 to 10 percent, he said. 
 
 The no-tipping policy is continuing in the handful of stores "where it actually worked very well," Merritt said. "We're going to try to figure out why it worked in some places and why not in others." 
 
 Ignite Restaurants in November said it was doing away with gratuities at 18 of its more than 130 Joe's Crab Shack restaurants in more than 30 states, with then CEO Ray Blanchette calling tipping "an antiquated model" that most American businesses had migrated away from over the past 50 to 100 years. 
 
 But Blanchette didn't remain at the helm long enough to see his pilot program through. Six days after unveiling its "forward thinking policy," the company, which also owns and operates Brick House Tavern & Tap, announced that he was departing to "pursue other interests." 
 
 In testing its no-tipping policy, the seafood chain hiked menu prices and said it would increased hourly wages for servers, hosts and bartenders at the pilot sites. 
 
 But company research found that 60 percent of the restaurants' customers did not like the no-tipping policy because they didn't want to lose control of the experience by removing the service incentive. Patrons also didn't trust management to pass along a share of the higher menu prices to employees, which is supposed to offset the elimination of tips. 
 
 The casual-dining chain is not alone in reviving tips. Fedora, a New York City eatery, said this week it was tossing its no-tipping policy four months after adopting it. 
 
 But owner Gabriel Stulman held out hope for a gratuity-free system in the future. "We continue to believe that it has the potential to change hospitality for the better," he wrote in a letter to customers. "We hope it's the future for more restaurants, including our own." 
 
 Other establishments that have done away with tipping have report more success. 
 
 Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group in November rolled out a no-tipping policy three of its 13 restaurants, including the Modern at the Museum of Modern Art. Meyer said in a podcast that December had been the most profitable month in the Modern's history.
– Put away the calculator and enjoy dessert: There's no more tipping at Joe's Crab Shack, the first national full-service chain restaurant to test a no-tipping policy, Consumerist reports. In a conference call last week, Ray Blanchette, CEO of parent company Ignite Restaurant Group, told investors that 18 of its 131 units are trying out the no-tipping policy that began in August, making up for lost tips by upping servers' starting minimum wage to $14 an hour from $2.13 (exact pay depends on work performance), Restaurant Business Online reports. The goal: to prevent staff turnover and improve service. "I personally believe tipping is an antiquated model," Blanchette said in the call, per the OC Register. "The no-tipping service model gets us above the fray with regards to the increased minimum wage conversations that seem to be happening all over the country." Blanchette explained that, in addition to servers being more likely to stick around for the long haul with a higher hourly wage, they'd also be guaranteed the same pay whether they worked a dead shift on a Monday afternoon or a busy Friday night, per National Restaurant News. And service would likely improve, too, he noted, especially when servers start sharing table duties for large parties (instead of getting territorial over a table for an anticipated big tip). The wage increase is paid for by raising menu prices 12% to 15%—which could still save customers money if they usually tip 18% or more. Results so far have been positive. "What makes us optimistic is the restaurant that has been in test the longest is gaining the most traction," Blanchette tells NRN. Consumerist notes that the parent company of 13 well-known NYC restaurants has been testing its own no-tipping policy since October, leveling wages between front-house and kitchen staff. (A NYT writer says tipping is "degrading" to women.)