• Reuters reports that the Joe's Crab Shack restaurant chain is beginning a roll-back of the no-tipping test that it instituted last year, with 14 of the 18 restaurants that took part in the program dropping out. According to the story, "Bob Merritt, CEO of Houston-based parent company Ignite Restaurant Group, told investors this month that research indicated 60 percent of customers disliked the no-tipping policy."
The story goes on to say that "At the test locations, Joe's paid some workers a minimum of $12 an hour. The Houston-based company raised menu prices less than 20 percent to compensate for the higher labor costs. The test, launched under a different CEO, came as a nascent movement has been launched to remove a more then century-old tradition of tipping in U.S. restaurants."
• USA Today reports that McDonald's is conducting a test in the Dallas market of fresh rather than frozen burger patties, cooked to order for customers, looking to see if such a shift can move the needle in terms of the company's taste perception and overall sales.
"If rolled out nationwide," the story says, "the move could help McDonald's repel competition from rival chains like Shake Shack and In-N-Out, both of which tout using fresh, never frozen, beef in their burgers."
The story goes on to say that "At the test locations, Joe's paid some workers a minimum of $12 an hour. The Houston-based company raised menu prices less than 20 percent to compensate for the higher labor costs. The test, launched under a different CEO, came as a nascent movement has been launched to remove a more then century-old tradition of tipping in U.S. restaurants."
• USA Today reports that McDonald's is conducting a test in the Dallas market of fresh rather than frozen burger patties, cooked to order for customers, looking to see if such a shift can move the needle in terms of the company's taste perception and overall sales.
"If rolled out nationwide," the story says, "the move could help McDonald's repel competition from rival chains like Shake Shack and In-N-Out, both of which tout using fresh, never frozen, beef in their burgers."
- KC's View:
