Restaurateur Danny Meyer doesn’t think customers have to tip once they pick up takeout or buy coffee.
“If you happen to’re just taking out food, and it was only a transaction — I offer you money, you give me a cup of coffee — I do not think there’s any obligation to tip in any respect,” Meyer said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.
Meyer founded Shake Shack and serves as chair of its board. The burger chain added tipping to its restaurants last 12 months. He also founded Union Square Hospitality Group, which mostly operates full-service restaurants. The corporate’s eateries include Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and fast-casual chain Every day Provisions.
As more businesses adopt Square’s and Toast’s point-of-sale systems, customers are getting more used to being prompted to tip as they pay. But some leave feeling overcharged or confused about how much they need to tip.
CEO of Shake Shack Randy Garutti (Left) and founder and Chairman Danny Meyer are viewed on the ground of the Recent York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 30, 2015 in Recent York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
At full-service restaurants, some advocacy groups like One Fair Wage are pushing to eliminate the tipped wage. Tipping opponents say that the practice leads to unstable income for servers and might fuel sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
President Joe Biden pledged to finish the tipped wage on the campaign trail in 2020. A handful of states, including California, have already banned the pay system.
Meyer has an advanced history with tipping. In 2015, he announced his restaurants would not accept suggestions in an effort to narrow the income gap between servers and cooks. Five years later, as lots of Meyer’s restaurants reopened their doors in the course of the Covid pandemic, he reversed the choice.
“It was inhumane to inform our servers that you may’t accept that expression of gratitude,” he said Thursday.
