DENVER — A beloved Colorado bagel shop is no longer accepting tips, in a move the chain says is an attempt to create a better customer experience.
Moe’s Broadway Bagel, which operates seven Front Range locations, recently eliminated tips at all its stores, instead giving employees healthy raises and increasing prices on its menu items. The assistant manager at the Grant Street Moe’s location, Katie Barnes, told Denver7 that management told employees during a recent staff meeting.
We asked Steve Pagnotta, the bagel chain’s general manager, about the decision. He said the restaurant was anticipating “tip fatigue,” a term becoming more and more a part of the vernacular amid growing expectations of consumers to tip for goods and services.
“We wanted to be ahead of the curve,” Pagnotta said. “So […] we gave the entire staff pretty big raises, 20 [to] 30% raises, and got rid of the tips. […] We just wanted the customer to know what the cost was, what the bottom line is.”
Doing away with tips is “new territory” for Pagnotta, whose bagel business has operated for more than three decades. But he said it’s “the right thing” to do.
“The intent is the customer experience,” he said. “Just to try to create an experience for the customer that works better for them. What you see is what you get.”
Barnes said the news came as a shock initially when Moe’s executive Peter Sherman made the announcement. It levels the playing field for employees like her, though, who may work on the slower days of the week and earn less tips than their colleagues who work on busier weekend days.
“I actually feel really good” about the change, Barnes told Denver7.
There are, of course, varying perspectives on the move away from tips.A thread on the online forum Reddit recently complained of ever-increasing menu prices, which have climbed to $15 for a sandwich and $12 for a burrito at the Grant Street location.
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A customer we spoke with on Wednesday at the Grant Street shop offered a “bittersweet” sentiment about the change, as even tip jars were removed from counters.
“It’s a little bit of a hard debate,” the woman, whose name is Megan, told Denver7. “If they're increasing the wages, I think that's great, but I think also tips should be an option, especially if you have great customer service. So, I think it's a little bit of bittersweet.”
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