Shake Shack is facing backlash after a viral video appeared to show a self-service kiosk raising the price of a customer’s milkshakes after he declined to leave a tip.
TikToker B.D. Powell ordered three milkshakes at a Shake Shack in the Salt Lake City airport. Two were priced at $5.99 each, while a third cost $6.48 with added whipped cream. After Powell declined to leave a tip, the kiosk displayed a “calculating total” message before alerting him that there had been “a pricing update on one or more of your cart items.” The price of each shake had increased by 50 cents.
“Everything just went up 50 cents. Every item went up by 50 cents, just making sure that everybody knows,” Powell said.
Shake Shack said the price increase was not company policy and that it was investigating the incident with HMSHost, the company that operates the airport location and its kiosk system.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is not a Shake Shack policy, and we’re currently looking into it with our licensee, HMSHost, that operates the Salt Lake City airport location and kiosk system,” the company said.
HMSHost attributed the price change to a technology error with the kiosk and said the problem had been resolved.
The video amassed millions of views on TikTok and X as frustration with tipping expectations continues to grow in the United States.
A Popmenu survey released in April found that 78% of customers believe tipping practices “have become ridiculous,” while 44% reported tipping less this year than last year.
“People are being asked to tip more than ever,” Bankrate Senior Industry Analyst Ted Rossman said. “There are crazy examples that you would have never even thought of 10 years ago. It’s getting harder and harder to avoid.”
Rossman made the comments after encountering a tip prompt while purchasing a sandwich from a self-service airport kiosk.
“Tipping in America is truly out of control,” said Kashif Ahmed, a financial planner with American Private Wealth. “I understand many folks get most of their pay from tips, but businesses have started to ask for tips when no extra work was done. And in some cases, no human was even present.”
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