Viral Video Seemingly Shows Shake Shack Increasing Its Prices After Customer Opts Not to Tip

Shake Shack was forced to respond after a viral video seemingly showed a location in Salt Lake City increasing its prices after a customer opted not to tip.

In a video posted on Friday, August 8, TikTok user B.D.Powell spoke to viewers from inside the Salt Lake City Airport’s Shake Shack location. The video opens with a man saying his wife discovered that the restaurant was making each menu item they ordered at its touchscreen kiosk more expensive after she opted not to tip.

In the video, they put it to the test, recording as she adds three milkshakes to the cart that cost $5.99 each — one cost $6.48 after she opted to add whipped cream for $0.49. The price came out to $18.46.

Next, she was given the option to add a tip for the staff at 15, 18 or 20 percent, but she opted not to do so. Then, she was greeted with a message on the screen that reads: “Uh Oh! There has been a pricing update on one or more of your cart items. Please review these changes in your cart.”

After hitting “OK” and reviewing her new cart total, all three items had increased in price by $0.50.

“Just making sure everybody knows,” he concludes the video. “Do not go there.”

The video, which has been viewed more than 4.2 million times, eventually got a response from Shake Shack in the comments.

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” the fast food chain wrote in the now-disabled comments section, per the New York Post. “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.”

B.D.Powell did not recreate the experiment to see if the price remained the same when a tip was chosen, so it’s unclear if the decision made on tipping is truly a factor in determining the total price of the order.