Salt Lake City, Utah — A viral video has sparked a heated debate over tipping after a Shake Shack customer claimed a self-service kiosk increased the price of his order after he selected “no tip.”
The allegation quickly spread online, with some customers accusing the restaurant chain of using a controversial pricing tactic while others argued the video did not prove the price increase was connected to the tipping choice.
Customer Says Shake Prices Changed After Selecting No Tip
TikTok creator B.D. Powell said his wife had warned him that Shake Shack could charge customers more if they declined to leave a gratuity.
To test the claim, Powell ordered three classic shakes at a Shake Shack location inside the Salt Lake City airport.
The order included a vanilla shake, cookies & cream shake and strawberry shake. According to the kiosk screen shown in the video, each shake initially cost $5.99.
The self-service system then presented the customer with a tipping screen offering 15%, 18% and 20% gratuity options, along with a “no tip” selection.
Powell chose not to leave a tip. That’s when he said the kiosk displayed an unexpected message.
Kiosk Suddenly Shows a Pricing Update
After Powell selected “no tip,” the screen reportedly displayed a message stating:
“Uh Oh! There has been a pricing update on one or more of your cart items. Please review these changes in your cart.”
When he returned to the order, the three shakes were reportedly listed at $6.49 each, representing a 50-cent increase per drink. That meant the total price of the three shakes rose by $1.50.
“Everything just went up fifty cents,” Powell said in the video, which went viral and accumulated millions of views.
The apparent timing led Powell and some viewers to believe the higher price was connected to his decision not to tip.
Social Media Users Debate Tipping Culture
The video triggered strong reactions online, with some viewers accusing the restaurant of effectively penalizing customers who declined to leave a gratuity.
One commenter questioned how such a pricing practice could be legal, while another said the alleged extra charge would be enough to stop them from returning.
Others used the incident to criticize what they described as the increasingly aggressive nature of tipping culture in the United States, particularly at self-service businesses where customers are already ordering and collecting their own food.
But not everyone was convinced.
Some viewers pointed out that Powell had not demonstrated what would have happened if he had selected a tip percentage instead.
That distinction became central to the debate because the video showed the price changing after the “no tip” selection but did not independently establish that the tip choice caused the increase.
Viewers Suggest Another Possible Explanation
Some online commenters suggested the price increase could have been caused by a time-based surcharge or other airport-specific pricing adjustment, rather than the decision not to tip.
One theory circulating online claimed that the Salt Lake City airport location may have had a late-night convenience fee or time-based pricing change that happened to occur while Powell was completing the order.
If that explanation is accurate, the apparent connection between the tip selection and the price change could have been coincidental.
However, the information shared publicly did not establish the precise reason for the price adjustment.
Shake Shack Says It Is Investigating
Shake Shack eventually responded to Powell’s video directly, pushing back against the suggestion that the company intentionally raises prices when customers decline to tip.
The company said it is not Shake Shack policy to increase menu prices based on whether a customer leaves a gratuity.
The company also said it was looking into the situation with HMSHost, the operator responsible for the Salt Lake City airport location and its kiosk system.
That distinction is important because airport restaurants can operate under licensing or concession arrangements that differ from company-owned locations.
For now, the viral video has raised questions about kiosk pricing transparency, tipping prompts and airport food costs, but it does not establish that Shake Shack intentionally charged customers more for selecting “no tip.”
Would you consider it misleading if a kiosk’s price changed immediately after selecting “no tip,” even if the increase had another explanation? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
