{"id":39046,"date":"2026-08-11T18:13:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T13:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39046"},"modified":"2026-08-11T18:13:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T13:13:43","slug":"shake-shack-stirred-up-by-viral-no-tip-surcharge-video-claims-tech-glitch-was-issue-wsoc-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39046","title":{"rendered":"Shake Shack stirred up by viral no-tip surcharge video, claims tech glitch was issue \u2013 WSOC TV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ic-cdn.flipboard.com\/wsoctv.com\/2713cd4e32eb3caaf236ce788af835f9701c2098\/_xlarge.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">Shake Shack said a viral TikTok video that stirred up controversy over alleged surcharges for customers who did not tip was due to a technology glitch. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">The clarification by the fast-food restaurant chain comes after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@b.d.powell\/video\/7671510172140866830\" rel=\"\">TikTok video<\/a> sparked online backlash over what appeared to be a penalty for customers who did not tip, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/food\/2026\/08\/10\/shake-shack-responds-viral-no-tip-surcharge-claim\/91247673007\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/food\/2026\/08\/10\/shake-shack-responds-viral-no-tip-surcharge-claim\/91247673007\/\">USA Today<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">B.D. Powell said he wondered if his wife\u2019s theory about Shake Shack adding a surcharge to each individual item when the \u201cno-tip option\u201d was chosen was true, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A customer&#8217;s claim that non-tippers are being charged more at Shake Shack has recently gone viral and the chain has something to say about it. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/okw5ZwNxxj\">https:\/\/t.co\/okw5ZwNxxj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 USA TODAY (@USATODAY) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USATODAY\/status\/2087086733913391555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">They tested the theory at a self-serve kiosk at Salt Lake City International Airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cMy wife says that if you don\u2019t tip at Shake Shack, they make it more expensive per item,\u201d Powell said in an Aug. 8 post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@b.d.powell\/video\/7671510172140866830\" rel=\"\">TikTok<\/a>. \u201cSo, we\u2019re about to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">The couple ordered two shakes at $5.99 and one with whipped cream added for $6.49, but when they tapped the \u201cno tip\u201d option, they noticed that the price had gone up to $6.49 for two of the shakes and $6.98 for the shake with whipped cream.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cUh-oh! There has been a pricing update on one or more of your cart items,\u201d a pop-up message <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@b.d.powell\/video\/7671510172140866830\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@b.d.powell\/video\/7671510172140866830\">stated<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cEvery item went up by 50 cents,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@b.d.powell\/video\/7671510172140866830\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@b.d.powell\/video\/7671510172140866830\">Powell says<\/a> in the video.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/shakeshack.com\/blog\/shack-news\/shake-shack-statement-on-kiosk-tipping-error-at-licensed-location#\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/shakeshack.com\/blog\/shack-news\/shake-shack-statement-on-kiosk-tipping-error-at-licensed-location#\/\">a statement<\/a>, Shake Shack said it was aware of the video, adding that the kiosk in Salt Lake City was operated by HMSHost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cIt is not Shake Shack policy, nor that of our licensees, to increase the price of menu items when no tip is added,\u201d Shake Shack <a href=\"https:\/\/shakeshack.com\/blog\/shack-news\/shake-shack-statement-on-kiosk-tipping-error-at-licensed-location#\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/shakeshack.com\/blog\/shack-news\/shake-shack-statement-on-kiosk-tipping-error-at-licensed-location#\/\">said<\/a>. \u201cHMSHost investigated the matter and determined it was an error within their kiosk technology unrelated to tipping. They have informed us that the issue has been resolved. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ll continue working with all our licensed partners to make sure every guest is taken care of at Shake Shack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">According to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hmshost.com\/about\/who-we-are\" rel=\"\">website<\/a>, HMSHost operates more than 1,000 dining locations across nearly 80 airports in North America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph\">Shake Shack, in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/ix?doc=\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/0001620533\/000162053326000018\/shak-20251231.htm\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/ix?doc=\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/0001620533\/000162053326000018\/shak-20251231.htm\">annual filing<\/a> with the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2025, had 420 U.S. locations at the end of 2025, nearly 90% of which were operated by the company.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-articles\">\n<p>Latest consumer headlines:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jyMHRV body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a9 2026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebookSdk\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shake Shack said a viral TikTok video that stirred up controversy over alleged surcharges for customers who did not tip was due to a technology glitch. The clarification by the fast-food restaurant chain comes after a TikTok video sparked online backlash over what appeared to be a penalty for customers who did not tip, USA&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cmg-cmg-tv-10030-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fcmg%2FAUPNCXSDBZGEDPGIYEGI25MRB4.jpg?auth=d48d7390622bc1ac1c43e551879445cdddf3943cf8ab9b6050812a64e6c912eb&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}