Yeah, this is unfortunately why tipping culture can’t be phased out by individual restaurateurs trying to create change. Consumers would rather pay $20 for a meal and tip $4 than pay $22 upfront and not tip. I imagine it’s the same psychological principle that makes people think paying $99.99 is significantly better than $100. The only solution is eliminating the tipped minimum wage all together so that everyone gets the same minimum wage (also, increase the minimum wage at least 200% while you’re at it).

That being said, it’s not just the customers. Whenever a state is about to eliminate the tipped wage, the National Restaurant Association (yes, another evil NRA) spends millions trying to kill it. It happened here in MA a few years ago; they convinced both servers and customers to vote down a referendum to eliminate the tipped minimum wage, even though both of those groups were just subsidizing the restaurant owners.