Tipping being like haggling is a feature, not a bug. It basically allows companies to price discriminate - they get maximum value from pushovers and people who want to "be nice", while not losing the customers who are more price sensitive. If you replace tips with increased prices, the companies will get less revenue - the pushovers will pay less that they did (in total) when tipping, and price increases will lose you some of the price sensitive people.
I have no doubt that owners appreciate the benefits of offloading business risk to their employees.
Heck, why not reclassify staff as independent contractors and charge them an hourly rate for the opportunity to interact with onsite customers? Now the local coffee shop is a two-sided marketplace!
