ST. PAUL — A St. Paul restaurant chain that dipped into employee tips to offset a higher state minimum wage is backing away from that practice after it was roundly criticized.

The Blue Plate chain of eight restaurants passed along a credit card processing fee to its staff after the state minimum wage rose by 75 cents an hour on Aug. 1.

Blue Plate told its employees the new wage hike and rising health insurance costs would cost the company $1.2 million. So, the 2 percent credit card fee the restaurant chain had been paying would come out of their tips.