The Pinnacle Peak Patio Steakhouse & Microbrewery is a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, known for its delicious steaks and its rigorously enforced no-necktie dress code. If anybody is found wearing a necktie, someone will sneak up on them with a pair of scissors and cut it off. The clipped necktie then joins thousands of others hanging from the ceiling like trophies reminding everyone to never, ever, walk into the place wearing a necktie. So far, the owners of Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse have cut over a million ties from unsuspecting customers. Pinnacle Peak was first opened in 1957 as a general store and rest stop for travelers heading to nearby lakes. To boost sales of their small business, the owners began serving dinner on the weekends. The success of the weekend cookout encouraged them to abandon the store and open a full fledged restaurant. Today, Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse is said to be the “world's largest western steakhouse” with a seating capacity of 1,800 people. The "no necktie" tradition was started one night when a Phoenix executive came in for dinner. The original owner, wanting to keep the atmosphere in his restaurant casual, told the executive, "Either you take that tie off, or I'll cut it off." The executive didn't heed the warning and was appalled when the owner pulled out a butcher knife and promptly cut off the offending tie. Wanting to be recognized as a victim of this absurd policy, the executive demanded that his tie be prominently displayed for all to see. So the necktie was stapled to the rafters along with a business card identifying its victim, and the tradition was born.
