With the global economy floundering, restaurants have tried to come up with as many resourceful ideas as possible, from prix fixe dinners to built-in tips, to draw in diners and keep businesses afloat. At London's Little Bay Restaurant, however, one restaurateur has gone where few others have gone before: for the month of February, he's letting his customers decide how much they ought to pay for their meals — if at all. To learn why, read more.
"It's entirely up to each customer whether they give £100 or a penny. All I'm asking is they pay me what they think the food and service is worth," said Peter Ilic, the restaurant's owner, in a statement. "It just seemed the right thing to do with everyone . . . feeling pretty miserable."
This tactic sounds like it could be problematic, considering diners at the restaurant feast on such high-cost items as duck salad and caviar-topped haddock soup. But according to Ilic, the restaurant's made above its average spent per head over the last five days.
This focus on the honor code of customers isn't the first we've seen — last year, we told you about a San Francisco bar with a billing system that relies on the honor code. This is the first incident where I've heard of customers being given the power to decide how much they think a meal is worth. Since most of you said you wouldn't pay the full amount at an honor code-based system, I'm rather surprised by the news that the restaurant's seeing profits. After watching the clip below, tell me: Has Ilic put an admirable concept into practice, or is he simply setting his restaurant up for failure?
Pineapple
I think he could do suprisingly well.
1I don't think he'd be "setting his restaurant up for failure"!
2He's only running the promotion for one month and he's already got a lot of free publicity, especially when other restaurants in the area are struggling to get customers through the door.
Besides, Ilic owns 4 restaurants in London, so he's not exactly putting all his eggs in one basket.
Its very gimicky.
3There has been a restaurant in Queens NYC doing this for quite some time. They only do it on Tuesdays I think and it's all vegetarian health food stuff. I don' think it's a horrible idea because it makes people try your food and if they like it come back with friends. Not bad at all.
4Interesting, and it's certainly generating buzz.
5I wish more things in life were pay what you will. Radiohead's last cd was like that. Maybe it will catch on!
6i think that the key is that the folks that are going there have gone there before or typically frequent similar type places, so it's not like they are going to stiff their waiter or really undervalue their meal. it's a hard one, but i think that it's pretty safe to say that it's a good bet that they'll do ok.
7I wonder how he will do in the long run...
8Interesting concept. I think he may be seeing a profit because of either more people going to the restaurant, or simply that people kind of feel bad for paying a dollar...even if they truly think a meal is worth a dollar for whatever reason. I'm sure people go there and think OH COOL, and then they're like well, I can't pay 5 bucks for two meals.
Who knows.
9Interesting. It's based on a honor system.
10There was a restaurant near my house that did this for awhile...couldn't have turned out so well, because the place is closed now.
11Actually, we did something like this for a church fundraiser once. We made a big spaghetti dinner with garlic bread, salad, etc., and invited everyone to eat and pay what they thought the meal was worth. We actually made quite a bit of money. There weren't as many freeloaders as you'd think. I could see this being a neat trend...hope it continues!
12Saw this idea on Last Restaurant Standing the other day
13I love it!
14Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.