Restaurant running on voluntary contributions

[Redchrome]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28996573/

'Pay what you want,' U.K. eatery tells diners
To beat downturn, one owner leaves tab amount up to the customer

LONDON - A London restaurant decided to do away with bills for the next month, asking customers to pay only what they want for meals in an unorthodox bid to beat the credit crunch.

The Little Bay restaurant in central London, one of four owned by restaurateur Peter Ilic, will present diners with absolutely nothing when they ask for the check during February, leaving it up to them to decide what the meal was worth.

"Anything between a penny and 50 pounds ($70) will make me happy, it's entirely up to the customer to decide," Ilic said on Tuesday, sounding confident about the prospects as he sat on a purple couch is his brightly colored, arty restaurant, known for its bistro-style Mediterranean cuisine.

"It just seemed the right thing to do with everyone under the cash and feeling pretty miserable," he said.

Times have not been easy for London restaurants in recent months as the credit crisis and a deepening recession have hit everyone, from ordinary city workers to highly paid bankers.

Whereas once high-flying hedge-fund managers from the London financial district known as the City might seek out the most ostentatiously expensive lunch they could find — and top London restaurants would willingly oblige — now the order of the day is austerity and a decent, tasty bargain.

For starters, foie gras
Ilic, a long-standing player in the London restaurant business, is well-known for his value gourmet food, but now he's gone one step further and effectively cut prices to zero.

"We have seen so many more city folk coming into the restaurant lately, looking for a better value lunch," he said, explaining what gave him the idea, similar to that used by major bands like Radiohead to sell their CDs.

If people like something, they'll pay for it, the idea goes, and already Ilic has seen evidence that it works.

"Customers have already paid 20 percent more than the original price," he said, confident that he will more than cover his expenses for the month. "People want to be polite and would be embarrassed not to pay enough."

Remains to be seen how well it would work in the long run; since prices send signals and are therefore necessary; but it's an interesting experiment in voluntarism.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

The vast majority of people are totally willing to pay for their stuff. I'm a little nervous, since i know SOME jackasses are going to leave nothing.

I think this is a CREATIVE way to pull in customers though, and they say there's no such thing as bad publicity. I wonder how many of his competitors are being reported on by MSNBC.

That rocks.

I'm surprised the government hasn't made that a crime yet. I recall threats when Starbucks tried to give away free coffee. :S

[Jim Johnson]

It's been done many times before.

A few altruists will visit the place and give what they think is fair.
Regular people will feel their generosity is being imposed upon by a business man.
The place will have a line of bums out the door. 
Eventually no one with money will go near the place.

There will be a sad story about how this communist guy tried to do the right thing and help the poor people and people with money are rotten scum bags.



If one wants to help feed the poor people he should start an expensive restaurant, charge the holy mother fuck'n shit out of his rich customers and run an ultra cheap restaurant on the side.

[Keyser Soce]

It's been done many times before.

A few altruists will visit the place and give what they think is fair.
Regular people will feel their generosity is being imposed upon by a business man.
The place will have a line of bums out the door. 
Eventually no one with money will go near the place.

There will be a sad story about how this communist guy tried to do the right thing and help the poor people and people with money are rotten scum bags.



If one wants to help feed the poor people he should start an expensive restaurant, charge the holy mother fuck'n shit out of his rich customers and run an ultra cheap restaurant on the side.

Is this communism, or the ultimate in freemarketeering? This is just giving the customer an opportunity to negotiate the price he'd like to pay and agreeing up front to his terms. I like the model and think it certainly could be made to work.

The sticking point would be that he reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. No need to let freeloaders continue to take advantage since it's clear that the food is worth something, anyone that leaves nothing would be barred entrance in the future.

The bonus of doing it here would be not having to collect the sales tax for the state since it's all donations.

[Ogre]

But I don't think that's what it is -- they're not agreeing to the terms before delivery, but only after.

If the restaurant published a menu and said, "make an offer" for each item, that would be free marketeering.  But as pointed out, this will work for a few days until the word gets out that there's "free food."

It would be interesting to see a menu where you made an offer.  "Hey, I'll give you $8 for this steak."

[Fluff and Stuff]

I'm surprised the government hasn't made that a crime yet. I recall threats when Starbucks tried to give away free coffee. :S

I guess you are talking about the UK.  I thought Starbucks in the US did give away free coffee to anyone who signed up for national service?

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I thought Starbucks in the US did give away free coffee to anyone who signed up for national service?

I'm speaking of something a bit earlier than that, but it happened in the US. On Election Day, Starbucks offered to give a free coffee to anybody with one of those "I voted" stickers. Several states filed lawsuits because of this, and Starbucks decided to give ANYBODY a free coffee on that day.

Here's a post from the Starbucks Twitter site when they first got slapped with threats of running up against election bribery rules...

http://twitter.com/Starbucks/statuses/988526875

[Fluff and Stuff]

Oh, interesting.  Ben and Jerry's did the same thing.  Did anything happen to them?

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Honestly not sure.

[Pat McCotter]

Denny's had free Grand Slam breakfast from 6:00AM-2:00PM the Tuesday after Superbowl(R)(TM)(DON'T USE THIS NAME WITHOUT PERMISSION). The lines were wrapping around the buildings and that was just one type of meal free. Drinks were extra. Parking at the businesses around the restaurants was non-existent during this time.

[Kat Kanning]

Our experience with this was that people tended to overpay.

[Free libertarian]

 You would not be able to do this in New Hampshire if alcohol were sold. It is illegal for places that sell hard stuff to give away alcohol.

[Lloyd Danforth]

He charges for drinks except water.

As I read this all that crossed my mind was:  Is there a dress or hygiene code at this restaurant?

Because, when you look over the shopping cart, filled with junk picked off the curb, parked next to the shabby looking diner reeking of cardboard and poop, you know if you get paid for the meal it will be from out of the cart.

[Raineyrocks]

It's been done many times before.

A few altruists will visit the place and give what they think is fair.
Regular people will feel their generosity is being imposed upon by a business man.
The place will have a line of bums out the door. 
Eventually no one with money will go near the place.

There will be a sad story about how this communist guy tried to do the right thing and help the poor people and people with money are rotten scum bags.



If one wants to help feed the poor people he should start an expensive restaurant, charge the holy mother fuck'n shit out of his rich customers and run an ultra cheap restaurant on the side.

His ultra cheap restaurant could be called Robinhood! 

[Russell Kanning]

there have been others like this ... I don't know if they worked