Pay-what-you-like restaurants....yup, menu has no set prices!

[Xstatic1]

(Budget Travel) -- Radiohead made news when it allowed its fans to pay whatever they thought was reasonable to download the band's latest album. Now, innovative restaurants around the world are doing the same thing -- letting their patrons decide how much their meal is worth.

At Terra Bite Lounge (219 Kirkland Ave.) in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, most diners slip cash into a donation slot by the barista, while others just walk away without bothering to pay.

"If I forget to bring enough money, I can just give more next time," says real-estate consultant Tina Cooper, who stops at Terra Bite most mornings for what she claims is the best soy latte in the neighborhood.

"When we first opened, some people felt uncomfortable and didn't come back," says Terra Bite's founder, Ervin Peretz. "But we now have regulars who put $20 into the slot every Friday for a week's worth of joe."

Discretion is certainly a theme of the pay-what-you-want trend. At Salt Lake City's One World Everybody Eats (41 S. 300 East St.), you can deposit cash into a "treasure box" or use the customer-operated credit card machine. The 50-seat restaurant, decorated with Buddha statues, serves organic dishes from a combination self-serve and assisted buffet. There's also an edible herb and flower garden with outdoor seating.

"All we ask is that you put a fair price on the food you eat, based on your income," says founder Denise Cerreta, who's mentoring other chefs to open sister restaurants in Durham, North Carolina, and Denver, Colorado.

A philosophy student opened Der Wiener Deewan in Vienna, Austria, where cash donations are accepted at the take-out counter. The all-you-can-eat buffet features Pakistani curries that change twice daily.

"I wasn't sure the concept would even work," says co-owner Natalie Deewan. "But after the first few weeks, our customers were so enthusiastic that they were paying more than their fair share." You can add to the funky decor by drawing on the Plexiglas walls with permanent markers.

At the Lentil as Anything chain in Melbourne, Australia, you drop money into a box by the kitchen. The first restaurant opened in 2000, and now owner Shanaka Fernando is working on his sixth location (when he's not running a refugee program). The cuisine is a mix of Sri Lankan and Tibetan, but eggs and veggie burgers are also on the menu.

"When it comes down to it, we just want to promote the very underutilized concept of trust," says Fernando.

source

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Xstatic1

(Budget Travel) -- Radiohead made news when it allowed its fans to pay whatever they thought was reasonable to download the band's latest album. Now, innovative restaurants around the world are doing the same thing -- letting their patrons decide how much their meal is worth.

At Terra Bite Lounge (219 Kirkland Ave.) in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, most diners slip cash into a donation slot by the barista, while others just walk away without bothering to pay.

"If I forget to bring enough money, I can just give more next time," says real-estate consultant Tina Cooper, who stops at Terra Bite most mornings for what she claims is the best soy latte in the neighborhood.

"When we first opened, some people felt uncomfortable and didn't come back," says Terra Bite's founder, Ervin Peretz. "But we now have regulars who put $20 into the slot every Friday for a week's worth of joe."

Discretion is certainly a theme of the pay-what-you-want trend. At Salt Lake City's One World Everybody Eats (41 S. 300 East St.), you can deposit cash into a "treasure box" or use the customer-operated credit card machine. The 50-seat restaurant, decorated with Buddha statues, serves organic dishes from a combination self-serve and assisted buffet. There's also an edible herb and flower garden with outdoor seating.

"All we ask is that you put a fair price on the food you eat, based on your income," says founder Denise Cerreta, who's mentoring other chefs to open sister restaurants in Durham, North Carolina, and Denver, Colorado.

A philosophy student opened Der Wiener Deewan in Vienna, Austria, where cash donations are accepted at the take-out counter. The all-you-can-eat buffet features Pakistani curries that change twice daily.

"I wasn't sure the concept would even work," says co-owner Natalie Deewan. "But after the first few weeks, our customers were so enthusiastic that they were paying more than their fair share." You can add to the funky decor by drawing on the Plexiglas walls with permanent markers.

At the Lentil as Anything chain in Melbourne, Australia, you drop money into a box by the kitchen. The first restaurant opened in 2000, and now owner Shanaka Fernando is working on his sixth location (when he's not running a refugee program). The cuisine is a mix of Sri Lankan and Tibetan, but eggs and veggie burgers are also on the menu.

"When it comes down to it, we just want to promote the very underutilized concept of trust," says Fernando.

source

I would love to see their financial statements.

 

[mugs]

I wonder if they're paying taxes on all that

 

[Slew Foot]

Im sure if you open one of those in the US, there'll be a 3547398573489 page thread on fatwallet saying how you can eat for free forever, or at least until the place goes under.

 

[Atheus]

If it was very exclusive you might find people are willing to pay more than average. I remember reading about a test carried out on concorde flights - they asked the passengers how much their ticket cost and they had no idea, they had simply phoned up and booked the flight without thinking about it. The average guess was about 3 times the real price.

 

[QurazyQuisp]

Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Im sure if you open one of those in the US, there'll be a 3547398573489 page thread on fatwallet saying how you can eat for free forever, or at least until the place goes under.

Since when was Seattle not in the US? How about Salt Lake City?

Reading comprehension for the win?

 

[weiv0004]

A friend of mine used to work at one of these in California . . . it was a regular restaurant that a charity group convinced to serve every thing on a 'pay-what-you-like' basis on Fridays.

It worked for quite a while and they actually made a big donation to a charity with all of the excess money they made. In the end the owner of the restaurant was perving on all the girls working there and they shut the idea down.

 

[JS80]

Open one of those in Monterey Park and it'll go broke.

Interesting point by mugs on the income tax thing...

 

[Capt Caveman]

Once the homeless find out about that place, game over.

 

[Nitemare]

serves organic dishes

Ewww....pass

judging from the ATOT anti-tipping threads, I don't think it is going to make it.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: mugs
I wonder if they're paying taxes on all that

Sure - only what they feel like paying.

Originally posted by: Nitemare
Ewww....pass

judging from the ATOT anti-tipping threads, I don't think it is going to make it.

Paying a set price is fine.
Paying a tip on top of that is not. We anti-tippers are very specific about the nature of our complaints.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

serves organic dishes

Ewww....pass

why?

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Nitemare

serves organic dishes

Ewww....pass

why?

Carbon based meals are so over-hyped.

 

[everman]

I guess the concept is working in some places. I would pay what I believed to be a reasonable price, but some guidance on what they need to break even would help in order to determine what is reasonable.

 

[PottedMeat]

"If I forget to bring enough money, I can just give more next time," says real-estate consultant Tina Cooper, who stops at Terra Bite most mornings for what she claims is the best soy latte in the neighborhood.

What the hell is a soy latte? And there's more than one place that serves them?

 

[xanis]

The concept of paying what you want at a restaurant is utterly stupid. Some good, generous people would pay the value of the meal or more, but I would be willing to bet that most people would pay little to nothing. Every restaurant who used this concept would be out of business in no time.

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: everman
I guess the concept is working in some places. I would pay what I believed to be a reasonable price, but some guidance on what they need to break even would help in order to determine what is reasonable.

I'm not sure I like the idea.. I mean generally a restaurant's fixed price is just above what they need to survive (and often times less). So it is the perfect amount to give. If you really like the place that is what the tip jar is for, and if you want to pay for a week at once that is what a tab is for.

 

[Baked]

They'll close down by the end of the month. Greed ruins everything.

 

[QueBert]

this is a bad idea, I worked at a place that was too cheap to put in a real vending machine, so they had a box with candy in it and you put money in the slot, you know the "honor system" a few months into they realized that most people were talking candy and chips without putting $$$ in the slot. Of course some of us were, but what was really crazy was, people were TAKING money out of the slot. So basically some asshat was not only not paying for his Cheez-It's but he was taking the buck I put in for my 2 candy bars. Needless to say they upgraded to a real vending machine. I would have put a hidden camera, taking candy is bad enough, but to take other peoples money out the box? LOL that is fucked up

 

[mwmorph]

Depends on the demographic of the area, if you pu it in an affulent neighborhood with the right theme, it would probably work surprisingly well. Put one in the bad parts of Detroit or Baltimore... good luck with that. Put it in some more "forgiving" neighborhood, preferably affluent like Hollywood or Barkley or as mentioned earlier, parts of Seattle.

Originally posted by: Atheus
If it was very exclusive you might find people are willing to pay more than average. I remember reading about a test carried out on concorde flights - they asked the passengers how much their ticket cost and they had no idea, they had simply phoned up and booked the flight without thinking about it. The average guess was about 3 times the real price.

:Q Considering Concorde seats were $14,000, people overestimate... a lot.

 

[Epic Fail]

Thank you, I would take the free meal.

 

[Nebor]

It'll never work. People like me would be afraid they weren't paying enough, and would overpay, then not got here anymore because it's too expensive.

And then all the fucktards who would pay nothing would swarm the place as soon as they learned of it's existence.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: PottedMeat

"If I forget to bring enough money, I can just give more next time," says real-estate consultant Tina Cooper, who stops at Terra Bite most mornings for what she claims is the best soy latte in the neighborhood.

What the hell is a soy latte? And there's more than one place that serves them?

It's SEATTLE, dude. There must be 30 Starbucks and Seattle's Best stores within a 10 block radius of this place that offer similar drinks.

 

[uhohs]

Originally posted by: JS80
Open one of those in Monterey Park and it'll go broke.

Interesting point by mugs on the income tax thing...

haha, chinese people will donate nothing and steal food to take home.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: uhohs

Originally posted by: JS80
Open one of those in Monterey Park and it'll go broke.

Interesting point by mugs on the income tax thing...

haha, chinese people will donate nothing and steal food to take home.

oh, snap. chinese people, you gonna take that? represent!