Pay What it's worth Restaurant

0ph0rce0

All I know is that yes people might pay, but in reality who will? if you think you can go in and eat for pretty much nothing. You Are Going To.

M-wav

Sacksian wrote: »

M-Wav - I think this is a really good idea and you sound like someone who is enthusiastic about restaurant and food culture. I don't think you need to overcomplicate things though. The pay-what-it's-worth will be a differentiator to interest people but, beyond that, restaurants live and die by the quality of their food, service and overall dining experience.

The pre-booking element is ample security for avoiding free-loaders looking for a cheap meal, and, if it's a genuine quality restaurant, the clientele will reflect that.

If you're passionate about food, then you're ahead of most people who run restaurants in this country. And if you're also thinking about the bottom line at this stage, you definitely have a chance.

My one piece of advice would be to define your target market and seek their opinions (not that getting advice from any source is of no value, of course!). If you want to create a dining experience, get the opinions of people who visit restaurants regularly, people who are prepared to pay for food and value food. And make sure there's enough of them to sustain your business. For example, I don't think this idea would work for a "greasy spoon".

I would definitely check out Pay As You Please in Killarney:
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g186612-d2097545-r122592102-Pay_As_You_Please-Killarney_County_Kerry.html

Interestingly, the reviews mention the lack of pressure to move on, etc. I presume your idea is not to compete with McDonalds. Good luck!

Everything you say I like:D

The Payp or pwiw has that novelty factor. Its a means to create some hype and interest on local radio and papers. It will also differentiate you from the other places on the street. The hype and interest created through the advertising and the push to get people to book in advance will be very powerful for the restaurants image also.

The restaurant will rely on constant advertising at the start but after a while the food will speak for itself. If profits are being made then there is no need to change the pricing model. If there are no profits then i'll just go back to standard pricing model.

If i walk down a street of 5 restaurants competing based on price ie. "2 course meal €23, 3 course meal €29, 2 course €25 with free desert etc" I think i would go into the only restaurant engaged in the price war. Maybe.

Very soon i'm going to do a lot of on the ground research talking to customers and try and get them to imagine dining in the proposed restaurant. This should give me more of a reality check but hopefully its a positive one.

BnB

I'd agree with a lot of what the CostumeShop chap said.

2 Points in particular

1) I would be concerned about the type of customers that you would be attracting. It would possibly be foodie types who I woudl be concerned would be higher maintainence.

2) Personally I wouldn't go there as a customer. I would just be uncomfortable. Am I paying too much, am I paying too little.... how much is this worth....? Even with the guide prices, I'd be wondering... Am I expected to pay more. Maybe to a foodie, they might see it as fun. But personally, I'd much rather, see a menu, eat my dinner and pay up. And if it's nice/good value etc.... come back again.

While I don't think it's a good idea as a full time model, I do think it woudl be good as a marketing ploy for a few nights to get publicity.

enricoh

a friend of mine in a reasonably affluent area had a charity car wash day- car wash was free, whatever u tip it goes to charity.
after an hour or 2 he changed back to the normal price n donated that instead. said he was amazed at the amount of people that gave nothing.
good luck with it if u do it, u'd need to be zen like, but personally i'd explode if the same family were in every week n giving me a fiver!