Nuttzz wrote: » How does it work if a customer seriously underpays So for example I decide to go with myself and the missus and all I have in my pocket is €20 and that is all I plan to pay regardless of the service.
Markcheese wrote: » I suppose you'll always get one or two , but if you can get a bit of hype going it could be worth doing midweek or sunday night ... Are you a restaurant owner or chef at the moment ? As in you know your costs -margins-price points...and hopefully the cost and value of a city location.. Good luck...
TheBody wrote: » Why don't you trial it for one/two nights per week for let's say a month and see how it goes? You could use it as an excuse to launch an advertising campaign and get your restaurant name out there if nothing else. Good luck either way!! Edit: Do we get a free dinner for the suggestions?
Mellio wrote: » Idea 1 If the restuarant has a minimum of 20 people in it offer 2 meals for €5, each person gets an envelope on arrival and at the end of the meal they open up and see if there the lucky person. Its an incentive to get people in the door on the off chance they get a 3 course dinner for €5. Im sure you can incorporate the losses into the price of the other meals so you dont lose out to heavily.
Mellio wrote: » Idea 2 If the restaurant is full can you price the meals down, so if there are 60 people in the restaurant can you price each meal seperately so first meal is €60, the next one €59 and so on down to a €1. the price is higher for some of the meals but a steal for the one with the €1 meal. again each person gets an envelope at the end of there meal and open it up to see what they have to pay. Again just throwing idea's out so dont shoot me down, even the stupidest of suggestions turn into great ideas.
TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan wrote: » Sorry in advance - Devils advocate side here. I think the reason this is academically sounds and in reality is a nightmare can be traced back to the McDonalds principle. It's not that McDonalds makes the best burger in the world, that the service is faster or the ambiance is more comfortable. But there is a customer comfort that is unparallelled and undervalued. Customers can go nearly anywhere in the world and find one relatively close to them and it will be an extremely predictable experience. At no stage are they out of their comfort zone, they will have the same meal they always have - or if they feel guilty for going for the most unrisky food option, they could buy back a tiny bit of self respect with a twist on their burger with the latest offer of a different bread, poster picture or sauce etc. On the other hand, your business model is all about pushing the customer out of their comfort zone. It's exciting for you but not so much for the customer. They are asked to grade your works monetary value, paying suggested price could be perceived as calling it average. What if the food is good but the service sucks because the waitress has decided she is betting on the men in the suits above the couple in T-shirts for the better wage - it might not be the case but the concentration and thought process is required. Even still rather than relaxing and enjoying themselves, you are delegating a job to the customer, asking their mind to focus on your job. The only people this would be attractive to is people who enjoy critising people - and that is what you would get. The point about pre-booking - it's chicken before the egg stuff. If your not Gordon Ramsey your restaurant wont sell out before you open the doors. The college kids who are comparing it to a €5 college canteen dinner and the older couple who remember when a good stew was a £1 note will be in the door and comparing against their own metrics. Personally i'd rather the big mac than spend an evening setting prices on a restaurants menu and paying for the privilege to do so. This might work as a promotional gimmick to get people to try the restaurant, people might like the idea - just like you do. They try the food, realise the working out of pricing is a uncomfortable strain, give up, actually spend the time with the person they went to dinner with and just pay the bill as normal. If you open with it as your USP though, in a recession, you'd be lucky to last the 12 months. Ps. This is not meant to disuade you in any way from starting a business, I like that you are thinking outside the me too options. Pps. I'm not a fan of McDonalds food personally, it's just a good example.
TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan wrote: » Devils advocate side - majority of customers leave feeling like they "lost". Not ideal. Devils advocate side - Restaurants make money by turning tables quickly. This would encourage an "arrive late" culture to get the best meal. People who arrive in early would feel they we're ripped off and subsidizing others meals. Keep the idea's coming . Now other people's time to shoot down one of my idea's so we are all on a level playing field. How about if you sent every customer home with a little present in a nice box - and changed it every week. Something small like a desert, green tea, mini bottle of wine etc and a hand written thank you card with a voucher saying if they come back within 3 weeks (statistically unlikely to happen otherwise), then you'd like to pay for their wine or main course etc as you enjoyed having them as your guest and would love to see them again.
nice1franko wrote: » Bon Appetite in Malahide did something similar to this (see here: http://www.onoffer.ie/forum/topic.aspx?contentid=14845). No idea how successful it was but they don't do it anymore (maybe they just cycle through offers to try to keep things fresh -they always run different kinds of promotions- or maybe they just found this one didn't get bums in the seats). Anyway, I think the second part of Ronan's first post about having the reputation is, by far, the biggest problem you face. I didn't realise it would be your whole USP with a brand new restaurant. I thought it might be a good idea as a promotion in an already established restaurant with a semi-regular customer base. I'd be nervous opening a restaurant based on the idea alone.
Dardania wrote: » I visited New York a few years ago, and discovered that I hate, passionately, the tipping culture. It makes me uncomfortable to be obliged to do a performance appraisal when I'm not in work. And I would never visit such a restaurant voluntarily here, despite valuing high quality food etc. as is your intent.
RATM wrote: » I think the idea could work OP but more so on a quiet Mon/Tues night than having it all week long. As others have mentioned there will be people who have no shame underpaying for their food and you've got to be prepared for that.
RATM wrote: » Also you'd want to be sure the food is up to scratch in order for people to agree with paying what it is worth. For example if I'm eating out and see scampi on the menu there is a god chance I'll order it, despite it typically being one of the more expensive items. It ranges from €13 to €18 in most places. At those prices I am expecting to get scampi that is made in the kitchen fresh but recently I have paid €14 for scampi that I know was bought in Lidl because it tasted identical to what I buy to have at home.
RATM wrote: » So in an instance of that happening under your own business model I would be throwing you what I thought they were worth- about €1.50 and another few quid for service. Sounds harsh but if I order a €14 dish I expect something decent cooked start to finish by a professional chef. As soon as something like Bistro gravy makes it on the plate then what I feel it is worth is going to rocket downwards substantially.
M-wav wrote: » Thanks for your reply, I think were seeing this in very different ways although i know exactly where your coming from with the Mcdonalds analogy. People that want to go out for a meal look for key things like comfort, value, quality, privacy and basically just a nice overall experience. In the above model the customer is treated like any customer in other restaurants. They get waited on, asked if they are enjoying their meal and thanked after they leave. They are not forced to constantly criticize their experience and trying to put a price on their meal. They will hopefully just sit down and enjoy a normal restaurant experience and at the end of the night they put their cash in a small (nicely decorated) box in the centre of the table. They then say thank you and leave. The pay what its worth option is really just the uniqueness where the customer can then pay more or less depending on their experience. I think the trick will be how well your create a ice environment in the restaurant.
The Dagda wrote: » I don't know if you know, but there's a PAYP restaurant in Killarneyhttp://www.irishexaminer.com/features/pay-as-you-please-policy-paying-off-for-restaurant-185544.html I've eaten there, and thought it was great. It's kinda quirky, and they really use Social Media to drive it. We asked the guys there about people not paying and he said it's the opposite, most people are very generous with the paying. I wouldn't try and be clever and limit it to booking etc. if you're going to do it, do it properly. The majority of people are decent. Don't base your model on the cheap minority who may or may not visit your restaurant.
nice1franko wrote: » May be of some interest to you, M-wav: http://lo.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/12p3rd/til_jon_bon_jovi_has_a_restaurant_that_has_no/
