Fine Dining Pay as You Wish

 A UK restaurant "Little Bay", renowned for serving fresh, hearty meals at incredibly good prices in its trademark opulent surroundings. But owner Peter Ilic ia taking his concept to the next level, his Farringdon Road restaurant will not present a single food bill to diners during this entire month of February. “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, who has run restaurants in London for more than 26 years. A London restaurant chain has declared it will not give any customers a bill during February. Instead, the customer pays whatever he or she feels the meal is worth (drinks are not included in the offer).
The February menu at Little Bay Farringdon includes ingredients which wouldn’t be out of place at Michelin starred establishments including foie gras, smoked salmon, caviar and fillet steak.
“It just seemed the right thing to do with everyone under the cosh and feeling pretty miserable. We have seen so many more City folk coming into the restaurant lately, looking for a better value lunch. We’re well known for serving great food at very competitive prices and this is the ultimate value for money meal.”
Discretion is certainly a theme of the pay-what-you-want trend. At Salt Lake City's One World Everybody Eats, 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. It's certainly becoming a new restaurant trend, Good idea or Publicity stunt ?  Would this idea work in Thailand? 

Guy started that idea here in Melbourne 9 years ago. They claimed he was crazy and would go broke, but now has three restaurants with the same philosophy.

http://www.lentilasanything.com/

he certainly wouldn't ******* want Stu eating there !!!!

I think it's a good idea in affluent areas and ensuring your advertising targets people in a certain salary bracket.

Would it work in Thailand? Not in Bangkok, Pattaya or Patong that's for sure. There's a big group of cheap charlies out there hopping from buffet to buffet and happy hour to happy hour getting everything they can paying as little as possible.

They're the guys who go into a gogo bar, sit groping a girl for an hour, buy her one drink, then go home alone and spank the monkey... and the worst think is, they're not fantasizing about the girl... they're think about the money they saved by being a tight wad.

There are many Thai 'kee kor' as well. Whenever people find out my job, the first thing they say is, 'Can I have free drinks?' or 'Can I get in for nothing?' or 'Can I sit in VIP?'.

Oh and don't start me on Indian customers!