Laid-back diners getting to like the taste of honesty

Cafés who trust their customers are defying all the odds, writes Nuala Woulfe

Imagine walking into a café or restaurant where there is no cash register, just an ‘honesty box’ for you to pay, or where there is no fixed price, you decide how much your meal was worth? In a world of security cameras and petty thievery, such a scenario seems unimaginable, but in Dublin, Kerry, Tipperary and Belfast, ‘Honesty Cafes’ have shown they can work.

“We’ve been open a year, we’ve soup, salads and scones all the time, but we have different days too where it could be Mexican, Bangladeshi or Austrian,” says Austrian chef, Johanna Taferner who is one of the volunteers who makes and serves the food at the Makery, a craft hub and café in Cloughjordan Tipperary.