‘Pay as you please’ policy paying off for restaurant
AS a business concept for cash-conscious Irish consumers, ‘pay what’s fair’ catches the attention. A Killarney restaurant, Pay As You Please, is celebrating its first, successful year. “We never set ourselves a target, money-wise,” says co-owner Rob O’Reilly. “All we wanted to do was become reasonably popular with locals and make enough money to pay the bills. What actually happened was amazing. It exceeded all expectations, with locals and tourists supporting us way beyond our wildest dreams.” With clever use of social media and ‘word of mouth’ advertising, Pay As You Please got attention, not just for its food, which was glowingly reviewed, but also for its belief that the public would not take unfair advantage of this monetary concept. “We’re different in that we operate the ‘pay as you please’ policy on a constant basis,” he says. “Other restaurants around the country have done similar things for limited periods, but we are unique in having it as a foundation of the business.” After the meal, people pay whatever they feel is fair by anonymously slipping their cash into a box on the counter. “We never really worried about the trust aspect — people are overwhelmingly honest. What we focused on was delivering good food in an atmosphere that’s really different. Let’s face it, if the food and the service was bad, people wouldn’t come back even if you gave it away for free. We figured, if we could get the ‘wow’ factor right, they would support us. Thankfully, that’s exactly what’s happened,” he says.
Mr O’Reilly and his partner, Barry McBride, have closed the restaurant for short periods for improvements to keep punters interested and energised. “We like to change things around, repainting and tiling, hanging comic books on the walls, installing a fountain, hot water bottles on chairs — you need to change more than just your menu on a regular basis. People like a bit of theatre as well as a good deal,” he says. “Anyway, you never get everything right in business. If we try something and it doesn’t work, we change it and bring in something else. There’s never a shortage of ideas around here.” With its mismatched chairs and tables, unusual colours, old movies projected onto the walls and a funky jazz soundtrack, the place is a hit with everyone from elderly ladies in for scones and a pot of tea to girls starting the hen night with a meal. “The lack of worry about cost allows people to be more laid-back and informal,” he says. “They pay what they can afford and nobody ever has that bad feeling of not getting value for money. It all makes for a generally happier vibe.”
