‘Pay as you please’ policy paying off for restaurant

It’s an eatery with no price list but your conscience. It works in Kerry, so why not everywhere else, asks John Daly.

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.”

The ‘pay what’s fair’ idea has enjoyed mixed success in restaurants around the world, with some unfortunate instances where large parties left nothing after the meal. The concept has worked better in museums and similar public spaces, with admission on certain days left to the discretion of the customer.

In 2007, Radiohead offered its album, In Rainbows, as a free download on the band’s website — an innovative move that made the music industry nervous. But while many availed of the free download, more buyers than ever purchased the album, making it one of the band’s most successful. Having seen the idea work while travelling in Australia, Mr O’Reilly thought it would make a good fit for Ireland. So far, nobody has left without paying, he says, and certain habits have emerged. “You can have someone come in for lunch during the week, have a pizza and leave a certain amount, then come back on Saturday night and have the exact same dish but leave a little more. People are sound, they know tables are more valuable on weekends,” he says.

As a poster boy for the enthusiasm and exuberance needed in a notoriously tough business, Mr O’Reilly — who has a penchant for wearing fedora hats — espouses the team effort as key to success.

“We try to make working here fun, we’re all in this together and if it’s a success it’s down to all of us. That kind of vibe translates to the customers and it hits you coming in the door.

“Even when things go wrong, as happens in this business, I always know it’s all okay when waiters and chefs come in on their days off for a meal with their partners,” he says. With a year under his belt and a successful 2012 beckoning, he brims with ‘can do’ attitude and thinks many other good consumer ideas will emerge from the tough times.

“There are so many people with great ideas in this country and they are starting to rise to the surface, in spite of banks and all the other downers out there,” he says. “One of the great satisfactions for me, in this place, was actually making it happen when so many said the concept was nuts. Sure, people don’t have as much money to spend as they once did, but they do still want to go out and be happy.”

Having proven themselves with the concept, the owners of Pay As You Please are still tinkering with the idea — always adding new details and travelling abroad for inspiration.

While the ‘build it and they will come’ idea looks to have hit pay dirt in Killarney, they are not against duplicating the concept in other counties. “I’d absolutely love to see a chain of them in other tourist places, starting in Cork,” he says. “We still have a bit more work to do in getting Killarney as close to perfect as we can, but, for sure, I think the idea would travel. A chain across the country?” he says. “Totally super cool.” It’s a phrase that peppers his conversation, a confluence of hippie-style democracy and hard-headed business sense for a man making his dream come true when many said it couldn’t be done. Definitely super cool.

* Pay As You Please, New Market Lane, Killarney.