Tuesday, 23 November 2010
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Interesting News Feed: Panera's 'Name Your Price' Restaurant Opens
News from ClickonDetroit.
(via bishopscamp)
Earlier this year, Panera had announced its plan to open some experimental stores as "community food places," where there will be no price tags on their meals. Instead, this experiment encourages a customer to wisely "name his or her price" on an item according his or her judgment.
Today (Nov. 22), one of these 'Name Your Price' stores has opened in Dearborn, Michigan- a second of these nonprofit "community cafes" to the first one in Missouri.
There are no cash registers in these stores, no reason for change only "donations."
The menu remains exactly the same, there are no special menus that accompany this social/economic experiment- these community stores are just like the regular Panera stores with identical salads and breads.
There is a really great article on Niemenlab.org, where editors discuss this "Pay What You Can" model as a workable idea that could even extend to other industries such as journalism. With social pressure, public-accountability, and incentive, customers usually succumb to paying the appropriate price rather than exploiting this scheme.
Judging by the second opening of a nonprofit Panera store, I'm guessing this social experiment is a success. I would love to see one open up near my neighborhood!
Questions brewing:
What do you think about this experiment? Why do you think this experiment works? How would you approach potentially free food?
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- From: Sandy
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Comments (17)
i'm from StL and have been to the non-profit Bread Co. here numerous times. so far, it's doing great.
that's super kewl! i love panera food...everything would be on the dollar menu with me ^_~
i feel like this is going to wind up being an awful idea, because people are going to pay next to nothing for the food.
I'd love to see this in my town!
I work at Panera. This would be good for non-Panera employed people. I only pay 75 cents for almost everything based on my discount, and sine I close bakery I get free goods :D
Wait, how would this concept work with/relate to journalism?
oh hells no. Imma put them outta business
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that sounds fantastic! I hope people don't abuse it.
good idea cause Panera is over priced for it's crap
That would be interesting acutally
@onlyFORaLILwhile@xanga - That's the thing, though, they're not. I actually think Panera's pretty fairly priced for what you get. For the amount of labour that goes into their products, the higher quality ingredients, etc, the price is actually pretty good. Granted, if you don't like their food, then no price is going to be good enough, but that doesn't change the fact that the prices are fair.
I LOVE PANERA...and i think the prices now are fine...
I wouldn't mind seeing one of these open in my area. The food at Panera is good, but way too expensive. I usually don't go there because of the prices.
dearborn fucking michigan!!!!!!!!!!! thats my city! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! i always go there during break from classes!!!!!!
I think this is an interesting idea. Here is my question: What makes it not-for-profit? Because its a social experiment? So then where does the profit go? Opening new social experiments? I will definitely be trying to keep up on this one, I want to see how things turn out and how the experiment ends.
As for people abusing "potentially free food." I don't think this will be an overall problem. Sure, some people will abuse the experiment, but I am a believer that MOST people are mostly fair in social settings, even if it is due in part to peer pressure. When you walk into a store and know you could pay 1 dollar, but you know the value the company places on the product, say 6 dollars for a sandwich and chips, most people are going to pay closer to the 6 dollars for the simple fact that people are watching them. They may undercut the price by a buck, but for the most part I think people will pay close to what they know the company values the food at.
I wish this sort of social pressure bled over into ethics, and that we could see a more ethical society. But for now let start here and see where this experiment goes.
Another question: are there regulations about the homeless coming in and "buying" into the social experiment for little money per sandwich?
Another question(last one I promise): Are the not-for-profit stores being opened in affluent towns? How do they pick where a store will open up? What factors go into making these decisions? Couldn't that possibly skew the social experiment?
that is weird. i can see how peer pressure plays in this setting but if i only had a dollar on me, im probably only going to pay a dollar. this might be abused really quickly