After a year, Panera Bread's experiment with "pay what you can" restaurants seems to be working. The cafe chain now has three locations using the donations-only model (Clayton, Mo., Dearborn, Mich., and Portland, Ore.), out of its nearly 1,500 locations nationwide.
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Most patrons, it finds, drop the entire retail cost, or more, into the voluntary donation box, in essence subsidizing a meal for someone who can't pay the full amount. Panera says about 60 percent leave the suggested amount; 20 percent leave more; and 20 percent leave less. The largest single payment so far? One person paid $500 for a meal.
Two important things to note, before you run off and try this yourself:
- Most people pay the retail cost because, I would guess, they know what the suggested price is and know that it's within reason.
- The person who paid $500 probably did so because he felt like this was an important venture, and he wanted to cast a big vote for it succeeding. The more saturated your market is the less likely someone will feel that compulsion.
