Pay-What-You-Can Cafes Rising in Popularity

Imagine walking into a cafe and ordering a sandwich, but instead of paying the price listed on the menu, you pay whatever amount you want.

That's exactly what Panera Bread is doing with their pay-what-you-can cafes. The idea started out as a kind of "experiment" at one of the company's cafe in Michigan. The cafe suggests a price for an item , like $5 for a sandwich, for example. Then, instead of requiring the customer to pay the full price, the customer can choose what to pay for the item, whether it be less or more than the suggested price. And if the customer has no money, they don't have to pay at all. Surprisingly, this business model works out pretty well for the cafe.

The company estimates that about 20% of patrons give more than the suggested donation, about 20% give less or nothing, and about 60% leave the suggested amount.

On average, the cafes are breaking even, taking in about 80% of the retail value of the food, which is enough to pay expenses, says Kate Antonacci, Panera Cares project manager.

"That's the only way they will stay open. These are not free cafes. . . . Once (customers) really understand what we're trying to do, that leaving just a quarter more will help the person behind them, people will understand that this is an easy way to help somebody out."

As far as I know, we don't have any of these kind of cafes here in Lubbock. But if one were to open here, I imagine it would do pretty well. From what I've seen, the people of West Texas are fairly generous. I'd like to think we'd be more inclined to pay a little more that what's required, if it's for the sake of helping out our neighbors.

What do you think? Could a pay-what-you-can community cafe do well in Lubbock? Do we even need one?