You can get a free lunch - if you choose...

The recession has hit people in different ways, but within all the chaos and mayhem it has sown, there are a few seeds of daredevil entrepreneurial daring and innovation.

Such is the case of Little Bay restaurant, in Farringdon. This promotion took place in February, but I only found it while reading a Financial mag this week (yes - I do read them sometimes).

Peter Ilic is the owner of Little Bay, and it must have taken daring beyond his 25 years experience to begin offering his patrons food completely for free. There was a catch (as there usually are with free lunches) - Peter asked you to pay what you felt the meal was worth - anything from a penny to £100. And not only did he run the promotion on a single lunch time, or a single day. He extended the offer for an entire month - the whole of February 2009.

The result?
Amazingly enough, Peter Ilic has had his faith in human nature renewed.
Not only did his average patronage increase from 1,100 to 2,000 customers per week (in a 130 seat establishment) but he found that average spend INCREASED. People were willing to in fact pay MORE than the price on the menu.

At a time when Michellin star restaurants are slashing their prices to remain competitive in difficult times - and some are even closing their doors, Little Bay found that it was more popular than ever, and the risk its owner took paid healthy dividends in the form of clients and revenue.

As I have mentioned previously in this blog, recession is a time that calls for innovation, guts and innovation to survive.
It appears that Peter Ilic of Little Bay, has shed loads of each.