Beirut restaurant serves psychology as a main part of its menu
Meet Mohammed and Tony, the restaurant-eurs behind the new Beirut eatery Mótto. Although Beirut is known for its cutting edge cuisine, Mótto is something completely different.
So imagine this: you go in for lunch, dinner, or even brunch and serve yourself from the buffet. As many times as you would like. And then instead of ordering the bill, you just pay whatever you want. Whatever you feel the meal was worth. Although this concept already exists in the West, it is something new in this part of the world. It has worked well in countries where people have a strong sense of community. The owners opened up this restaurant as part of a personal social experiment, knowing that its success was only a possibility.
The restaurant has been doing well so far, and although the average ticket per person is not disclosed, the owners are happy with the results. For them, it is most interesting to see how much different people pay for the same meal, and who is open to this new concept and who completely rejects it. The have noticed that is it not always the richest people who pay the most and the poorest who pay the least. They have also observed that people coming to the restaurant everyday tend to pay less, and couples out on dates tend to pay more. For the same meals, dinners are always bringing in more money than lunches. At the end of the day, the numbers average out and they are quite satisfied with the results so far.
The food at Mótto varies daily and the chefs are very experienced. They work on a freelance basis. Relevantly, they do not receive salaries, but get a share of the profit the restaurant is making.
Would it not be interesting to see such a novel concept in Dubai? Here, food is a big part of social events and the city is a magnet for innovation.
