Customers Name Their Own Price
By CLAIRISSA MYATT
Imagine a world where for once a menu did not list prices, and it was not because it was too classy to list a detail such as how much something costs. One North Carolina restaurant owner decided to take a leap of faith and try that concept out.
Dana Parris, owner of “Just Cookin Diner,” began to worry this past summer as sales began to plummet. Being an avid Christian woman, she did what any faith follower would do – she turned to God.
Parris frequently asked for help and when she got a reply it was not what she was expecting. “God just said, ‘Why don’t you just let me do it?’” Parris told Huffington Post. “It’s easy to talk the talk, but I’d given God control of everything except the cash register.”
Of course taking a leap of faith such as a ‘name ones price’ initiative took a bit of battling on Parris’s part. After deciding to trust God, she went ahead and gave the new plan one week as a tester. Once sales tripled, Parris knew this one-week promotion would turn into a longer run.
It turns out that this generous restaurant owner’s new strategy has left a positive influence on customers. “Everyone’s getting in the spirit and it’s been amazing,” she told Huffington Post.
The majority of customers are still paying full price for her food while some are paying extra and even covering stranger’s tabs.
Of course on the contrary, critics to Parris’s business have been attracted complaining that she is using religion to promote her restaurant.
This is not the first time business owners have incorporated their faith into their work. Mary’s Gourmet Diner, another North Carolina business, attempted to introduce a “prayer discount” for customers who prayed before their meal.
The discount had to be dropped once a complaint from Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. “The atheist organization’s lawyers said that the manager’s discount discriminated against non-believers,” reported Huffington Post.
Parris is not fazed about her God-run business and even has prayer and praise books in the diner where customers can write down their prayer requests.
While everyone finds this woman courageous for making a risky business decision such as this, Parris shrugs and simply says, “This is not courage. This is faith.”
