Pay what you can, eat the SAME.

The SAME (So All May Eat) cafe in Denver lets you pay on the donation system:

SAME has a menu that changes daily but always features food that's made from scratch and is largely organic. It has tables, chairs, bus bins, plants in the windows and overhead music (usually a mix of classic rock). But there's one thing SAME doesn't have: a cash register. There's no credit-card machine, no change drawer, no receipt book. That's because SAME doesn't have prices. Diners come in and order — some ask for just a cup of soup or a small slice of pizza, while others go for a whole meal, maybe even seconds if they're really hungry — and then pay what they want.

If you can't pay anything, they simply ask that you work for an hour in the kitchen (after bathing?).

This would be an interesting study in economics. It has long been known that people do not act/spend purely selfishly, contrary to neo-classical economic models that assume people act according to their own self interests. However, as one volunteer in the article, Era Strelnikova, who also teaches economics, says, "There really is no place for reciprocity. And we know now that in reality, people respond not only to monetary incentives, but they also respond to reciprocity. You can't explain giving using free-market theory."

So far, it seems to be working:

After customers have eaten, they will put their payment in these envelopes, which then go through the slit of a small wooden box. That's the high technology upon which this business rests. The cafe will serve 55 people over a three-hour period today — a stat that multiplies out to roughly 15,000 customers a year. Some pay less than their share, some pay more, some pay nothing at all. And yet somehow it all works out.

[SNIP]

After SAME's grand opening, supporters donated a new mixer, a refrigerator, chairs and a new van. People were paying; the model was working. Within ten months, they'd repaid their loan to themselves.

Last year, Brad was able to quit his part-time job doing IT work for Qwest and pay himself to run the restaurant full-time. SAME was doing so well that they leased the adjacent storefront, knocking out a wall, doubling their square footage, putting in a second bathroom and adding 24 more seats. And last month, they hired an employee — a teacher Libby had worked with — to operate the Saturday-evening shift, giving the Birkys time to catch up on other duties like rotating stock, crafting the next week's menu and answering the deluge of e-mails they receive from would-be volunteers.

Scientists who study human ethics have found that cooperation tends to work better than cynicism -- until everyone is honest, then the freeloaders come in and take advantage of the system. So, people tend to cooperate and get along, but if they screw you, they're shunned (shame). Plus, aside from monetary benefits, there are other benefits like feeling good, or raising in esteem in your community. A community that looks out for each other is healthier and stronger; dog eat dog doesn't feed as well as hunting in packs.

There are selfish reasons to be selfless, after all.

(A restaurant with a similar concept, One World Everybody Eats in Salt Lake City, Utah.)