A menu pricing revolution may be cooking

A London restaurant is taking the cue of the travel industry and determining its prices based on timing.

The restaurant, Bob Bob Ricard, is starting by discounting its menu 25 percent during slow periods, 15 percent for mediocre times and then full price for most evenings and weekends.

The idea came from a vast disparity in the number of diners who would show up: 400 might come on a weekend but only 40 during lunch on a weekday, according to Bloomberg, which prompted the owner, Leonid Shutov, to consider another system.

“The idea just came from looking at how the rest of the world functions,” Shutov told Bloomberg.

Restaurateurs everywhere are curious; the thought has crossed D&D London’s chairman Des Gunewardena mind a few times. But every time Gunewardena, who oversees 40 luxury restaurants and bars mostly in London and New York, ended up letting it go thinking diners would feel the fluctuating prices were “a bit gimmicky.”

“It will be interesting to see what their experience is. We might give it a go,” he told Bloomberg though.

D&D London is planning to open a new restaurant in the Time Warner Center this year so perhaps New Yorkers will get to taste-test a new pricing system sooner rather than later. [Bloomberg] — Erin Hudson