‘Dynamic pricing' is coming to top tables, says leading restaurateur
'Dynamic pricing' is coming to British restaurants, Jeremy King has warned.
The renowned restaurateur, whose establishments have included Le Caprice and The Wolseley, said he was 'really uncomfortable' with the idea of charging more for a steak on a Saturday than a Monday.
However, he did say it was 'fair' for restaurants to sell tables to customers willing to spend a certain amount to stop people ordering the 'absolute minimum' and spending the entire time taking pictures for social media.
Dynamic pricing, commonly used for concerts and theatre shows, means the cost of something changes according to demand, with tickets for popular events shooting up the moment as go on sale and the public rushes to buy one.
The practice came under fire when it was applied to fans trying to get tickets for the upcoming Oasis reunion.
Speaking on the Go To Food podcast, Mr King, 71, said: 'I don't begrudge the restaurants, for instance, which are using the apps to sell tables in advance because they've got fed up with people who book months in advance and then spend the entire meal taking photographs of themselves and of the food, ordering the absolute minimum they can just so they can put it on social media.
'So hold the tables back and those restaurants that say if you're willing to pay £200 we have a table for you on a Saturday, I think that's fair.
'I don't like the encroaching dynamic pricing whereby your steak is going to cost more on a Saturday night than it is on a Monday night, that makes me really uncomfortable but that's coming through.
'We've already seen it in the theatre, it widens the rich prosper and the poor are deprived.'
Earlier this year, King himself introduced a 25 per cent discount at his two restaurants, Arlington and The Park, for diners eating after 9pm to encourage the public to 're-acquaint' themselves with eating late.
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