The Burd Report

An intriguing combination of the "pay what you will" pricing of the new Radiohead album and the general desire to eliminate waste is to be found at the One World Cafe in Salt Lake City where everybody chooses how much they want to eat and pays according to how much they think the meal was worth. But it's not that simple.

By encouraging people to savor the meal, Ms. Cerreta is attempting to help people see the value of food as more than a mere consumable but rather, as a glue and a catalyst for healthy people, relationships and communities.

There are lessons here for much larger businesses in terms of focussing on customer value, building loyalty around social activities and about standing for something. This is about much more than just serving food.