Just one month ago, Tokyo pub Konro-ya had the internet applauding its unorthodox beer pricing system. While customers with the good manners to use the phrase “Excuse me. One beer please,” when talking to their server could get their jug of suds for the low price of 380 yen, less courteous patrons would be charged 500 yen if they commanded “Bring me a beer.” And at the top of the pricing pyramid, customers who simply shouted, “Hey, beer!” (Oi, nama biru in Japanese) would get stung for 1,000 yen per glass, more than double polite drinkers.
From one perspective Konro-ya was tacking on a penalty surcharge for rude customers, but looking at it a different way, you could also say it was selling the right to be brusque with the waiters and waitresses and not feel bad about it. After word got around about Konro-ya’s policy, the restaurant saw a sharp increase in the number of customers ordering with “Hey, beer!”,the exact opposite of the intended effect of the 1,000-yen price.
It’s not clear whether the customers were genuine jerks or simply engaging in what they thought was a little tongue-in-cheek fun. Either way, Konro-ya, citing a desire to reduce employee stress, has done away with making customers order beer at all. Instead, it’s instituted a self-serve beer system, where customers pour their own drafts and can drink all they want for 290 yen per 30 minutes (unlimited wine is also part of the package).
Honestly, it’s a little hard to tell how serious Konro-ya actually is about the whole thing. Even if a customer drinks at the leisurely pace of one beer every 30 minutes, 290 yen is cheaper than even the politest 380-yen beer under the old pricing structure, and it seems like if the restaurant was truly angry at its customers, it wouldn’t be in the mood to economically reward them in any way. Still, the switch to self-service has been made, because if you can’t ask someone for something politely, you’re usually going to have to end up getting it yourself.
Restaurant information
Konro-ya (Iidabashi branch) / コンロ家(飯田橋店)
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Iidabashi 4-5-6, ECS #6 Building, 1st floor
東京都千代田区飯田橋4-5-6 イーシーエス第6ビル 1F
Open 5:30 p.m.-11;30 p.m. (weekdays), 5 p.m.-11 p.m. (weekends, holidays)
Source: Netatopi via Hachima Kiko
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© SoraNews24
11 Comments
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kohakuebisu
Its probably happoshu, but even that will cost you close to 200 yen a chu jockey to pour.
Mocheake
Their beer probably isn't beer.
Sha
pay extra and vent out your angst against senpai, wife, and the world
BlackFlagCitizen
I bet that all you can drink "beer" is happoushyu. no thanks
gogogo
290 yen per 30 minutes! w00t!
Vince Black
I'm sooo going to call this restaurant and book a table...
PerformingMonkey
I'm assuming this is a joke on the restaurant's part – you can't arbitrarily impose fines on customers.
Anyway, I think I need to start drinking alcohol as it appears to be a lot cheaper than the soft drinks I usually order when I go out.
Fox Sora Winters
Hm... imposing penalty charges on customers for being rude... most businesses would see a massive soar in profits then, though from the sounds of things it doesn't seem to be too effective. Maybe larger fines would have worked. Supermarkets would probably see a thousand-fold increase in profits if they imposed such fines, until customers learned to mind their manners at least.
Not sure how I feel about self-serve beer though. There's bound to be a way to abuse that, and I'm sure there are plenty who will figure how and go nuts with it.
Azzprin
Has members of the staff changed the stress of working with annoying customers to the stress of being unemployed ?
When it is self service you do not need so many staff and the reduced out goings on wages probly makes up for the lower cost beer.
Serrano
"After word got around about Konro-ya’s policy, the restaurant saw a sharp increase in the number of customers ordering with “Hey, beer!”,the exact opposite of the intended effect of the 1,000-yen price."
I think Konro-ya's management is shrewd and knew they would get more customers shouting "Oi! Nama biru!" because...
"It’s not clear whether the customers were genuine jerks"
... they know a lot of their customers are genuine jerks.