New Restaurant Plays Stock Exchange Games With Menu Prices

Imagine walking into a bar and ordering a beer. You order and pay the price. Then a little while later you see someone else order the same beer and paying less. What’s going on? You’re at the The Exchange Bar & Grill restaurant in New York City. As Reuters reports, The Exchange is a new restaurant where the prices for food and drink can change at any minute. The restaurant in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, has a ticker tape menu flashing prices in red lettering as demand forces them to fluctuate. Prices will rise and fall in 25¢ increments and will plateau at around $2 in either direction– a glass of Guinness could cost you as much as $8 or as little as $4 depending on how popular it is. Demand increases the price but lowers the prices of similar products. It’s a gimmick but it’s a cool gimmick. I wonder if it will be possible to game the system. I suppose if you are not too choosy about what you order you could save a little cash by ordering the less popular items but if too many people followed your lead you’d be out of luck. The restaurant’s grand opening is planned for April Fool’s Day.