Turns out, this is a really, really bad idea.
While the tactic did manage to attract many diners to the new karst-themed restaurant on its opening day, on October 2nd, it didn't manage to manage to attract much moolah. Some customers paid only 10% of the cost of their meal, while others dared to leave just 1 RMB on the table. After seven days, the restaurant had lost 100,000 RMB, The Paper reports.
"If our food or service was the problem, then that would be one thing," owner Liu Xiaojun sighed. "But according to customer feedback, our dishes are both filling and tasty. It's just that the payments don't match up with the evaluations."
After just a week, the promotion fell apart. Liu and her two partners got into an argument and one of the partners fled back to his hometown, vowing not to return.