Buffet Pricing.

This article analyzes a commonly used pricing practice, which the author calls 'buffet pricing,' in which for a fixed entry fee consumers can consume an unlimited quantity during a specified period of time. When consumers are homogeneous in preferences, this form of pricing can be more profitable than a two-part tariff if the total cost under a two-part tariff is greater than the 'net' total cost under buffet pricing. For heterogeneous consumers, depending on the distribution of consumer types and the relative magnitudes of transaction and production costs, buffet pricing can also be more profitable than two-part tariffs. Copyright 1999 by University of Chicago Press.