Mary's University's Entrepreneurship Centre, which provided the kiosk and some consultation free of charge.

Francesco Stara, left, and Najib Faris set up the kiosk at the airport and also run the Mabata Glocal Eatery restaurant in Bedford. (Submitted by Najib Faris)

"We thought it was pretty far out, to be honest," said Jason Turner, the centre's senior project manager, of the idea of trusting unsupervised customers to pay for their food.

But the enthusiasm of Faris and Stara was enough to convince the centre's staff to support the project.

"We thought if they're pretty keen on it — and they certainly were, you know, kind of came out as guns blazing with this idea — we thought, 'What the heck? Let's give it a shot.'"

Honesty shops worldwide

The kiosk at the airport isnot the only example of a so-called "honesty shop."

Faris said he has heard of a grocery store in Japan, a bottled-water kiosk in Dublin and an art shop in Toronto's Museum of Contemporary Art that also operate on the honesty system, as well as cafés that sell self-serve coffee on the honour system.

Some honesty shops, however, have not fared so well.

One such shop located in the lobby of the Manila Police Department's headquarters — just a few metres away from a security guard — had to be closed after someone repeatedly raided the cash box.

The Mabata Honesty Shop will be open until August, but Faris said he's in discussions with the airport to maintain a permanent presence there.

He said if the project continues to be successful, he would