Monopolistic competition has characteristics of both monopoly and perfect competition, but it is much closer to the competitive situation. There are many sellers and buyers, but the products are differentiated on some basis. Restaurants are good examples of monopolistic competitors. Each restaurant serves food but attempts to differentiate itself in some way-ethnic style of food, closeness to work or schools, availability of a party room, gourmet versus casual atmosphere, and so on. The end result is to slightly raise price above the perfectly competitive price, as customers agree to pay a little more for the unique feature that appeals to them.