VietCowboy;3884057 said:
Yeah, it's a great marketing tool, but I've read a lot of horror stories too (Groupon bullying restaurants, patrons being cheap-*****).
Basically, from what I've read (feel free to dispute it since you've actually been a merchant), Groupon generally gets 50% of the cost, which is already discounted 50%. So, a $10 Groupon for $20, the restaurant only takes in $5. Many of these groupon's are like 1 per table (2 per 5 people), and there are often parties where EVERYONE brings in their own groupon and expect it to be allowed, or they bring it in after it expires and expect the FULL amount (not the amount they paid) to be taken off. So, because of this, when we have a groupon, we often tip more than 20%.
We had maybe 4 or 5 bad experiences out of 1500 groupons we sold. Have to keep in mind that there isn't 100% redemption of the groupons either. I want to say we had 150 +/- 10 that weren't used. Ours were for $30 and had several stipulations on them ahead of time. You couldn't use it for our Prix Fixe menu, 1 per table unless it was 6 or more adults, and for food only.
The people who try to work the system against itself aren't our target customers, so I had no problem working it against them. The Groupon plainly says that it must be presented at the time they sit down for dinner.
The two big problems we had two different couples not wanting, but demanding, to use them on the same table. Politely we had to tell them that it was one per table. They got snippy and said they'd sit at two different tables. No problem, I have two tables next to each other separated by a walkway, right next to our open kitchen. Don't ever expect to see them again, nor do I care whether or not we see them again. Not our target market.
Another was a couple who tried to negotiate with their server on the Prix Fixe menu after the fact. Open it up, show them the printout, and explain the situation. 9 times out of 10 the people are very cordial, and I have no problem walking around the issue to find a solution. It's not really that hard on our end to make our guests love us. The woman in this case said specifically, "I don't care what it says" before I could even get to one of the usual work-arounds. That gets followed up on my end by "The owners make the rules, you're not in a position to change them."
Another was two ladies with 3 kids, waaay under dressed for our place in the late afternoon before dinner gets rolling. They wanted to use 2 on their table. Server brings it to me after they're done, and I go to the table to talk to them. They're from out of town, on vacation with the kids from another state. I ask them where they'd been, Fiesta Texas comes up. I ask the kids how they liked it, and how long of a drive it was to get home. Sure enough, they drove in from New Mexico and were leaving to go home in the morning. One of the ladies mentioned how much they liked our dinner rolls, which we bake every 20 minutes. No problem. I use both of their groupons and give them each a dozen rolls double wrapped and bagged for when they get home. Will we ever see them again? No chance, but that's not the point by any means.
Demand, you get shafted because I'm a vindictive Richard Head when pushed. Ask, invoke kindness, and I'll go out of my way to make sure this was a minute highlight of your vacation.
Towards the end of the offer, we had people come in and only get a few appetizers that wouldn't fill up the entire $30. I happily add on a dessert for either dine in or let 'em take it home, no charge, that would have made their bill up to closer to the $30. I apologize that the end of the offer was nearing and that they were running short on time to take full advantage of their purchase.
I want them to recognize how much their patronage means to us and we want to see them again.
Both ends of the spectrum. Did my staff like it? There was some push back at first, and the usual "they're all cheap" griping. Now that it's over? "We should do groupon again to get the extra business." They really loved that last week when every one of them were taking home $300 a night from the extra business the groupon generated.
EDIT: I've fielded three calls with expired groupons. I took the buttons off of our payment screens and tell the folks on the phone that we are bound to the rules as stipulated by groupon. No problems so far. They had 6 months to use it. 6 months 12 days is 12 days too late.
