by David Chapman
Staff Writer
With diners pinching pennies and spending fewer dollars eating out, one national company has joined forces with close to 10,000 restaurants — including more than 200 local — to create a program that has both customers and restaurant owners enjoying the results.
Restaurant.com, established in 1999 and based in Arlington Heights, Ill., serves as a matchmaker between customers and local restaurants by helping restaurants owners promote through discounts.
For customers, the value lies within discounted gift certificates — the most common being $10 gift certificates that cost $3 and $25 gift certificates for $10 — that can be printed at home and spent at participating restaurants.
For restaurants, though, it’s about getting people through the door and attempting to turn them into repeat customers and improving visibility.
“We love it,” said Kimberly Ennis, general manager of Caribbee Key in Neptune Beach. “It’s very easy and brings people in.”
Ennis said Caribbee Key has participated for about a year-and-a-half and she sees “a lot” of people using both certificates and quite often the restaurant sells out of its monthly allotment.
Additionally, after each certificate is redeemed, restaurant.com sends out a survey for information that provides valuable feedback, she said, with information like average check and customer satisfaction ratings.
Marti Brewer, owner of Marti’s Cafe in East Arlington, signed her restaurant up for the program in January and said close to a dozen people have come in and used the certificates, both the $10 and $25 variety.
“It’s good advertising,” said Brewer, who found out about the program through a restaurant.com representative. “It’s a good program and it helps you get known to people in the community.”
The main Web site lists participating restaurants based off zip code proximity and features a brief description, restaurant picture, link to a menu, and what types of gift certificates each restaurant offers for sale along with certificate terms.
Certificate terms vary and are established to help protect restaurants from losing money, said Cary Chessick, restaurant.com CEO, and can include variables such as minimum purchase requirements, days the certificate can be redeemed, included gratuity and whether alcohol can be factored into price among others. Terms are created after a restaurant owner and restaurant.com consultant have analyzed what combination would best suit sales.
Along with the survey, owners are able to look at their restaurant’s Web site and see how many people have looked over their menus and how many certificates have been sold.
“It’s a good way to measure how many people are looking at you,” said Brewer.
Restaurant.com makes money through the purchase of the certificate itself — the $3 and $10 used to buy the $10 and $25 certificates respectively, go to the company, for example — along with Web advertising.
Since its creation in 1999, the company has saved consumers more than $75 million, according to its site.
The trade off for the restaurant owner is worth it especially in a down market when restaurants are trying to attract new customers, according to one of the area’s newest participants.
“In this economy, it can be tough to get new customers” said Emanuel Sarnelli, executive chef and owner of Blu Grotto Trattoria in Orange Park. “You have to be willing to sacrifice a little to give the customer a good value to come in and try it (restaurant) out.”
Sarnelli signed the Blu Grotto up for restaurant.com close to two weeks ago and said he’s optimistic the program will bring in some new customers who might not have tried his restaurant without the gift certificate incentive.
Once they do become new customers through the incentive, though, Sarnelli is confident they’ll become regulars.
“Once they come in with it (gift certificate) and give it a try, I know they’ll be back,” said Sarnelli.
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