The Online Insider Pigs Out at Restaurant.com!
Written: Aug 24 '06
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I love knowing about those sites that really save you money. Sites that I can spring on my friends and really impress them with. Sites like Restaurant.com.
About the Company
Restaurant.com does two things - coupon sales and just recently introduced online reservation services. Restaurant.com currently has more than 8,000 restaurants in the company’s dining certificate (read that as coupon) program and continues expanding the network by 300 to 400 establishments per month. Restaurants in the coupon program can sign up for the reservation program as well, but it looks like that is happening pretty slowly. The site has been in business for about five years, and the Insider thinks that there's some kind of connection between the founders and Ebay (I think I heard they used to work there, but I can't confirm that).
How does it work
So how does it work? In the simplest terms, here's how I'd describe it to someone. Have you ever driven by a new restaurant and thought you’d like to try it but didn’t want to spend the money on cuisine you might not like? Restaurant.com sells gift certificates to customers who want to taste test their way through town. For $10 you can get a $25 gift certificate. Here’s how it works: you go to Restaurant.com, type in your zip code and pages full of restaurants come up. Just buy your certificate and print it. Pretty easy, no? Let's take a deeper look at how the site works.
Using the Site
There are actually two ways to buy a restaurant.com certificate. The first way is to find the certificate and buy it at a fixed price on Ebay. Restaurant.com has sold millions of them this way, and they're one of the top sellers all time on the site (hence my Ebay connection). Currently, they've got over 735,000 positive responses on their Ebay seller ID! Since this epin is about Restaurant.com, I'll skip the outline of that method, and just talk about their site.
The site makes it pretty easy for consumers to understand what they're supposed to do and when. The homepage is broken into three main areas.
The bottom of the page lets restauranteurs join the program and connects you to customer service.
The text link navigation area links you to other areas about the company: Customer Service (again)Press Center (press releases about Restaurant.com), Affiliates (for website owners that would like to make money by promoting this service), Help/FAQ, Site Map, and Privacy Policy & Terms.
The purchase area lets you immediately start finding your restaurant or redeeming a certificate that you got as a gift. Either way, the purchase path is the same. You simply enter in either the zip code or the state that you'd like to search in and press the "go" button.
If you're not sure of the zip, you can enter in the state that you'd like to search and Restaurant.com breaks it into zones. For larger states, you'll have more zones. New York has 6, while Connecticut has 3. You can select multiple zones to search participating restaurants. For this example, lets choose the Metropolitan New York City zone in NY State. Then hit the "Find Restaurants" button. You can then sort or refine your result set. You can limit the returns to restaurants in a particular city or area OR you can browse restaurants that only serve a particular type of cuisine. The site makes it easy for consumers to find new options, which is one of the reasons Restaurants participate... new business rather than repeat business with a coupon!
Let's look for restaurants in Port Chester, NY. The site comes back with two options: Pasquale's Ristorante and Tropic. Both listings have full address and phone number and some light teaser content. Tropic is participating in the online reservation program as well. When you click the link about the restaurant, you are transferred to the Tropic website in Restaurant.com. There you can find the restaurant's menu, hours of operation, and pictures of the establishment. One of the more interesting bits is the section that lets you know what the place is known for -- in tropic's case, this is their raw bar and their seafood mofango. Can't say that I've ever had seafood mofango, so I'm intrigued enough to buy.
There are two values of Restaurant.com certificates. Some places let you buy a $25 coupon for $10, and some sell $10 off coupons for $3. Each of these coupons have a usage restriction - In this case the Tropic $10 certificate is only valid with a minimum purchase of $15. In addition, the customer may dine in only, must have a minimum 2 people, and the certificate must be presented prior. Other restrictions -- you need to read what you're buying here might be: lunch only, more than $35, and restricted to certain entrees. NOTE: Before using the certificate, you should call the restaurant directly to make sure you won't have a problem when you try to redeem it!
After you place the item in your cart, you can check out. To do so, you must create a profile. It's fairly painless to do it.
There are no additional fees at this site, as there is no handling. You simply download and print the certificate after you buy it (or recieve the gift link in an email from a friend). You can also buy these certificates to use at particular web merchants like wine.com, mrs.fields.com, lobstergram, and allen brothers steaks. These are more traditional gift certificates, but they work the same way --you pay $10 and your recipient gets $25 off.
The Online Insider's Bottomline
As long as you read the fine print and call ahead to your restaurant, this is a great way to save money on eating out. Give it a try!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bhweb22
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Member: Brian H
Location: Northeast
Reviews written: 297
Trusted by: 110 members
About Me:
I'm an Internet GEEK.
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