I love to eat out, but with times being tight, I’ve had to come up
with new ways to justify my fancy-food habit. A friend sent me a coupon
for 80 percent off at restaurant.com, the Chicago-based company
that provides “rich savings” at restaurants all over the country. With
more than 80 restaurants participating locally, I decided to load up on
coupons to a few of my favorite places as well as a couple of new
restaurants I’ve wanted to try. After purchasing $250 worth of coupons
for $11, I felt pretty good about eating out again.

“We help diners enjoy great meals out for less by providing at least
50 percent savings on all restaurant gift certificates,” says Jeff
Conlin, vice president of public relations and corporate communications
for restaurant.com. “Our other
goal is to help restaurants fill empty tables.”

Participating restaurants do not receive any portion of the coupon
sales. Instead, restaurant.com
offers them online exposure with a micro-website as well as detailed
information gleaned from customer survey results. (Each diner is asked
to fill out a survey via e-mail after redeeming a coupon.)

There used to be a two-week delay while the coupons were processed
and mailed out, but the site has been updated so I got a link to my
coupons right away. As I printed them out, I noticed the “Top 3 Ways to
Use Your Certificate,” which included: “1. Ordering Dessert, 2. Trying
an Appetizer, and 3. Going for the Grand Entrée.” (I found that
these suggestions took hold of my subconscious, because rather than
being thrifty when I went out, I probably spent more than I would have
without the coupon. Oops!)

Trisha Gurley has patronized restaurant.com numerous times and says she
mainly uses it for Sekisui coupons. “My husband and I are sushi fiends,
but our budget doesn’t let us indulge as much as we’d like,” she
says.

Paige Walkup also is a big fan of restaurant.com and uses it when she
travels. “Whenever I go to a conference, I check if there are any local
restaurants on the site. I usually cross-reference recommendations from
chowhound.com and roadfood.com to see if it it’s somewhere I
might want to explore,” Walkup says.

Because coupons are typically offered at 50 to 80 percent of their
face value (i.e, a $25 coupon can be purchased for as little as $3),
there are “rules of use” which vary by restaurant.

“Restaurants are allowed a lot freedom to adjust the rules of use.
Some restaurants do not accept certificates on Fridays and Saturdays.
Restaurants also have different minimum food-purchase requirements,”
explains David Lindsey, director of marketing for Sekisui, Inc.
(Sekisui, Bluefin, Sekisui Pacific Rim, and Dish all accept coupons
from restaurant.com.) “For
example, in our restaurants, you have to buy $35 in food to redeem a
$25 certificate. But in some restaurants, you have to buy $45 in food
to redeem a $25 certificate,” Lindsey says.

It is very important for customers to read the rules of use before
they purchase the certificates.

“One problem we see is when people receive these certificates as
gifts,” Lindsey says. “Even though the rules are printed on the
certificate, they don’t take the time to read them, so when the bill is
presented, they are shocked to see an 18 percent gratuity included or
that they didn’t meet the minimum requirements.”

Restaurants are asked to commit to one year when they sign up with
the coupon service, but they can remove themselves from the service at
any time. Michelle Long says she went to a popular local Mexican
restaurant recently and discovered a coupon posted on the door with a
sign that read, “We no longer accept these.”

“The economy is bad, and I wanted my $3 back,” Long says,
laughing.

Restaurant.com does credit
customers in the event that a restaurant stops participating. Conlin
cites the economic downturn as a reason for struggling restaurants to
pull out of the promotion. “The most successful restaurants take
advantage of our reporting tools,” he adds.

Some customers have complained about a third-party offer that is
linked to the purchase site.

“A friend of mine found a charge for $14.95 for Shopping Essentials
after she bought several certificates,” Gurley says. “Apparently, if
you blindly click along while purchasing, you can inadvertently be
signed up for this site and be charged monthly. This has not happened
to me.”

Conlin says that no one likes to be told they didn’t read the fine
print. “Nine times out of 10, that’s what it is,” he says.

Ultimately, it’s about building a mutually beneficial relationship
between the site, the restaurant, and the consumer.

“Restaurant.com is probably the
most successful promotional program Sekisui is involved with,” Lindsey
says. “Our philosophy is: A chair with a customer getting a discount is
better than an empty chair.”