Discount dining: Help or hindrance for the restaurant sector?
As restaurant owners look to remain profitable during the tough economic climate, the temptation to lower prices and offer coupon deals can be so irresistible that it becomes a difficult habit to break.
A recent review of discounting activity in the casual-dining sector by Restaurant magazine showed that many restaurant chains who pledged to shake off their old deep discounting habits this year have already fallen off the wagon.
In this short audio podcast, BigHospitality spoke to Peter Backman, managing director of foodservice consultancy Horizons, and Andrew Guy, director of Ed’s Easy Diner – a restaurant that has forever strived to stay away from discounting and daily deals.
We asked them about the positives, the negatives and the potential risks of special offers and deals for restaurants, in a bid to find out if it is actually possible for a large chain to escape from the treadmill of discounting.
