Has the coupon craze helped or hindered your business?

Have you taken advantage of coupon systems such as Groupon to drive business to your restaurant this past year? It's been a challenge for the restaurant industry to keep customers coming in while we have feature articles touting ways to save money.

One of those primary ways recommended to save money? Stay home and don't eat out. Ouch! That hurts.  Not only does it hurt the bottom line of the restaurant owner, but it also hurts the thousands of people employed by the hospitality industry (e.g., waiters, kitchen staff, cooks, etc.) 

In an effort to combat the "stay home" philosophy, many restaurant owners have engaged with discounting systems such as Groupon or other local providers. The hope is that you bring the customers in with the discount and they either buy more or establish themselves as regulars and come back again and again. Unfortunately, many people have gotten "hooked" on the discounts and won't dine out without a coupon in hand.

Here's a great article from the LA Times discussing the discount craze problem for restaurants. What's your plan for 2011? Are you going to start scaling back the coupons and engaging your customers with other strategies?

We are looking forward to 2011 and seeing how this concept evolves.