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Another Web site leads to heavily discounted eats
First came Groupon.com. Then it was LivingSocial.com. Just before SXSW came Localiter.com. (At least that’s the order in which these new discount-oriented sites entered my consciousness.) And now you can add TheLunchDeal.com to the list of Web sites that offers daily discounts on restaurants (and other services) around town, along with caffeinated ad copy.
While Groupon and Living Social have expanded their reach to include goods and services outside of the food world, it seems The Lunch Deal will focus solely on the restaurant scene. Much as the other sites, The Lunch Deal uses the power of group purchasing to get deals regularly in the neighborhood of 50 percent off. (In the interest of fairness to locals, Go Local Austin and Dishola have been regularly advertising specials for some time using social media.)
As with similar sites, people can sign up for daily emails which include a special offer. Participants have 24 hours to purchase the deal (except Friday deals, which extend over the weekend), and the next day receive an email with a deal voucher that can be used immediately. The coupons last for anywhere from 30-120 days, depending on the stipulations of the restaurant in question. To further differentiate themselves from the other sites, The Lunch Deal is actually offering up to four separate deals each day.
An example of today’s offerings on TheLunchDeal.com: $5 for $10 worth of food at Apothecary Cafe and $10 for $20 worth of food at Iron Cactus.
This explosion of group purchasing has obviously been a boon to value-minded consumers, but it also seems to have been extremely beneficial to business owners, as several people in management at various locations that have participated in these Web deals have reported to me that they’ve seen exponential increases in sales.
At this rate, it seems we may never have to pay full price for a meal (or jeans, or a car wash or a massage) again.
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By Grant Chambers
March 24, 2010 10:35 AM | Link to this
Cool site. Hope to see more great Austin restaurants come through. I like how it has multiple deals per day.