Living Local—Getting the Most out of Groupon

[Note from Jeffrey Compton: I’m out of town all week, so Cory Roberts, CDC Gaming Reports’ associate publisher, offered to pick up the slack and write a column on a topic he knows best: Groupon. Cory is a Clevelander, but we can all learn from this.]

Groupon/Living Social can be a great way to get discounts at restaurants, wineries, and brewing companies, but you should always do your research prior to purchase. Why is the establishment offering the discount? Groupon and Living Social both take a huge percentage of the voucher’s sale price, so it’s not something a restaurant offers while it’s in the midst of doing excellent business. With this in mind, make sure you give the restaurant something in return if you had a good time; for example, if you open Google Maps, this is especially easy with no additional review required to rate a restaurant.

Checking out reviews on Yelp and Google prior is a great way to decode this question. Read new and old reviews, as they can both tell different things. If the place is simply new, this can be a great way to get a discount on some great food. If the place’s old reviews are bad, but you notice an upward trend, they may be using Groupon to get new customers in to have good experiences and leave good reviews. It’s self-explanatory if you see concerning reviews across the board.

Another good sign is if you notice the restaurant is off the main drag; they might offer excellent food and service (but still read those reviews), but they need to gain some regular customers and word of mouth to stay in business.

Wineries and breweries are often the least risky Groupon and Living Social purchases. Not only do you get discount alcohol, but sometimes a tour is included. Both markets are competitive and have a high percentage of return customers if they liked the product, in addition to the opportunity of the customer buying take-home products at full price.

Always read the terms and conditions before purchasing. Is it available on weekdays only? Do the blackout dates include when you were considering going? One trick I’ve seen is offering a $20-for-$40 deal, but the fine print requires purchase of two entrées— with entrées starting at $28.

Also, is simply going to happy hour a better deal? More than once I’ve talked myself out of buying a Groupon, because Groupons almost always apply only to regular dining and the place offered an excellent happy hour.

Also, a very important part of the Groupon experience is some sort of reminder system in place. Restaurants recoup some of their discounts from people who never use the deal before it expires. I enter all of my deals into my Google Calendar and set it up to repeat every other week with an email reminder. So every two weeks, I get a reminder in my email to use the deal.

But if you let a deal expire, don’t let the value go to waste. If you bought a $10-for-$20 deal, after expiration the deal isn’t worth $0, but $10. As Groupon says, it can always be redeemed for the amount paid.

Editor’s Note: You can access the latest Groupon deals here.