Eat out to help out

Takmon

silvercar said:

jon81uk said:

JCS1 said:

onwards&upwards said:

rose28454 said:

Went to a local pub this evening with my sister and husband. She has a loyalty card for this place and it gives you 25% discount on a Wednesday . Ate our lovely meal and when the bill came she gave them her card but they did not take off the 25% discount. We asked the manager and he said oh that doesn’t apply with the Eat Out scheme . We said it’s supposed to but he said you’ve already had 50% off . We pointed out that money was coming from the government not yourselves! Shame as my
sister lives nearby and regularly eats there. It’s not what the scheme says should happen 

The scheme is there because the businesses would struggle to survive without it.   It does seem rather thoughtless to try to demand extra discounts on top of the £10/50% just at the moment.  If she has a loyalty card presumably she likes the place and wants it to stay open! 

The guidance on HMRC website does state it can be used after other discounts have been applied.  The pub needs to read up on the scheme rules.

"If you offer other discounts to diners

You can use the scheme alongside other offers and discounts you are offering.

To calculate the value of the transaction and make a claim to HMRC, you must first apply any special offers, vouchers or discount schemes you might be promoting or accepting and deduct any service charge.

You will only be reimbursed for the qualifying discounts you provide as part of the scheme."

The important word there is CAN, they can offer their usual discounts as well. They can also choose not to.
I think they should clearly communicate that, such as a sign saying Eat Out to Help Out, 50% off, usual discounts do not apply.

If you aren’t giving your customers much of an incentive to take advantage of the government scheme, then you won’t encourage many people to visit you, particularly if your competitors are using the scheme. So you risk losing out on potential customers.

If a restaurant I haven’t tried before is offering £10 off I may as well go there and keep a visit to you for when the scheme ends and your discount scheme will apply. 

All the decent places i have passed and contacted for bookings recently have been very very busy with either long queues or have been fully booked on Mon - Wed evenings so i don't think anywhere participating in the scheme which have half decent reviews will be struggling for customers.

Grumpy_chap

silvercar said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Quite a lot of venues have misunderstood that type of element of the scheme.  Maybe confusion because it is such a new scheme.

It is really very straight forward. Available with any menu, any discount deals, eat in only, claim 50% of any non alcohol drink or any food up to £10.
Trying to claim it doesn't work with special menus or deals is being unfair to the consumer.

I agree, it is very easy to understand.  That doesn't stop some venues being unable to implement correctly.
This week, I have been to a venue that claimed it didn't include breakfast, but did include evening dining and I have been to 2 venues that did not apply the discount to soft / hot drinks unless food also ordered at the same time.
These are just simple example of the scheme not being applied fully and correctly.

suffolknewlad

4 pensioners eating out at a BEEFEATER Pub at lunchtime yesterday got 50% off the TOTAL bill (excluding a small amount of alcoholics drinks).  

suffolknewlad

Previous post should read "alcoholic drinks" not "alcoholics".

RobM99

suffolknewlad said:

Previous post should read "alcoholic drinks" not "alcoholics".

Could be both!

Takmon

suffolknewlad said:

4 pensioners eating out at a BEEFEATER Pub at lunchtime yesterday got 50% off the TOTAL bill (excluding a small amount of alcoholics drinks).  

With 10.5 million claims in the first week alone let's hope everyone doesn't come on here to report a successful use of the scheme 

suffolknewlad

The point was that it was 50% off the TOTAL bill not just a successful use of the scheme.

Takmon

suffolknewlad said:

The point was that it was 50% off the TOTAL bill not just a successful use of the scheme.

Well if the total bill was £80 or less for food and soft drinks then it was exactly as expected... if the bill was more then you should have said how much it was.

suffolknewlad

If it had been £40 for 4 people I would have of course have said so.  As it was I was (again) making the point that BEEFEATER were offering 50% off the TOTAL bill not just up to £10 for the benefit of other people who might want to have the extra discount offered by that chain of restaurants.  Here endeth my goodwill message.

jon81uk

suffolknewlad said:

If it had been £40 for 4 people I would have of course have said so.  As it was I was (again) making the point that BEEFEATER were offering 50% off the TOTAL bill not just up to £10 for the benefit of other people who might want to have the extra discount offered by that chain of restaurants.  Here endeth my goodwill message.

There are a number of places doing this, https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/12361750/eat-out-help-out-more-discount-carluccios-brewers-fayre/

Beefeater and Brewers Fayre are both the same owner, as is Eds Diner, Slim Chickens and Giraffe.

To be honest at some of these places it is hard to spend more than £20 per person anyway. Beefeater would be the exception as most of the menu is steak.