gourmet society - who pays ? GS or the cafe/business

bnorth

Dear All,

sorry wonder if you can help me with a query. I am subscribed to gourmet society as a perk from my bank account. It allows eg 25% coffee (and sometimes food) at some outlets and other suff eg discounted days out. 

Can I ask do we know who foots the bill for the discount ? is it the cafe (on the grounds we'd buy other stuff there) or is it gourmet society itself. I'd assumed the latter (as there is usually a fee to be a member), 

my wife says its the business and reminded me that independent coffee shops are already on knife edge profit margins.

many thanks for the info.

Brie

It's the businesses. 

It's like any of those promo things which, as you've said, you get money off something or get it free but there's the assumption that you'll have cake with your coffee, etc. 

I know that one of the big banks had a deal where certain customers could get a free coffee at Patisserie Valerie, again with the assumption that you'd also get a sandwich or a lush bit of cake.  Unfortunately there were a number of their outlets that were near large offices for the bank and every outlet went out of business as the staff (all of whom of course had bank accounts with their employer) would pop by for their free latte each morning.  Not only did that cut into the shops profits it caused a queue that kept other customers away.  The whole chain collapsed about a year later. 

DullGreyGuy

Ignoring the big names on the list for smaller companies its undoubtably the restaurant themselves funding the promotion in the hope that the additional business offsets the cost of providing the discount. 

bnorth

many thanks for info Brie and DullGreyGuy - thats good to know, ah well I've had 2 cheap coffees - back to full price, tbh even full price their coffees are cheap compared to other and the staff are lovely, I don't often buy food with my coffee so I think i am eating into their profits.