LiveDeal, a real-time deal engine, has partnered with Menu1.com to offer deals on thousands of restaurants to its customers.
"We offer the LiveDeal program as an 'included value-added feature' of the Menu1 program, where the restaurant will automatically be enrolled into the LiveDeal program, whether they ultimately sign up for the Menu1 program or not,” Menu1.com CEO Patrick Morrissey said. “We feel that our national sales force could be the driving force behind enrolling the vast majority of all restaurants into the LiveDeal program.”
LiveDeal has essentially outsourced its expertise in the restaurant industry rather than having to hire and train its own employees. Menu1.com has around 2,000 participating in the program, and over 120 restaurant field consultants and 20 regional managers.
"Each sales team member is a seasoned restaurant consultant with years of relationships with hundreds of restaurant operators within each of their respective territories. Menu1 also has exclusive marketing contracts with key national restaurant service providers that fuel enrollments into both our programs,” Morrissey said.
LiveDeal lets participating restaurants create limited specials offering in real time.
The two companies expect the deal to drive growth in major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and New York City with mobile apps and a nationwide campaign. The two companies also plan to expand to other cities as time goes on.
The restaurant industry might be an ideal candidate for real-time offers. Restaurant meals, particularly fast-food and casual restaurants, are often impulse buys. Busy office workers might be enticed to try a new place if they get an offer on their smartphones offering timely discounts on places that are right near them. Restaurants can also target specials to bring in customers over slower periods.
The ability to precisely target time periods sets it apart from other similar services like Groupon.
"LiveDeal is truly the first real 'deal engine' of its kind for the restaurant industry, unlike other restaurant coupon sites that offer deals in 'slow-time,' LiveDeal offers local restaurant deals in 'real-time,' right now,” Morrissey said.
Edited by Maurice Nagle
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