In
these days of high energy prices and higher grocery costs, you may wonder if
there are any ways to make the cost of dining out a bit more affordable.
That too, seems to be getting more prohibitive -- by the minute -- in terms of
price. Well, there is some good news for you... if you are perhaps
willing to work just a bit to accomplish a less expensive meal when you head
out to a restaurant. It's not really work, but getting anything
done more cheaply today requires that you spend some time doing a bit of
research. Believe me, it does pay off!
Tip #1: Dine
When Others Don't. This is almost a no-brainer, but Fridays
and Saturdays have always been the nights to dine out. If you
have ever tried to get a last-minute reservation or simply just go without
one on one of these nights, I'm sure you'll know what I mean. The
results are no fun. So why not go out on one of the nights that are
typically slow at many restaurants? Many venues offer specials on both
meals and beverages on typical off-nights during the week. A little
snooping and these nights and specials are easily located. By
the way, for those diners with families, there are numerous places that
offer discounted or even free meals for the kids on these nights as well.
And, if you can find a way to combine these nights with either the
Entertainment Book or
OpenTable -- or both -- (see Tips #4 and #5 below)
you're now working on a triple-whammy!
Tip #2: What
Comes With It? Before you blindly walk in to a new restaurant
for dinner, take a moment or two to look online and see if a menu is part of
the website of your intended destination. If so, see what is included
with the price of the dinner. Many restaurants have entree prices that
seem expensive... until you notice that the entree comes with soup, salad,
main course, veggie and potato -- sometimes even dessert. Others offer
only the entree -- the rest is a la carte... leading to a much-inflated
check at the end of the meal! If a menu is not available, make a quick
phone call to find out. It just might save you enough to have that
special dessert after all!
Tip #3 Frequent
Diner Rewards. Many programs are available --
Mileage Plus
(United Airlines) for instance -- that will reward the dining member with
miles or points once a credit card is registered and then used at specific
restaurants that are also registered in the program (The Beehive in St.
Charles is a member of this program, offering three miles per dollar spent).
Friday's has a Gold Points card and Gordon Biersch (in
Bolingbrook) also
has a
frequent diner program in which points are earned. Rewards are
earned in all of these programs. Obviously it takes time to build
points... But even if you are an infrequent diner, the points will
build eventually, and the rewards are there. So why not take advantage
of them?
Tip #4: Use Coupons.
This may in fact sound quite easy, and I suspect that many of you will say:
"I already do that!" However, the days when we used to comb the
newspaper for coupons should be long gone... should be that is, since more
and more people are using their mouse rather than their fingers to do the
proverbial walking. Besides, newspapers and magazines cause a lot of
clutter and we often throw them -- and the coupons they contain -- out with
the trash. And it is also difficult to even remember just where we put
the coupons after they have been clipped. So, online things are
easier, faster, cause no mess, and are available 24-7-365! There are
many places that coupons/certificates are available... all you have to do is
take a moment to find them. Two easy places to start: the
Entertainment Book and
Restaurant.com. Both offer pretty deep
discounts. The only catch is locating the restaurants that offer
these possibilities... but --
Restaurant.com usually has discounts of 50% or
more, and the
Entertainment Book and get a complimentary $25 restaurant certificate!
-- offering more than 1200 dining venues in
any given area, and hundreds more attractions (like movie theaters, bowling,
museums, baseball and more...) -- will pay for itself after as few as
two outings. Now that's some kind of savings!
Tip #5: Get
Paid to Make Online Reservations. When using the
OpenTable
service and completing the service (i.e. actually going out to dinner at the
place the reservation was made), the diner accumulates 100 points. One
thousand points are actually available when dining on a night when
restaurants are less busy. (For instance, Harvest Restaurant at Pheasant
Run Resort in St. Charles and Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora offer 1000
points on certain nights.) and, you can easily combine the effects of
Tip #1 above with this one, to create the old "double dip" effect!
After accumulating 2,000 points, one earns a $20 OpenTable Dining Cheque,
available to use at an
OpenTable venue; 5,000 points will earn you a $50
cheque. Imagine buying a $25 gift certificate at Restaurant.com for
$12.50 and making a reservation through
OpenTable at your favorite
restaurant and earning 1000 points and paying for the remainder with your
credit card that earns miles... all in the same night!
Regardless of any discounts, always make sure to appropriately tip
your server based on the pre-tax total before any coupons are
applied.
View an online tip calculator.
There are only two
caveats that I would offer to accompany the above tips: First, make
certain to always read the fine print. Restaurant.com
offers some great deals, but often drinks are not included in the deal,
gratuities are sometimes added automatically and there are set minimums
required to get the deal. If you read and are knowledgeable, the
offers are incredibly good deals. Second, do your homework before
you head out. Knowledge is power. And armed with some knowledge
of how things work, you will be able to not only have great meals for better
prices, you can save money and get a handsome reward to boot.
Bon Appetite!
In
these days of high energy prices and higher grocery costs, you may wonder if
there are any ways to make the cost of dining out a bit more affordable.
That too, seems to be getting more prohibitive -- by the minute -- in terms of
price. Well, there is some good news for you... if you are perhaps
willing to work just a bit to accomplish a less expensive meal when you head
out to a restaurant. It's not really work, but getting anything
done more cheaply today requires that you spend some time doing a bit of
research. Believe me, it does pay off!
Tip #2: What
Comes With It? Before you blindly walk in to a new restaurant
for dinner, take a moment or two to look online and see if a menu is part of
the website of your intended destination. If so, see what is included
with the price of the dinner. Many restaurants have entree prices that
seem expensive... until you notice that the entree comes with soup, salad,
main course, veggie and potato -- sometimes even dessert. Others offer
only the entree -- the rest is a la carte... leading to a much-inflated
check at the end of the meal! If a menu is not available, make a quick
phone call to find out. It just might save you enough to have that
special dessert after all!
Tip #4: Use Coupons.
This may in fact sound quite easy, and I suspect that many of you will say:
"I already do that!" However, the days when we used to comb the
newspaper for coupons should be long gone... should be that is, since more
and more people are using their mouse rather than their fingers to do the
proverbial walking. Besides, newspapers and magazines cause a lot of
clutter and we often throw them -- and the coupons they contain -- out with
the trash. And it is also difficult to even remember just where we put
the coupons after they have been clipped. So, online things are
easier, faster, cause no mess, and are available 24-7-365! There are
many places that coupons/certificates are available... all you have to do is
take a moment to find them. Two easy places to start: the