Popular restaurant closes weeks after offering incredible loyalty deal | World | News
This all-you-can-eat restaurant had to close just after two weeks because customers ate too much food, which left the owner in thousands of pounds of debt.
The Chinese restaurant owner welcomed over 500 diners a day after offering a $25 loyalty card, which is equal to around £19. The deal allowed customers to enjoy unlimited food for a month.
Customers rightfully made most of the deal, which was hard to miss, but unfortunately, it led to the restaurant owner having debt worth more than $100,000 (£79,000).
It was also claimed that those who held loyalty cards passed it on to their family and friends to also make use of the offer, instead of them purchasing their own cards.
The restaurant in Chengdu, China, specialised in hot pot food – a traditional Chinese cooking method where food is prepared in a simmering pot of stock.
However, after two weeks, the owners were left with no choice but to close the restaurant.
They told ABC News that they expected to lose some money but hoped they could gain more repeat customers in the process.
The owners also shared that they hoped to lower costs with other suppliers once they began to purchase more food.
Chengdu is home to over 20 million people and hot pot is extremely popular in the huge city where there are approximately 20,000 hot pot restaurants around, reports ABC News.
Many took to the Chinese social media platform Weibo to share their piece about the news of the restaurant’s closure. One person said: “This [restaurant owner] is really careless, didn’t think enough.”
Another added: “The owner gets himself out of business. You would not dare play this kind of thinking in China.”
People on Weibo also commented on the mistake the owners made by offering a great food deal. They said: “Never underestimate our Chinese appetite!”
The owners themselves blamed it on a lack of business skills and “poor management,” they told the Chengdu Economic Daily: “The uncivilised behaviour of the diners was secondary – the main problem was our poor management.”
