This weekend, I did what every self-respecting foodie does before choosing where to eat.
I opened Zomato Dining and started scrolling through discounts like it was a full-time job.
40% off here, flat 50% there; one place was practically begging me to eat for free.
My thumb was moving fast, and my loyalty was moving faster, straight toward whoever was offering the biggest number.
I had almost decided. There was this one place, 55% off, glossy pictures, the kind of deal that makes you go “obviously, this one.”
But something made me pause.
Maybe it was the ghost of a chhole kulche I had eaten six months ago, sitting quietly at the back of my mind, refusing to be forgotten. So I put the phone down and went to a Punjabi Dhabba instead, discount or no discount, banner or no banner.
Just a craving I could not argue with.
Casual dining, nothing fancy on the outside, but the food was top-class from that very first visit, and the hospitality made me feel like a regular on day one.
The servers smile like it is not a customer service training module; it is just who they are.
They talk to you properly, they take care of you, and somehow that stays with you longer than any coupon code ever could.
This weekend proved it was not a one-time thing either.
Amritsari chhole kulche again, and once again, it did not disappoint. Top notchhhhh, in every sense of the extra h.
That is when it hit me, sitting there with kulche in hand, why I keep going back to a place that has never once offered me a discount.
The moral of the story
No matter how much discount you throw at someone, twenty percent, forty percent, even a wild sixty, none of it matters once they already trust your food.
You cannot discount your way into someone’s heart. You can only earn your way in, one honest plate at a time.
Any Body Can Discount
There is a Bollywood movie called ABCD, ANYbody Can Dance. Loved that one, but restaurants decided to make their own version, and honestly, this one is not winning any awards.
Any body can discount.
Your competitor can.
The new place that opened last month can.
Even the guy who still cannot get his POS machine to print a proper bill can slash 40% off his menu by lunchtime.
All it takes is a percentage and a bit of desperation. The real question was never who can discount. It is who can make someone come back without one.
Both sides of the same screen
Let me break down what is actually happening on that Zomato screen, because it is more interesting than it looks. As a customer, I scroll, and I notice the discount percentage before I notice the restaurant name. The itch to save is real, it is basically wired into us.
But noticing a number and choosing a restaurant because of it are two very different things. When I actually pick a place, I look at the reviews, I look at the photos, I look at the menu, I look at everything. A discount might get me to pause on a listing for two extra seconds. It has never once made me ignore bad food or cold hospitality.
Now flip to your (owner’s) side of the same screen, because this is where it gets a little uncomfortable.
A slow Tuesday shows up, the competitor three shops down just launched a 50% flash sale, and suddenly discounting feels less like a marketing decision and more like a survival instinct.
Do it once, footfall goes up, and that quick hit convinces you to do it again. Nobody plans to get hooked on discounts. It just quietly becomes the only lever anyone remembers to pull.
Here is the part both sides miss. Trust does not negotiate with percentages. Once a customer knows your food is good and your team treats them well, a rival discount two doors down stops being tempting. That loyalty is worth more than any offer you could have run to win them in the first place.
The profitable version of this conversation
None of this means discounts are the villain, so do not cancel every offer you have planned this week. Used well, a discount is still one of the fastest ways to get a first-time customer through your door, wake up a dead Tuesday afternoon, or clear out ingredients before they go to waste.
That part genuinely works.
The difference between a discount that helps you and one that quietly bleeds you is whether it was planned or panicked. A thoughtful discount looks at which dishes can afford to give something away and still leave you profitable. A panicked discount just matches whatever the competitor did and hopes the math sorts itself out later.
Mindful discounting also does something sneaky and wonderful. It buys you the one thing a blind discount never will – a first impression good enough to get someone back through the door without a coupon the second time.
That is the entire difference between a customer and a regular.
What to actually do about it
Reading this and nodding is nice, doing something with it is better. So here is exactly where to start.
Audit your food cost percentage before you touch a discount.
A 40% discount on a dish with a healthy margin is a smart move. The same 40% on a dish where food cost is already high is just a slow leak in your P&L. Know the number before you set the offer, not after.
Run every planned offer through the Discount Damage Calculator.
I want to be honest, this was not a topic we picked off a content calendar. It came from actually sitting with the food cost and discount math ourselves and realizing most restaurant owners are running offers on gut feel, not on numbers. Plug in your actual numbers, and it will tell you in two seconds whether that discount grows your business or quietly drains it.
Put a rupee into hospitality training for every rupee you put into offers.
Warm, attentive, present staff, like Punjabi Dhabba’s, is what a customer remembers long after the discount code has expired.
Track repeat visits, not just first visits.
A discount that fills seats once and never again is not a win; it is a subsidy. Your loyalty and CRM data will tell you exactly who came back on their own and who only showed up for the number.
Reserve your best offers for existing customers, not strangers on Zomato.
The customer who already loves your food deserves the discount more than the one still deciding between you and five other listings.
So, chosen twice?
A discount can absolutely pull the crowd in.
It got plenty of people through the door this weekend, discount banners and all.
But whether they come back a second time, a third time, and eventually stop checking Zomato Dining altogether because they already know where they are going, that part has nothing to do with the offer.
That part is entirely on your food. And your hospitality.
Anybody can discount.
Getting chosen twice is a different game entirely.
See you next Monday!