I love the posts Don makes and they should serve as reference material for anyone in business.

Now, here is variation of Don Daily Specials Board I was considering...

To begin, you place a Daily Specials Board into a good restaurant that is need of more buisness (don't they all?)

Go out and sell the advertising with a twist...

Have the advertisers place the same or a variation (for cost reasons) of the Daily Specials board in their own business (assuming they were not in the food business of course). Every body eats, so the market appeal of lunch or dinner is board based.

Then, have the advertiser and their business hand out a special coupon good for a 2 for 1 appetizer or Free Desert at the restaurant. For each redemption, the restaurant would then credit back a certain amount (say $1) back to the referring business (the advertiser themselves). Generally, this would be done on the honor system, so make sure you trust the restaurant.

This would be a win/win/win opportunity - the restaurant would generate more business, the advertiser can earn back of the advertising bucks they spent, and you as the operator of the triangular joint venture would have a solid business venture that could be syndicated into other markets.

I would love to hear feedback, both positive and negative on this idea.

Paul