Greg Gibbs, owner of the Chicago Bagel Authority, was looking to bring in extra customers during the slower winter months. He was hoping to avoid having to lay off some of his employees, especially since he was planning on opening a second shop in the near future.
At the prompting of friends and customers to consider Groupon, Gibbs decided to give it a try, though he had misgivings. The results were disastrous. If you want to know what can happen to a business when a daily deal promotion goes awry, watch the video then check out the reviews for the Chicago Bagel Authority on Yelp.
The shop has fairly consistent three to five star reviews. There were a few “bagel snobs” that gave the eatery low rating but those are common for any establishment and easily dismissed. Look for the reviews by those that had Groupons and note how the bagel shop’s ratings drastically dropped and how the reviews had an angry and almost mob like attitude.
We’ll have more in a future article about how the combination of a daily deal debacle paired with angry flaming Yelp reviews can create a one two knockout punch for an otherwise successful business.
Source: WTTW
