 | Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com. |
What's New
2007-06-01 09:43:00
For your dining pleasure...
What’s this Diner’s Magazine? I saw an ad in your paper last month for Diner’s Magazine. What is it? How does it work? What restaurants are involved?
Answer: Thank you for your question. Diner’s Magazine is a new publication concept sponsored by The Wichita Eagle and published by Chart Marketing, Inc., the publisher of The Q & A Times. For many years you have been able to get coupons for a variety of fast food items. Seldom however are you able to get coupons of much significant value from the finer dining establishments in a market. Now you can. In fact, in the first Diner’s Magazine issue for Wichita (for sale now on newsstands), there are more than $400 worth of coupons, each worth as much as $10 or more in value, and valid for as long as four months from the date of issue.
Diner’s Magazine is a publication that showcases several of Wichita’s premier dining establishments, in a controlled-editorial style. Interviews with owners, managers and chefs, are blended with articles, recipes and photos for a most interesting read. The coupons in the back of the issue add huge value to this unique publication.
Each issue is featured in its entirety on-line at www.dinersmagazine.com.
For the Diner’s Magazine of Wichita, click the ‘Wichita’ link on the opening page of the site. While the coupons in the back are watermarked and cannot be printed, you can see the tremendous values prior to subscribing or buying a single issue. After your review, you can purchase the current issue at Wichita Area QuikTrips, Kwik Shops and Leeker’s Family Foods’ locations for $9.95 each, or you can purchase an annual subscription on-line for $29, which includes four quarterly issues, saving more than $10 off the single-issue prices. With as much as $400 in coupon savings in each issue, you end up getting as high as a 40 to 1 or 60 to 1 return on your money, depending upon whether you buy a single issue or an annual subscription.
There is also a ‘Deal of The Day’ featured each day on the site that is not advertised elsewhere. It is good for the day it is featured only. Once the link is clicked, the offer appears on screen as a pdf. You merely print it and take it with you to the restaurant and present it as you would any other coupon offer.
Wichita is favored with more fine dining establishments per capita than nearly any city in the country. This of course makes it great for the consumer, but sometimes not as great for the restaurants. In addition to the vigilance restaurant management must continually display over quality, service, price, selection and consistency, they must also continually market to attract new customers. Of all the types of marketing available to them (advertising, merchandising, public relations and promotion), none work as great as promotion...the process of creating sampling of a product or service in order to develop long-term users. Giving away a sizeable portion of what they sell is the best way to do this. Many of these coupons are good for $10 off the food portion only of any ticket totaling $30 or more, that includes two or more entrees, where such ticket total does not include sales tax or gratuity. Because the average ticket at most fine dining establishments is at this level or more, this is a most legitimate savings. Redeem one coupon and you have your single-issue price back with 39 coupons left; or redeem three coupons throughout the year on an annual subscription and you have 157 coupons left.
The restaurants will change for each issue. There is only a limited number that can be featured. The restaurants featured for the inaugural issue are:
Black Angus Grille, Granite City, Italian Garden, Larkspur, Legends, Monterrey, Palomino Grill, Piztros, Red Beans Bayou Grill, Red Rock Canyon, Scotch & Sirloin, Sweet Basil, Texas Roadhouse, Timberline Steakhouse & Grill, T.G.I. Friday’s, Tommy’s Restaurant and Yia Yia’s.
You may also sign up for e-mail updates about new offers and restaurants in Wichita and other soon to be published Diner’s Magazines in other cities.
