Dining out has become the part of urban lifestyle and there is no cheaper alternative to it. The restaurant business is flourishing by pampering the taste buds of the patrons, but this in turn has levied undue pressure on the customer pockets. Restaurants in United Kingdom offer class, entertainment, and lip-smacking delicacies, but all these come at a price!
Food bill in restaurant includes various other headings like drinks, tips, service charges, and taxes that together make the entire deal heavy on one’s pocket. The easiest way to stay away from this hefty weekly expense is to say no to dine out, but this will take away all your fun. So, now here are the other ways to bring down your weekly “Eat Out” budget and it won’t reduce your fun as well!
- Share email id
Whenever you shop something or dine out, the feedback form comes to you asking for all your contact details. These details are later used by the stores and promotional agency to float their email campaigns. Always mention correct email id and phone number at the time of filling this form to avail the promotional offers. Some restaurants offer special discounts on anniversaries and birthdays of their regular customers. So, next time you get the feedback form, make sure you enter the contact details and special dates with the same enthusiasm as you fill up the feedback.
- Online restaurant vouchers
Online vouchers as the name suggest will be available online and mostly on the restaurant website. For restaurant chains, either you would find common voucher applicable to all restaurants under this banner or there would be location specific voucher. Take out time, browse the restaurant website and see if you can grab a deal. Some restaurant vouchers can be found on the partner website. You can seek help from the search engine to know the websites featuring relevant deals.
- Meal Deal Cards
Keeping up the spirit of dining out, cards offering meal deals work for both restaurant and diner. These cards bring the discount offers on meals throughout the year irrespective of ongoing promotions at the restaurant itself. One of the most famous deal cards in UK is Taste Card, which offers huge discount on every meal taken with their partner restaurant. Such deals usually fetch you 50% discount on meal bill or 2 for 1 offers. Take the membership plan with any such card to enjoy great meal at half price every time you dine out. Most people opt for such deals more due to availability in large segment of hotels and surety of discounts without looking out for vouchers online. Some meal deal cards are also available for very low membership fees as a trial subscription.
- Eat all you can for fixed price buffet
This is an innovative meal concept run by many restaurants. You can go for a buffet with group without worrying about the final bill as the all-inclusive buffet rates are mentioned beforehand. The spread is good enough to give your taste buds a pleasant ride. However, you would end up paying more than what you eat if your group doesn’t have enough foodies. Opt for buffet only when you are hungry like a hippo to get the most out of your money.
- Happy hours offers
Happy Hours are the hours during the day when the restaurant is getting less footfall. The restaurant management floats these happy hours offers in order to optimize their sales. This is their sales strategy to utilize their staff and establishment for the entire day. The slack period during the day is also filled with enough customers with such offers. If you are not so particular about your meal timings then this happy hours offer would save you lot of bucks.
- Bring down the drinks bill
Expenses on drinks always make major part of your bill. You cannot cut down the drinks from your order completely, but it is possible to order cheaper drinks. This will make a major difference in your final food bill. Some restaurants allow you to bring your own drinks, however chances are there that you will not get the cuisine of your choice as most of these restaurants are Indian restaurants. If you don’t mind trying a new taste then this will work for you.
- Corporate or student discount
Discounts for corporates and students are given at many restaurants. Call them and check if they have any such discount going on, and if yes then take along your identity card to avail the same.
Eating out is the way to relax and remove your stress. Don’t let yourself deprived of this fun because of high costs involved. Instead look for saving ideas to have a relaxed meal cooked to perfection by somebody else and that too in your budget.