Advertisement

Restaurant closes two weeks after all-you-can-eat promotion backfires

A restaurant in China’s southwest has been forced to close its doors less than two weeks after launching an all-you-can-eat promotion.

Jiamener closed last week after beginning the promotion on June 1 due to customers using a membership card for all-you-can-eat, South China Morning Post reports.

The card cost A$25 and was meant to be a month-long promotion, but it has left Jiamener owners more than $100,000 in debt.

One of the restaurant’s owners said they conceded the marketing strategy would lose them money but they hoped to earn it back by accumulating “more loyal clients”.

Chinese hotpot. File pic. Source: Getty Images
Chinese hotpot. File pic. Source: Getty Images

The restaurant, which opened in December, had more than 500 customers a day with some lining up outside from 8am with the last hungry visitors not leaving until midnight.

Some members shared their cards with family and friends, the Chengdu Economic Daily reports.

Su Jie, one of the owners, said he was getting only two to three hours of sleep a night.

He also conceded the customers were not to blame for the restaurant’s downfall.

“The main problem was our poor management,” he said.