Some restaurants in San Francisco have been slapped with ADA lawsuits. Many restaurant owners were neglecting to make their restaurants accessible to their customers in wheelchairs as required by federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations.

The City of San Francisco enforces regulations that require restaurants to meet these ADA requirements. If there is a step you need to take before entering the restaurant, you are required to install or build a ramp. I thought it is great that San Francisco wants to make everywhere accessible to everyone.

When I was taking a tour of a restaurant in a prime location, I observed tiny space on the main floor which could seat perhaps 6 people with a staircase leading to the main dining room that seat 30 people comfortably. It did not have provision or access for wheelchair users. If you want to use the restroom, you need to take the step. What about the restaurant’s customers in wheelchairs? The kitchen is split into 2 rooms with the cooking room located upstairs, and the prep room downstairs.

My immediate response was that it wouldn't do us any good because if it was me, I couldn't tolerate carrying food upstairs and downstairs. It immediately raised a red flag. I began to see issues related to Worker's Compensation. I asked the seller about these conditions, and he responded that he had no complaints since he ran his restaurant with a "grandfather" clause which presents a loophole.

I recalled from my conversation with Darren Weiss, the deaf restaurateur in Manhattan Beach, in sharing his previous experience with a restaurant he owned before opening Darren's which was a two- floor building that was inconvenient for his staff. He didn't want to repeat that experience at his next restaurant. I took his advice to heart.

It would be ironical if I went ahead and purchased that multi-level restaurant when I am an ADA advocate! I told the seller I wouldn't consider his restaurant because it is not ADA friendly. I wanted all customers to have the equal access to Mozzeria.

 

 

 

Who Loves Groupon? Groupon.com, a social buying site, is worth “boatloads of love”! I first heard about Groupon through a friend two years ago and once I tried groupon.com, I got hooked to their fantastic deals. Then Living Social and other similar sites started popping up.

I still buy the great deals through these sites and often look for restaurant deals because it gives me the opportunity to try out new restaurants that I had never heard of. Getting a discount makes it worth giving them a try. If I like their food, I would come back knowing the money would be well spent.

Various news magazines have reported that Groupon.com is now valued at nearly 1 billion dollars. Whoa! 1 billion dollars! Can you believe that? Yeah, that is some serious love there.

This is what I had thought until I researched social buying sites for Mozzeria. Some businesses uncovered the downside after trying Groupon or similar sites. At first, they expected Groupon to help bring exposure to their business through Groupon’s large base of followers.

How does it work for businesses? A Groupon representative would meet with the business to explain their procedures. The representative would state that customers respond well to 50% discount which is true. As they discuss the what’s and how’s, if they agree on a ($6 for $13) offer, Groupon keeps 100% of any deal under $10. The representative would also state that the customer would be more likely to end up ordering more than $13 worth food so the business would be able to keep the additional money above $10. If you want a $20 for $40 deal, for example, both Groupon and the business would split 50%.

This means if Mozzeria decides, for example, to go with a ‘$20 for $40’ pizza deal, we are providing $40 worth of food for $20. Groupon starts promoting the deal on their website, and gets $10 leaving Mozzeria with just $10. In reality, Mozzeria is providing $40 worth of food for $10. Keep in mind that Mozzeria needs to cover overhead – rent, payroll, utilities, etc. Mozzeria would lose money – counterproductive to Groupon’s claim to helping businesses?

Realizing this has been a valuable lesson that we need to look at the bottom line. All social buying sites, fortunately, are not like that. Scoutmob.com allows businesses to keep more of the money, and does not require customers to pay upfront. We need to be wary and research these sites extensively and talk to other businesses about their experiences. Now that you see both sides – we need to support businesses by coming back, even after you already used your coupon. If you were me, would you go for Groupon, or other similar sites?