The Client: Chris Courtney, Kelly Chappell, and Jay Bunda opened Zocalo Café with the goal of twisting the typical Tex Mex fare that is seen in the Austin area with a Mexico City style taqueria. The trio’s first restaurant concept in Austin, Galaxy Café, is known for having the freshest ingredients, a minimalistic modern feel, and being environmentally friendly. Zocalo Café and Galaxy Cafe, which have three locations throughout the Austin area, both have a casual convenience while still being hip and welcoming.

The Challenge:  Jay Bunda, one of the owners of Galazy Cafe recognized the need to change marketing tactics for the restaurant to bring in more customers and increase sales. Both Galaxy Cafe and Zocalo Café are run by three restauranteurs who, in their own words, know very little about the advertising and marketing world.

The Deal: Galaxy Cafe ran with Groupon on February 26, 2010 and featured a $15 for $30 worth of fresh gourmet fare and drinks. On June 4, 2010 Zocalo Café ran a $10 for $20 worth of healthy, authentic Mexican fare.

The Results: Galaxy Cafe sold 3,341 Groupons and saw an overwhelming number of new customers come into their restaurant. The first 30 days after their feature ran, Groupon produced a sales increase for the month that exceeded the numbers from any previous March. The Galaxy Cafe Groupon had an expiration date on Memorial Day, historically a slow sales holiday for the restaurant. Groupon made it a record breaking Holiday Monday for all three locations. Similarly, Zocalo Café sold 3,328 Groupons. When 6% of Groupons were redeemed in the first weekend, a new daily sales record was set on Saturday, and that week set the record for the weekly sales as well.  All three Galaxy restaurants were in a sales deficit before using Groupon and now, after Groupon, are seeing increases in both sales and return customers. Zocalo Café was up about 7% prior to Groupon and has been experiencing increases of over 30% each week during the Groupon redemption period.

• Zocalo Café saw a sales increase of 33% in the month June alone.
• All three Galaxy Cafe’s were experiencing a sales deficit for about 2-3 months before they ran with Groupon, during Groupon they had record breaking weekends in sales, and are since seeing an increase in sales and customers who frequent their restaurants.