eat out to help out scheme

This article could be just one line long. If you are not joining the scheme, you are a fool.
When I first asked my followers whether this offer could swing them to go out on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, a lot replied "no, I'll stick to my normal plans". I found this very strange, who doesn't like to save a tenner? As we are normally closed on a Monday I shelved any plans of opening and maybe doing a special night. But now I can see that people are starting to book for those evenings. Never mind I will be doing my bit to save the economy by going out both for lunch and dinner on Mondays.

As a small operator I think it's a good idea to offer specials and other off-the-menu dishes that are a bit more expensive. This is a good chance to use premium produce and ingredients and become fancy. Customers will also be willing to buy a better wine or an extra starter in the knowledge that they will be saving up to £10 ahead.

As to how to implement this offer I think the easiest way to think about it is:
Take the alcohol off.
If the per-customer spend (children count as diners) is:
less than £20, apply 50% off
over £20, give £10 off

You will need to keep a record and also tally up the till at the end of the night, because although the customer is receiving a discount you will receive the balance from the government.

In our case we are very lucky to use a POS (point of sale) called GoodTill and these guys have created a button that calculates the amount of discount and tells you the balance your customer needs to pay. This was a big relief as I was already imagining my staff struggling with calculator and jotter!