Attleboro Breakfast Nook Owner Hopes to Bring in the Bacon with Internet Coupons

It has all the charm of an old-time diner: red and white-checkered tablecloths, wood-paneled walls, a counter paired with bright red stools and waitresses who ask patrons, “The usual?” But it’s ’s modern business plan that has caught the attention, and the appetites, of brunch enthusiasts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island who can now enjoy generous portion after generous portion at a fraction of the price.

Casey D’Arconte, who has owned The Breakfast Place at 187 Pleasant St. in Attleboro since 2004, decided to take his advertising to the Internet via the coupon website Groupon.com, which offers daily deals to area restaurants, hair salons, fitness classes and the like. In a few short months, D’Arconte says he has already seen a surge in business.

“It’s really good. It’s brought in a lot of new customers and that’s why I did it,” D’Arconte says sitting at a table by the window in his black chef’s jacket. “My goal is to get people in once. And I think once they’re in here, and they see it and they like it, they’re going to come back.”

D’Arconte worked with Providence and Boston Groupon this past December, May, and he has plans for a deal in the fall. His most successful deal has been giving customers $15 worth of food when they pay $5. After selling around 500 coupons the first time and more than  1,000 the second, The Breakfast Place broke the record for Providence’s largest restaurant gift certificate sales.

And with Groupon cutting a check back to The Breakfast Place for two thirds of the money made, D’Arconte sees an immediate return on his marketing. Even though coupon users get the same food for less, D’Arconte says business as a whole has peaked.

He explains, “You’ve got to put a certain amount of money aside for advertising and marketing for new business, so if you were going to spend a hundred dollars on a one-time ad that people could see, versus doing a Groupon where you’re slowly stretching that hundred dollars that you spend on marketing over the amount of time that people come in, it works better for me.”

Even though D’Arconte showcases his business mind with Groupon he maintains dedicated to the food.

With farmers market season just around the corner, D’Arconte plans to make a special menu of organic and local farm fresh foods to accompany the existing menu, which boasts a total of nine different eggs benedict, among other creative dishes.

The Groupon experience has been the motivation for new customers to see what The Breakfast Place has to offer, D’Arconte explains, and it has helped the restaurant reach its ultimate goal.

“We’re all about the food here,” D’Arconte says. “We want to make money, we want to be in business, but we want to be the best and serve all this really great food….We want people to walk out of here full and happy.”

 And with more money left in their wallets, customers are sure to be both.