A restaurant has been forced to close after its owners were left drowning in more than $100,000 (£78,492) worth of debt thanks to a loyalty deal gone wrong.
Jiamener, an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant in Chengdu, China, quickly became a popular buffet eatery when it opened its doors on June 1, 2018.
Despite being one of thousands of restaurants offering hot pot food in the city, its owners said it attracted significant numbers of customers.
Up to 500 customers per day walked through the restaurant doors, but one of Jiamener’s chief selling points ultimately led to its downfall.
The owners started offering their customers a loyalty card worth approximately £19, which ended up costing them a six-figure sum and putting them out of business.
Customers, unsurprisingly, took advantage of the incredibly generous deal, leaving them drowning under the mountain of debt.
The owners told ABC News they expected to lose some money from the deal but hoped it would ultimately build their business.
They added that they expected they could eventually lower the overall costs with their suppliers if they got through more food.
Instead, they were forced to close after two weeks, leaving Chengdu with one fewer hot pot restaurant.
The central Chinese city is home to more than 10 million people and roughly 2,000 hot pot restaurants.
Residents on Chinese social media were quick to criticise the restaurant’s owners, with some cracking jokes about their misfortune.
Posting on Weibo, the country’s national social networking platform, one said the owners were “really careless” and “didn’t think through” the promotion.
In another post, a third user joked that people should “never underestimate our Chinese appetite!”.
The owners were introspective about the closure when they were interviewed following the closure five years ago.
Su Jie, a co-owner, said the primary problem was a lack of business acumen on their and their partner’s part.
