Bonefish Grill Strange Policy
 

My wife and I went to Bonefish Grill on 466 for lunch and met a neighbor already seated so we joined her.

I told the waitress we were on separate tabs.

As requested, we receive separate bills. Our neighbor paid with cash plus one of those free $10 promo certificates.

Bonefish Grill honors military discounts and my wife and I are both 20+ year veterans. She returned with our credit card and told us that since “the table” used a gift certificate already we were ineligible to receive the customary military discount for our meal - only one discount to the same table regardless if on separate bills as a matter of “corporate policy”.

Sounded irrational to me but decided not to embarrass my wife, my neighbor or myself to call in a manager for a couple of bucks and let it go. But still…

My wife and I were dining together on a separate check, the neighbor paid her bill first while we waited to pay ours. Again, it just doesn’t make a bit of sense

What say ye??

Go see the manager.

I don't understand why asking for separate checks had anything to do with it. A lot of diners ask for separate checks. The restaurant only allows one discount per table to reduce their overall cost for discounts. Did it state that on the certificate?

Agree that is sounds a bit odd, but most probably a very rare occurrence.

Corporate BS. This why these outfits don't last. Out of touch with reality.

Bonefish Grill may be remaned Bonehead Grill. That may be policy but it wasn't doing the customer right.

Walgreens does something similar, if you have a vendor coupon, they won't allow you to use your Walgreens rewards dollars.

It makes perfect sense.

You said there was a "$10 Promotion Certificate" used at your table? I'm sure the terms of the Prom Certificate probably said only 1 "per table". If you and your friends ate at different tables, it would have been a different circumstance, most likely.

"Promos" are designed to bring folks into a restaurant, who might not otherwise go there, not to bring in more people who are sniffing around for a further discount.

How much of a "promo discount" do you think you and your friends are entitled to?

Why would/should they?
If they allowed all coupons and reward cards, giving the stuff away would probably work out cheaper for a store.
One discount is plenty, just use the one that is the bargain.

I don’t know all the details of the OP post…..do you?

This company seems to doing ok…….

Bloomin' Brands acquired Bonefish Grill on October 5, 2001. At the time, the company had three locations. In 2006, Bonefish Grill announced the opening of its 100th restaurant.[4] As of January 2022, Bloomin' Brands had five franchised Bonefish Grill restaurants and 167 corporate-owned and operated Bonefish Grills.

FYI, here is what it says about the promo certificate on the Bonefish website:

"Not valid in conjunction with any other offer, discount or coupon."

So next time, don’t let anyone else sit at your table, and don’t sit with anyone else so you can get your “table discount”.

When is this going to end? You're 20+ year veterans. You had a job for those 20+ years, which you got paid for, every month. In addition to getting paid for your job and free job training, you're getting lifetime health benefits, retirement benefits, plus educational benefits, PX shopping privileges, your own holiday and a myriad of other benefits.

Did you join the military, so you'd get discounted food for the rest of your life?

Didn't you get enough yet?

What about all the Firefighters out there? Police officers? Teachers? Sanitation workers? Doctors? What about them? Shouldn't they be getting discounts too?

Get an AARP Card. Most of the same business giving you a 10% "Military Discount", will give you the exact same discount, just for being old.

So....just for s*its and giggles, under your premise....why do we arbitrarily ‘discount’ seniors over 55? Because they built this country? Where does that end? I’d much rather discount a veteran or first responder than do so for ‘just being old’. Who wrote that doctrine?

It's up to the business to provide voluntary discounts. I think they do it because they want to maintain good will with the community. It's an advertising gimmick. Most people over 55 and veterans do not really need the discounts as much as other people do.

"Discount" offered by business for "military", "first responders", AARP members, AAA members, are nothing more than pandering by the businesses, to make it seem like you're getting something special ... in order to motivate you to patronize that business.

"10% discounts" are nothing more than advertising dollars, spent in a different way. Most every business carries a line item for A&P ... advertising and promotions. It's all one & the same.

If a business wants to show support for some particular group of people, there are more substantive ways to do it, than offering a paltry discount, to every Tom, Dick, Harry or Susan who belongs to that group. There's a big wide gulf between "support, gratitude & appreciation" and simple advertising.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Okay.

Thank you for coming out of the sand trap to humor me kind sir ;)

When I was a front end supervisor for a Party City, we had a woman who came in a couple of times, and wanted her veteran's discount. She didn't want to give her name, and said her right to privacy meant she didn't have to show her VA status on any ID. The second time she came in, she said she was the wife of a veteran. We told her we don't give discounts to spouses of veterans, only to spouses of active-duty military personnel. She didn't like that much either.

Basically though she was none of the above. She was just a junkie who wanted clearance stuff at an additional discount so she could sell it cheap to a flea market guy she knew.

Here in The Villages, a LOT of people wear their "Veteran's" baseball caps everywhere they go. Even the ones who aren't veterans. I've met a few of them. It's definitely not a lot of people, but one bad apple spoils the whole bunch. It's insulting to actual veterans, when non-vets wear vet insignia or try to get discounts for being fake veterans.

Stolen Valor....here in TV?! Noooo

So now you know and can consider that when choosing a restaurant next time.

Not the server’s fault for a corporate policy but I wonder how well it would go over if you had a one tip per table policy and put the single tip in the check that received the discount. For some reason I believe that the two checks would then be seen as separate and each worthy of separate tips even thought they weren’t worthy of separate discounts.

Excellent point by you sir

personally, I'd say don't go back.

I'm guessing that the checks were separated at the end and I'm sure it all had to be rung up as 1 table when she was putting in the order. You probably could have gotten the military discount for everyone instead of the $10 promo.

I can understand the frustration but it's just a system issue.

///

I, for one, would love to know what you deleted, or decided not to post.

I misread a post, and when I realized I had made a mistake, I deleted the post...

I agree with the OP, I too had a similar situation. 4 of us go to dinner, both couples have the 10$ OFF card. We both presented our cards when our separate checks came and we were informed by the waiter that only one card per table could be used. Sure enough the fine print on the card says “One offer per table”. Who reads the fine print until now, so our friend put his 10$ OFF card back in his pocket, to be used next time. Yes, I agree with the OP a strange policy.

This does not say ‘per table’. IMO, this refers to the person/couple per check holding the coupon, not the other people that might have a different discount on a different check. Bonefish doesn’t want 1 person/couple per check to apply multiple discounts.

Going out to dinner and worrying about or complaining about not getting your 10% off your $75 dinner tab, must be a stressful way to retire.

Have one less drink. Problem solved.

Makes full sense. One coupon per table regardless of how the bill is paid.

Forget it. Your choice to sit at that table. Don't be a village griper. Too many already. Move on.

First, Thank you for serving your country, both of you!
Second, call the manger on the carpet for showing such disrespect for those who made the sacrifice.
Semper Fi

Now that makes sense. Logical. However what happened to me seemed illogical. But nowadays- up is down, right is left, good is bad, bad is good, etc. Who am I to say what is logical anymore. Reason I asked you guys. I don’t chase discounts (I’ve got too much money in the bank to care) but I do question insanity occasionally. And no, I don’t worry about the 10% discount - just the policy. Either give it or don’t. Make up your mind.

Thank you Junior

Maybe you should think this through again. We shared a table - not the meal nor the bill. Again, illogical

I agree with everything you said in your post. A discount for being a veteran and a promo coupon or voucher are like apples and oranges. As it’s the restaurant’s corporate policy to offer military discounts to its customers, you and your wife should have received that discount — whether you’re dining at a table with other people, at the bar or wherever.

Having said that, I think you were correct in not making an issue out of it. After all, it’s just 10 percent off the check. So for example, $3 off a $30 check. But it’s the principle of the thing, just feels unfair. Btw Your neighbor got a pretty good deal though, a $10 coupon/voucher off of her lunch bill, so good for her.

By the way, Thank you for your service, your wife as well!

That I would not do. I take mine and my wife takes hers. We are not opportunists bilking a generous establishments’s offer to discount our meal due to our service.

Now that was funny. Good sense of humor. I don’t slight the waitress and I will go back to Bonefish. Food and service is great and bartenders know us. Makes my “perfect gin martini”, perfectly. I just have an issue with an insane corporate policy. Call it an itch that I just can’t scratch

Ask for the manager. For me it would be a matter of principle, something that I thought was wrong. Corporate policy? Let the head person tell you, so you can express to him/her your disappointment. Although you just might get an exception. If you don't ask, the answer's always no.

Separate checks is not used “in conjunction”. The restaurant was wrong here. I’ve been in large groups that split the check many ways, never been an issue before.