By LAUREN HALLIGAN
News Editor
Cards aren’t just for playing anymore. Now, with the right deck, any hand is a winner.
City Dining Cards are decks of 50 discount coupons to locally owned restaurants in the Capital Region. Each card is good for $10 off $30 or more spent at the restaurant, excluding alcohol, tax and tip. The offers have no blackout dates and are valid through Dec. 31, 2014. The deck also has two wildcards.
Albany restaurants included in the deck are Shogun, Tierra Coffee Roasters, The Merry Monk, Legends, Bombers Burrito Bar, Pinto and Hobbs, The Ginger Man and many more. Certain restaurants in Latham, Colonie, Schenectady, and Clifton Park are included as well.
City Dining Cards founder Patrick Finan is the one who got the ball rolling on this project a few years ago. Finan is founder and principal of Block Club, a branding and marketing agency based in Buffalo. While working on another pro-local and pro-small business project, Finan and his partners came up with the idea for City Dining Cards and launched their first edition in Buffalo in 2010.
Much more convenient than a clunky book of coupons, City Dining Cards are designed just like a deck of playing cards that fit perfectly in pockets or purses. Finan and his team were racking their brains for interesting and innovative ways to package their product, and the idea for the deck was born.
“From the onset, we’ve been insistent that the product is tangible or that at the very least, there is always a tangible version of the discount cards,” Finan said. However, keeping up with the times, City Dining Cards will begin the process of going digital in January.
After only 3 years since the program’s inception, City Dining Cards are now in 13 cities worldwide, including Boston, Chicago, Memphis and London. Finan said the success of the project has many factors. “Customers love the participating restaurants and appreciate the offer. Restaurants appreciate the consistency of the discount and we work hand-in-hand with restauranteurs to make sure they understand how City Dining Cards works. We give back to the communities we serve,” he said. Lastly, he mentioned the importance of utilizing local restaurants, local food, and local retailers.
As for the future of City Dining Cards, they’ve just launched Drink Decks in a few cities, featuring buy one get one drink specials, and have introduced additional products that are fun and city-centric, Finan said. Some of those products include Fridge Phrases word magnets and a new line of paper and home goods manufactured with reclaimed materials and made in the Rust Belt, a heavily industrialized area of the U.S. containing older, marginally profitable factories.
Block Club’s ultimate goal is to bring the company into as many pro-local cities and communities as possible, Finan said, and City Dining Cards is a perfect example. When you eat at a locally owned restaurant, four times more money stays in that community compared to eating at a chain restaurant, Finan explained. “That, in turn, helps build stronger local economies and having a strong local economy in cities like Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and other cities that have seen brighter days,” he said. City Dining Cards works to bring resilience and self-reliance to these kinds of cities. “It’s real economic recovery on a grassroots level.”
In addition to supporting the local economy, 5 percent of the sales from each deck goes directly to the local food bank in each respective city. The company also has a program where non-profits can use City Dining Cards to fund raise and keep half of the sales revenue for their organization.
City Dining Cards gives locally owned restaurants a platform to market themselves and drive customers into their establishments.
Local restaurant owner Minerva Martinez of Barcelona Restaurant, located at 1192 Western Ave., thinks City Dining Cards is a great program. She was first concerned that she didn’t see many cards coming in, but lately the restaurant has been seeing more and more. “It’s something new that we’re doing,” she said. “It’s working slowly, but it is working.”
Martinez is hopeful that more people will soon learn about the program. “I’m sure in the future it’s going to do great. It’s just something new.”
As opposed to the expensive price tag of advertising, becoming involved with City Dining Cards didn’t cost Martinez a dime out of pocket. With almost no risk factor in signing up, “It’s awesome,” Martinez said. “I’m more than happy to honor the cards.”
University at Albany graduate student Greg Back agreed that the dining cards are a brilliant idea. Although the $10 off at each outing won’t exactly save his finances, “that’s not really the point,” Back said. “I’m probably going out anyway, so I find myself guided by the deck, looking to work my way through it to see what hidden gems I can find in Albany and beyond.”
Back likes that the cards encourage patronizing locally owned businesses, as opposed to spending money at any number of the over-abundant chains in the area, he said. “Any avenue to accomplish that goal I consider worthy.”
For more information visit www.citydiningcards.com. City Dining Cards are available at many locations in the area, including Tierra Coffee Roasters in the Pine Hills neighborhood.
