Groupon's "deal" is very different these days. The restaurant (or service provider) sets the particular offering - usually it's a specific menu item, which they can produce at low cost for all the Groupon customers. And it's not always 50% off, or often times they'll offer something like "dinner for two for the price of one". The last couple times we've used Groupons it amounted to maybe 10-15% off the total bill - enough to get us into the restaurant when we wouldn't otherwise go, but still quite profitable for the restaurant.

It's basically the same as getting coupons in the mail, but with a lower cost of distribution and a channel that people actually pay attention to.