To be fair, Yelpers are an exceptionally tough crowd. I mean, I really don't know of any place offhand that is widely regarded as "good" in meatspace, anecdotally, that doesn't get savaged on Yelp. When I read Yelp reviews for a place, it's because I'm curious about the worst things that dickish, self-proclaimed connoisseurs have to say about it, not to get any real baseline for what the place is actually like. It's never even a tenth as bad as Yelp says it is.

Also, the owner mentioned utilising many different discount/coupon programs. Groupon may stand out because it's kind of emblematic, but there's no reason to think from anything that has been said that it was the majority of their coupon activity. Is there?