PROMO CODE: BRAVO KANNAN!

‘Dosa with Beef Curry - Now @ 125 Rs only!’ read the board outside Pecos, the legendary old school pub in the heart of Indiranagar. The Dosa-Beef curry is their signature combo dish, generally priced at Rs 225, they had to cut the price down to almost half to bring back more customers after the catastrophic Covid 19 lockdown. People were still skeptical to visit pubs and restaurants.

Bravo Kannan stared at the board for a good 2 mins from across the road. He has had an eye on this well known combo for long, but Rs 225 had always been beyond his budget for a meal, . Now that it is priced at Rs 125, he had a chance. He put his hand in the pocket and took out all the money he had and started counting. He had Rs 110 including the 75 Rs he just got for distributing newspapers around Indiranagar. But he can’t spend it all. Rs 50 per day was to be given to his mother, something that cannot be ignored provided their family situation after his father lost his job as the watchman of an IT building!

Undeterred, he put Rs 50 in his pocket, took the remaining 60Rs in his hand and walked into Pecos. The security outside stopped him and said, “Kanna, how are you? How is Appa? Has he found a job yet?”, “Not yet uncle”, Kannan replied. “Are you here looking for a job? The owner is a nice guy. He cut only 300 Rs from my salary even during these times. Try your luck”, said the security while he let Kannan inside.

Kannan went straight to the billing counter where the manager stood visibly stressed. No one had come to have breakfast that day too, for the third consecutive day in a row. His owner had given him a week to get the business back and running, else he will be fired. He saw Kannan approaching and asked in a faint voice, “What do you want pa?”. “Anna, can I get half dosa-beef curry for 60 Rs?” Kannan replied. “I don’t have the time for this. Please leave”, the manager said in an annoyed voice. Kannan nodded and started to walk back. He heard the manager’s voice again while he opened the door to get outside. “Bring at least 3 customers and I will give you the dosa-beef curry for free”, the manager said. “Okay anna” Kannan said, but deep inside he thought, “This is just an excuse for him to not give me the discount”

Later that night, Kannan was scrolling through the Tiktok videos, his usual post dinner routine on his famiy’s only smart phone. “Use my influencer promo code: JOLLYSINGH and get 20% discount on the shoes you purchase” said an influencer in one of the videos. Kannan shared the video with Vishnu anna, his neighbour cum mentor via watsapp and texted, “Anna what is an INFLUENCER PROMO CODE”. “Influencers share promo code with audience. Audience use promo code to get discount from companies. Companies pay influencers in return. Company gets business. Customers get discount. Influencer gets money. Everyone is happy”, read Vishnu Anna’s reply. Kannan couldn’t comprehend much of the concept. But he replied. “Okay” and went to sleep.

Next morning he woke up by 5.30 and left home for his usual newspaper routine. On the way he suddenly stopped outside Pecos while the security there was just opening up the place and setting up the board outside. ‘Dosa with Beef Curry - Now @ 125 Rs only!’, the security wrote. Kannan walked up to him and asked, “Uncle, can I write something on it’. The security agreed with suspicion. Kannan added these lines to the board, “Use Promo Code ‘BRAVO KANNAN’ and get 20 Rs discount. For first three customers only.” He handed over the 60 Rs he had to the security and said. Give it to the manager. If no one avails the discount, I will get it when I come back after the newspaper delivery”. Kannan got back on his cycle and started riding away.

The first customer that morning was a 62 year old retired gentleman who usually goes walking in the morning. He had seen Pecos and the board multiple times. But today, it got his attention. He walked inside and asked the manager, “Sir, I want to avail the offer mentioned outside. But how do you use a promo code without an app?”. “Congratulations Sir, you have already used the promo.” the manager said in ecstasy. The old gentleman had the dosa-beef curry and texted on his ‘Morning walkers’ watsapp group, “You all should try Pecos breakfast after the morning walk. It tastes heavenly”.

The second and third customers were a couple who had a night out watching netflix and wanted to eat something in the morning. “Hey Akash. Look there! What a funny promo code!” she said, pointing at the board that said, “PROMO CODE: BRAVO KANNAN”. Pecos got their first three customers even before 7AM that morning. More crowd walked in by seeing some people inside the place, having the food and a smile. They had to prepare a second round of beef curry by 8AM. They had sold 35 dosa-beef curry combos in total.

Kannan came back to Pecos by 8:30 AM, after his newspaper routine. He went straight inside and told the manager, “Sir, can I get my 60 Rs back if you haven’t got any customers?”. “You are not getting your 60 Rs back. But you are going to get free breakfast everyday from now on!”, said the manager. Kannan smiled :)