A promotion that was supposed to last a month forced the establishment to close after just two weeks.
An all-you-can-eat restaurant in China has shut its doors after customers ate too much food, driving the establishment into $80,000 worth of debt.
Jiamener, a hot pot restaurant in the Sichuan province city of Chengdu closed its doors last week after customers took advantage of their $19 all-you-can-eat deal, according to reports.
The establishment, which opened in December, wanted to get a leg up on the competition, so on June 1 they created a promotion in which customers paid a low fee for a membership card that allowed them to chow down on as much food as they wanted for a month.
But just two weeks into the promotion, they priced themselves right out of business.
Some customers reportedly passed their membership card around to family and friends, causing the volume of consumed meals to hit a fever pitch.
While the restaurant was busy with an average of 500 customers a day, they never made up the financial ground they were losing with the promotion. Long lines developed outside the restaurant and the hours of the establishment were forced to get longer due to demand.
The owners were hoping to gain loyal customers from the deal and knew they would lose some money, but they did not anticipate the $80,000 in losses.
The owners told the South China Morning Post that due to their lack of business skills and “uncivilized behavior of the diners," the restaurant had to shutter.
Hot pot restaurants are reportedly very popular in Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people. There are more than 20,000 hot pot restaurants estimated to be in the area.
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