A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,570
No - I've never had this conversation with a restaurant/bar owner.
Others here know the detailed mechanics of the program better than I, but basically it's a form of a loan program for the restaurants. iDine fronts them some money and then takes a cut of the proceeds when iDiners show up and eat.
Over time, it seems that if a restaurant is successful enough to thrive on its own, it gets out of iDine. I get the sense that the terms are attractive to a restaurant starting up in bad need of cash, but unattractive enough that they want to get out as soon as they can. If iDine is paying me back 10-20% of the bill, I'm guessing that they are taking about 1/2 of the bill as their cut.