LivingSocial's $1 Lunch Deal Hits San Francisco on Wed.
Attention San Franciscans: want a cheap lunch? LivingSocial will offer $1 lunch deals all over the city on this Wednesday only.
LivingSocial is using the occasion to mark the launch of LivingSocial Instant Deals, where the couponing company's mobile app will allow residents to find deals going on them at the time they fire up the applications.
San Francisco is the third city to mark the one-dollar deal, following similar Instant Deals launches (and lunches) in Washington D.C. and New York's Manhattan. Over 100 merchants will participate in the San Francisco promotion, including San Francisco Soup Company, Kyoto Sushi, Kennedy's Irish Pub and Curry House, and more.
To enter, users first need to wake up early on Wednesday. LivingSocial $1 lunch vouchers will be available for purchase beginning at 6:00 AM PT and will be available for redemption from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Wednesday, July 13, only. They then need to either download the mobile app for Android, iPad, or the iPhone, or visit the Web site and sign up for a free membership. Users can then select a specific deal from a nearby location and either print out the deal coupon or display it on a smartphone so that the merchant can redeem it.
"We are excited to launch LivingSocial Instant Deals in a city known for both cutting-edge technology and fantastic food," said Tim O'Shaughnessy, chief executive and co-founder of LivingSocial, in a statement. "Dollar Lunch Day is a perfect way to bring foodies, early adopters and LivingSocial members together to scour old stomping grounds and discover new favorites throughout San Francisco."
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported that LivingSocial has selected a trio of banks to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering that values the company between $10 billion and $15 billion. That's the same valuation that a CNBC report assigned to the company when news of the company's impending IPO began making the rounds in late June.
LivingSocial is the second-place daily deals site behind Groupon, although Bloomberg said recently that LivingSocial is starting to close the gap between the two companies, grabbing 4 percent of Groupon's share of the space earlier this summer. Bloomberg says Groupon has 48 percent of the market while LivingSocial controls about 24 percent of the group buying industry.
In part, that's because LivingSocial has occasionally launched high-profile, nationwide deals with Amazon and Fandango. The Amazon deal, for example, allowed consumers to buy a $20 gift card for $10.
Additional reporting by Leslie Horn.
