A company founded in a dorm room by University of Utah students is saving money for almost 9000 residents of the Wasatch Front with a simple text message.
The company is The Daily Skweez, pronounced squeeze, and consists of one text message per day that will save you at least 25 percent at a local restaurant in Salt Lake City and Provo.
Jamis Johnson and Abe Carter are the brains behind Skweez. The two friends came up with the idea after countless hours of debate over where they should eat out.
“We could never decide on where we wanted to eat,” says Johnson, “We both agreed that it would be great if we knew of a daily deal at a restaurant. Our idea for Skweez evolved from there.”
Within a week, Carter and Johnson had the framework of Skweez set and partnered with fellow University of Utah students Dave Scott and Josh Lund to help with the logistics of implementing their idea.
The final plan included the use of text messages as a medium to advertise, and they narrowed it down to one deal a day for various restaurants around the Salt Lake and Provo areas.
“It’s such an extremely effective way to advertise,” says Johnson, “We saw no downside to this thing. I mean who do you know that doesn’t read a text message at least once a day?”
The Daily Skweez guarantees a 25 percent discount on every offer; however, deals can be up to 50 percent off with buy one, get one free offers. Each text is good for that day only, and is generally sent around 10 a.m.
The text includes the address of the restaurant. To get your discount simply show the waiter, waitress or cashier the text message on your phone.
“I signed up in January after a friend sent me a link on Facebook,” says Salt Lake Community College student Sarah Gomez. “I use it every now and then. It’s a good way to find some good deals.”
Recent deals like the buy one sandwich get one sandwich free offer from Gandolfo’s resulted in the store running out of bread from making so many sandwiches.
According to Johnson, the buy one smoothie, get one smoothie free offer at Jamba Juice generated the most favorable feedback of any deal Skweez has had to offer.
Skweez has become so popular that they are now offering Skweez at night, offering discounts at bars across Salt Lake City.
Signing up for Skweez is free; all you have to do is text “food” to 53535. To sign up for Skweez at Night, text “night” to 53535.
Once your text is received, you will then get a bounce back text asking what city. Simply reply either “SaltLake,” all one word, or “Provo” and you will be automatically enrolled into the Skweez mailing list.