I was really intrigued by the story of a San Antonio restaurant called the Water Street Oyster Bar, which has started a promotion in which it gives random customers "bailouts" and picks up the check for their table. The restaurant gives away one bailout at lunch and a one at dinner each day, and it's turned into quite a great marketing idea. Word of mouth is spreading and the restaurant is seeing more traffic. The owner says it costs abot $1,500 a week but is way more effective than some other forms of marketing.
I'll bet those bailouts are a lot less controversial than the ones in the news lately...
