50Fifty Ways to Grab Dinner in Manayunk-Roxborough

Brandon Nunez, founder and CEO of 50FiftyDeals.com, wants to make one thing clear about his new online restaurant deals website—they do not do daily deals.

"When I saw daily deal websites like GroupOn or Living Social, it didn't make sense to me. They're taking directly from a restaurant's bottom line," he said. "The hospitality industry is all about a quality experience, and knowing that the sites are taking from the profit, I thought it hurt the whole experience. It was broken."

Since taking off nationwide over the past few years, Internet coupons sites have met with some backlash from local business owners. Mt. Airy's Food For All Market because of a GroupOn deal gone bad.

So when Nunez set out to launch an alternative restaurant site in Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls, he sought to give diners a great opportunity without hurting the restaurants.

Namely, 50FiftyDeals.com costs nothing for restaurants to join, and instead spotlights a discounted menu item available to eaters enrolled in their program.

"We hope to guide restaurants so they don't lose money, and we try to look at all angles in the hopes that it's a win-win for the restaurants and the customers," he said.

For $10 annually, a customer signs up to become a "passholder," which gets them access to 50 seasonal restaurant deals, each one with a 50 percent special in the neighborhood. Instead of bankrupting deals, Nunez said each local restaurant would offers 50 percent off a calamari appetizer, for example.

The program is set to launch locally for the spring, with the Manayunk-Roxborough-East Falls area as its testing ground. As of yet, there's no firm launch date. From there, Nunez intends to hit 11 neighborhoods throughout the city. Subscribers can pay $10 for a neighborhood rate, or $50 citywide.

Currently, 50Fifty Deals is accepting nominations from residents to solidify their 50 restaurants.

"Right now, we direct people to go to our website, find out more about us, and nominate restaurants. The only way we approach a place is if it's nominated by people in the community. That's our first level of quality control," he said.

The company was active at , getting its name out there, and continues to have a solid social media presence, with Facebook and Twitter posts that spotlight local restaurants, which Nunez says is the business model.

"Local restaurants—we are 100 percent free for you. We want you to use us as a marketing platform. These people are asking for you, we want to pass along your message," he said. "You won't be lumped in with a corporate chain next door."

For more information, visit its website.