>> ray hasser, 14-year owner of lasher's restaurant also in long beach was haile skeptical when groupon approached him. at first blush he didn't see how what amounted to a 75% discount could possibly make him a profit. >> i put the math to it. and i came up with some ideas that i thought i could make money, and still take advantage of the tremendous impact. >> indeed the impact can be tremendous. groupon told lasher that nearly 700,000 people saw his offer. which resulted in over 600 groupons sold. >> when it goes on groupon it goes out to millions of people. around the world. i mean i have groupon people have bought groupon in china. >> but what seemed like a lucky windfall to one small business owner can feel like a disruptive tornado to another. >> of course it makes me sad. it basically ruined my business for these people. i paid for people's treatments out of my pocket who will never be my customer. >> according to a study done last year at rice university jones school of business, 32% of small to medium sized businesses reported they lost money running their groupon promotions. >>