Bars and restaurants across the country have been scrambling to cash in on the Pokémon Go phenomenon and lure budding trainers into their establishments, but the company behind the game is hoping to monetize it even further by introducing sponsored locations.

Restaurateurs quickly realized the potential value in the game, as players often wander into businesses looking for their next catch. The luckier restaurants are already key locations in the game, known as Pokéstops for players to recharge, and gyms to train their Pokémon, which draw more players.

However, a small investment can also go a long way. L’inizio Pizza Bar in Queens, New York, made headlines when its manager, Sean Benedetti, reported a 75% surge in sales over the weekend, after he spent $10 to lure a dozen Pokémon.

“The amount of people has been astonishing,” Tom Lattanzio, the store’s owner, told the New York Post. “All day long, from afternoon to evening this past weekend.”

The app has been downloaded 7.5m times since its release last week. The most effective way to attract potential customers is to use Lure Modules, which attract Pokémon to a specific location. One Twitter user calculated that it would cost a business $1.17 per hour to keep a lure active in their store throughout the day.

Other restaurants are also working on marketing their locations without using Lure. Carollann Scott, marketing director of Backstreet Grill in Albuquerque, New Mexico, realized the local area was full of Pokémon and people were playing outside.

“We found out that there’s always Pokémon in our restaurants,” she said. “I’ve seen people walking through our parking lot almost everyday, using [the app] and we want to make sure they know that if they come inside they’re gonna find one that’s even better.”

They tweeted a picture out to entice potential members of Team Ash or Team Misty to come and dine at their location. It’s only been a day and results are unclear.

Multiple national chains such as Waffle House and Olive Garden have also hopped on the bandwagon, tweeting pictures of Pokémon at their franchises.

Pokémon trainer Roemello Agjmurati was delighted to find out that the restaurant Five Leaves in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was a Pokéstop, while he was having brunch there.

“The second I walked in I immediately saw people around me playing the game. Even people outside waiting were catching Pokémon,” he told the Guardian. “I immediately placed a lure on the Pokéstop which made more Pokémon come to the restaurant.”

However, not all restaurants are amused. The employees at Five Leaves said they don’t need, “weird fake cartoon characters” to market their restaurant.

“It’s not something that I would encourage here. We’re a busy restaurant. We don’t necessarily need to do that,” said manager Arryan Decatur.

He has noticed people loitering outside the restaurant playing the game and customers pretending to examine the menu with the game open only to leave shortly after.

Another Greenpoint restaurant, Spritzerhaus, distanced themselves from a Pokémon bar crawl – one of many planned in Brooklyn in the upcoming month – that was set to begin at their restaurant.

“[I] have no interest in Pokémon, Pokémon-related business tactics or any human being on Earth that plays children’s games on their phones,” the bar manager told Mic via email.

The organizers subsequently chose a different starting point for the bar crawl.

Not having any Pokémon can also be detrimental to businesses. An Olive Garden in Washington state received a complaint that read: “No Pokémon in this restaurant was upsetting! What did the owner do to them??”

In an interview with the Financial Times, Niantic CEO John Hanke said that the game may begin offering sponsored locations. Currently the game’s main business model is in-app purchases of things such as lures – a feature which allows players to attract Pokémon – but Hanke told FT, “there is a second component to our business model at Niantic, which is this concept of sponsored locations”.

He added that companies “pay us to be locations within the virtual game board – the premise being that it is an inducement that drives foot traffic”.

These companies would pay per customer that was drawn to their location by the app. Niantic has a history of using this business model with its previous game Ingress, where brands such as Duane Reade, and Jamba Juice paid to be locations on its virtual board game.